With a story like this it’s really hard to know where to begin.
It’s a tale of abuse, a tale of sorrow, a tale of hope at the end of a long hard struggle and also a tale which will make even the most hard hearted people who read it feel shocked at the horrible wretched life David Pelzer suffered as a child.
I bought this for two reasons really, one, because of the reviews I’d read on this book and two it was on special offer at my local Tesco.
~~~~~~~~~~ THE TALE ~~~~~~~~~
I don’t want to give away too much of the book as that would put you off reading it so I’ll just go over the general information I picked up in this most moving book.
David’s nightmare starts at around the age of 6 or 7 when his mother becomes an abusive alcoholic. She aims all of her frustrations and aggression at this poor kid. He is the youngest of three at the time the abuse starts.
It starts with little punishments like making him wash the dishes then onto basically starving him so he has to go through the trash can at night just to get some nourishment at all. She beats him and on one occasion she stabs him with a kitchen knife. He isn’t allowed any eye contact with other members in the family and has to sleep in the basement of the house with no heat and very few warm clothes to keep him warm.
After the birth of his third brother things get even worse for poor David and on one occasion he is almost forced to eat the contents of his brother nappy. He is forced to steal food from lunch boxes owned by his fellow class mates and when he is finally caught and his mother informed about this he is then put through a humiliating ordeal every day after school – he is made to vomit in fact if he refuses she rams her fingers down his throat to induce it for him. On several occasions he is then made to eat this afterwards. Hard words to read I know and I was almost physically sick reading them myself but for a child to go through this is unbelievable.
He is basically ignored by the rest of the family, including his father whom he looked up to and sort security from. He hopes one day his father will save him from this monster of a women but his help never comes and he soon gives up hope of escaping.
He is let down by everyone around him who should have noticed he was a neglected and abused child but his mother always seemed to have some excuse for the bruises and cuts he has on his body – until one day he is saved.
~~~~~~~~ MY THOUGHTS ~~~~~~~~~
I have never read a more moving and at the same time horrifying book – as a mother myself I am shocked and appalled this could happen to anyone, the fact that his own father stood by knowing he was being beaten, starved and tortured on a daily basis is heart breaking. Yet after all he went through he still survived his ordeal and has written a very moving book that is easily readable by all. He doesn’t use fancy words just tells the story of the hell he went through.
I think a lot of us would thank our lucky stars that we were not brought up by parents like his – I know I do and at times I felt my childhood had it’s bad moments but after reading this I feel lucky to have had the upbringing I did.
I would recommend this book to everyone for the simple fact it will make you appreciate your own parents more and make you feel lucky not to have lived a life like David’s.
~~~~~~~~ CONCLUSION ~~~~~~~~
To conclude this review I will tell you the usual details. You can purchase a copy of this book at all good book stores and some supermarkets, it’s price marked at £5.99 but like I said at the beginning of this review, I bought mine for a meagre £3.84 at Tesco’s.
It’s well worthy of the £5.99 if you can’t get it at a bargain price and I would urge you to read it if possible. It will open your eye’s to what horrors the world has in it. It may seem like a depressing read and in parts it is but it is not without it’s little triumphs. For instance when David finally gets one over his mother, you feel like shouting “Way to go David”.
Anyway enough from me and I hope I have encouraged you to go out and buy this book.
It is the first of three written about David Pelzer life. Its followed by THE LOST BOY and A MAN NAMED DAVE.
I have just bought The Lost Boy and will write a review on it when I have finished reading.
Thanks for reading and rating this review, all comments are welcome :o)