| Product: |
A Child Called 'It' - Dave Pelzer |
| Date: |
08.08.07 (670 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Makes you realise just what goes on in our 'perfect' world
Disadvantages: Very graphic, upsetting and disturbing
A child called it', is a true story that tugs at our emotions, hits us hard where it hurts and shows us life in a perspective that many of us have never seen before. It shows the horrors in our world that go on behind closed doors and allows us to understand partly the lonliness, isolation and absolute fear of the child in question. It makes us question our belief in our 'perfect' world and think about what we may have seen already but just passed it by.
Plot
To put it as simply as possible so that it won't ruin the story for those of you who haven't read it, this story is about the abuse that David Pelzer suffered from the ages of 4-12 years and is the first in the trilogy. The other two books are; 'The lost boy' and 'A man called Dave' which between them follow his life into adulthood.
The story starts with the end which is very cleverly planned, as I don't think I could have got through the whole of the book without knowing that there was a light at the end of the tunnel and that there is some hope in his world of pain and darkness.
David talks for a long time in the first chapter about the years before all this started as if reminiscing back to the days when he had perfect parents. But there is a much deeper meaning for this part in the book - it informs us that things were not always as they are later in the book and that he did have loving, caring parents. It raises the question 'Why' and 'How can such a parent turn into such a monster as shown later in the book?'
I won't go too far into the abuse suffered, as I know that children read this site and I do not wish to be the one to give anyone nightmares. But I think it suffices to say that he was brutally abused; mentally, physically and verbally - he was beaten and starved, and treated as an 'It', demoted from the human race.
At school, to begin with he got no support, and they complained to his parents about his bad behavior such as stealing food and lack of attention in class. The school did finally get their act together and support him as well as phoning the police to get him out of there. His father similarly did nothing. He took refuge in alcohol and stopped even trying to help.
This isn't a book written for sympathy - this is a book written to try to draw attention to the plight of others in similar situations, who can be helped before it gets to late.
David finishes the book with a few 'bits & bobs' to clear a few things up and make other ideas more easily understood.
1. Epilogue - This explains what he is like now briefly as a adult. He has a child and this is talking about his reactions to Stephen. It shows the progress he has made to break the vicious cycle and turn tragedy into triumph.
2. Afterword - talking about child abuse as a whole and how it can turn out with examples of both bad and good. It relates how well he has done to have made use of such a tragic time of his life.
3. A note from Stephen Ziegler - to inform you of how he saw David when he was a child. This just very simply shows one mans point of view on a tragedy.
4. Lastly it finishes with an extract from both the 2nd and 3rd book in the trilogy, which I have read in full.
My reactions
One of my strongest reactions was disgust, both at the school and more strongly at the father. I felt that it was the fathers duty to protect his son, and not only he fail, he didn't even try. I found this appalling, there was no way I could excuse his failure to care his son and not try to stop his wife. Even now the man is classed as the head of the family, so how could he just let his wife walk over him in such a way? Why didn't he sort it out before it reached the point it did? I felt utterly disgusted with him and I don't even know him. The school was also guilty of neglect but not in quite such a horrific way. They should have worked out so much earlier that when a sad, thin, bruised boy steals food from other people's lunch there is a problem. But they didn't - they just blamed it on him. Even when they did realise that this boy was being beaten in a way far exceeding normal punishment it just got reported back to the mother causing more beatings. Finally they reported it to the police and all I can say is that it is a good job that they reacted when they did otherwise David may not be alive today.
This book stirs up many strong emotions; anger, hurt, sadness, disbelief, horror and even pride. By the end of the book I had been in tears several times, was fuming at his mother, father and school and his father and yet still be proud of David for doing what I know I couldn't in his situation - survive. He showed amazing hope and power to triumph over seemingly unsurmountable odds and yet still had more courage in him to write about his experiences.
It's a book that will effect the reader, it's not one you can read and toss the next day while forgetting all about it . The message sticks.
Information
'A child called It' is £5.99 from most good book stores and is well worth the price. I did get mine at a carboot stall for a massive amount of 20p so it is possible to get them cheap but it's well worth the normal price. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone except perhaps children and those who are excessively squeamish as the book is rather graphic. But overall this is a great book that really makes you think and I'd say that if you haven't already read it - READ IT!!!
Summary: Very powerful book
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