Book Review: Free Cyntoia

Image: The cover of the book shows Cyntoia Brown-Long from the shoulders up, looking directly into the camera. She has long brown/black hair down past her shoulders, brown eyes, and light brown skin. She is wearing a white top, a necklace, and earrings. Across the top in light beige letters is says her name and below that in smaller white letters it says "with BETHANY MAUGER." At the bottom, in large blue/violet letters it says "Free Cyntoia." Below that, in smaller letters it says, "MY SEARCH for REDEMPTION in the AMERICAN PRISON SYSTEM."

Content Warning: This review, given the person it is about, includes subjects of abuse, sexual assault, drugging, violence, traumas of prison, and other things I may forget to mention. Read with care.

When I became aware of Cyntoia Brown-Long's memoir- Free Cyntoia- I was very interested to read more about her journey. I had followed her case through awareness raised by activist groups and news articles, but this book added a large amount of depth and detail to her story that I never knew about. The book is well written by Cyntoia and Bethany Mauger and is accessible in its style to a variety of readers.

Something that stuck out the most to me while reading this book is Cyntoia's resilience and capacity for forgiveness. Frankly, I felt, and still feel, downright infuriated about everything she went through. Every time she would get past another hurtle, another person would take her down. She really manages to capture the horrific and defeating nature of the prison system in the USA. She also takes a ton of responsibility for her actions and the actions of others. There were times in this story I found myself saying, "Wow, she still thinks (particular abuse she suffered) is her fault." 

As I read this book, I realized quickly that I would have to take my time with it, despite wanting to devour it whole. Cyntoia and I have a lot of differences in demographics and privilege, but we share a lot of experiences and thinking patterns in our youth. She described what it was like to think and feel certain ways so well that I had to make sure I put the book down here and there to take care of the feelings it brought up for me. I, and many others, are not at all far away from what happened to Cyntoia. One nudge in another direction and many of us could have found ourselves in her shoes.

-The following summary contains some spoilers about Cyntoia's story that are detailed in the book.-

Cyntoia's life had a rough start with many ups and downs. She was adopted by two extremely loving Black parents who cared for her when her mother could not. She found herself outcast in many circles for her lighter skin, but still found herself in gifted school programs. Her struggles with the law began when she was placed in juvenile offender and psychiatric schools and institutions for very minor offenses such as petty theft or trespassing in a house with other kids. She was then placed in foster care after refusing to be around her sexually predatory uncle who came to pick her up. Time and again, Cyntoia was punished for trying to keep herself safe or for sticking up for herself. 

Eventually, Cyntoia was exposed to porn where she learned that sex with strange men is just something normal that you have to do. She internalized this and had her first sexual experience with a stranger- likely an adult man- who preyed upon her while waiting at the bus stop when she was 12 years old. She became a runaway and suffered heinous abuses from adult men she encountered including being drugged and raped multiple times by multiple men. She eventually meets another adult man she came to believe was her boyfriend who abuses her in every way imaginable and forces her into sex trafficking. He started with his friends and slowly forced her to expand who she would be abused by- all adults, while she was in her early to mid teens. He forces her to continue, at times at gunpoint, with promises that they will use the money to run off together some day.

Eventually a predator in his 40s picks her up, takes her to his home where she feels threatened especially by all of the guns he keeps showing her, and she takes the gun Kut had given her and shoots him in self defense. When she is eventually arrested, the police lie to her and Kut snitches on her immediately as well as lies about her, placing all of the blame at her feet. At this point in time, Cyntoia still believes she just had a boyfriend. She still had no idea that she was a trafficking victim and that Kut was her exploiter and abuser, not the love of her life.

After a horrifying and humiliating trial, an unjust court system referring to her as a "teenage prostitute," a prosecutor out for the blood of a young girl, and an unethical mostly white jury find Cyntoia guilty of everything including first degree murder which carries an automatic life sentence for adults in her state. They tried her as an adult despite her being years underage. In prison, even more injustices and betrayals happen to her including finding out her college law professor was a prosecutor who fought to keep her in prison for life and a guard who preyed upon her and started a sexual relationship with her which only she was punished for. It is not until an activist campaign goes viral after many people see a PBS documentary about her case that things begin moving in her favor. Multiple women help Cyntoia come to realize that she was a victim, not an immoral or bad person. Once Cyntoia became aware of just how insidious those who preyed upon her were, she started a project called GLITTER to mentor young girls and help them escape and avoid trafficking while she was still in prison. Her attempts to raise awareness were often overshadowed when reporters would choose to instead focus on her personal case. Cyntoia held onto this desire to help others and obviously still does today. 

Cyntoia eventually meets her future husband as a penpal in prison who helps her become a follower of the Christian God. Through the hard work of everyone involved, Cyntoia eventually finds clemency and goes home on probation.

-End summary with spoilers about Cyntoia's story-

 In the beginning of the book, we get a glimpse of Cyntoia's initial court experience in which she prays, "God, if you let me out of here, I'll tell the whole world about you." Cyntoia explains that she  did not believe in God because no God would allow her to be in her circumstances and no God ever answered her prayers for help. By the end of the book, she is giving God credit for almost everything.

I have to admit, I started to get irritated when the God talk went from mentions of gratitude throughout the story to his presence dominating the entire thing. There were so many people who worked so hard for Cyntoia to help her find clemency, yet she focuses almost solely on God giving her a miracle. I am an atheist, but that doesn't mean I don't see the value religion has in peoples lives and culture. I am glad that Cyntoia found a faith that works for her and has shared her truth through this book. I just have a very hard time seeing a deity be given the credit while the people doing the actual work end up as a paragraph at the end of her acknowledgements. I do not understand how she sees all of her negative experiences were part of some divine plan when she is able to get out. Most people never achieve what Cyntoia has and logic follows that their suffering is also part of God's plan. I can't get behind that. But, it doesn't matter so much what I believe because this is Cyntoia's story and this is what mattered to her. It gives us insight to where she is today.

When Cyntoia comes home to the place that her new husband has lovingly stocked with everything she wanted, she does mention that it feels unfair that so many others will not have the same thing. She still attributes it to God's miracle bestowed upon her. Her husband Jaime undoubtedly played a huge part in that, going very heavy handed with the God talk from the moment they began corresponding. I understand how she ended up at the belief system she did.

Overall, Cyntoia's memoir is a very interesting read. I believe this book will also clear up a lot of misconceptions people have about her and her case. She is a highly responsible- perhaps too responsible- woman who has become very knowledgeable caring. I hope her book helps people in similar situations get out alive or at least know that they are not alone.

 This was also posted to my Goodreads.