Kimberley’s Reviews > The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom > Status Update

Having read Ruby Franke‘s journals and having seen the evidence released by the Washington County Attorney‘s Office of Utah, one can only imagine the horrors Shari had to endure reading and seeing the evidence of her siblings‘ abuse. The trauma these kids have to live with their whole lives is unimaginable and atrocious. Their father who let this happen deserves to rot in jail for life, next to Ruby.

Revisiting the chapter in which Shari describes being sexually abused by her older mentor, who was a respected member of the LDS church and abused his position and authority but especially instrumentalized Shari‘s powerlessness in her already weakened mental state to prey on her while she was suffering a panic attack and further descending into the fawning response. This part is incredibly hard to read.

Through intricately constructed narration, the reader can observe how Shari‘s mental health already suffered under her mother’s tyranny in her early childhood; only amplified by the impact that the family business as influencers on “8 Passengers” had. Her anxiety had already developed before she was 5; and later resulted in anxiety attacks, depression, OCD in form of skin picking, and suicidal thoughts.

This is not an easy read. Shari Franke‘s writing is incredibly good and listening to her narrate the story of her early childhood to young teenage years while her mother constructed the very successful business of her mommy vlog that ended up ruining Shari‘s as well as her siblings‘ lives is hard to digest.