A Very Worthy Read (Sickened - Julie Gregory)

Member Name: MrsDave

Product:	Sickened - Julie Gregory
Date:	28/04/09 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Eye-opening, enlightening and absorbing

Disadvantages: Disturbing

My husband was telling me he'd been reviewing some books this week on Dooyoo, and it reminded me about a book I had wanted to review for a little while. It's called Sickened and it tells the autobiographical story of a woman called Julia Gregory. You can purchase it for £6.99 if you would like to buy a copy, and Amazon have it on sale for £5.24.

I found this book both interesting and disturbing from start to finish. Julie, the author, takes us on a journey through her childhood. It is apparant from the outset that Julie's Mother and Grandmother suffer from Munchausen By Proxy. The real trouble with Munchausen By Proxy is that it is not really Julie's Mother and Grandmother who suffer at all, but rather little Julie does.

From before she can even remember, Julie's Mother is convincing everyone that Julie is sick. It never sounds like it even crosses her Mother's mind that her appalling treatment of Julie is what causes Julie to be painfully thin. Instead, her Mother attributes her thin frame as a sign of a serious heart defect that the doctors are all too stupid to recognise. Julie's Mother convinces her that she is ill, and coaches her on what she should say when she sees the doctors.

Julie is a child who does not know any better, and she soon finds herself convinced that her little aches and pains must be signs of the serious disease that her Mother says is killing her. To make matters worse, her Mother goes onto foster children to who she does the same thing. Julie gets to an age where she starts to question her Mother's behaviour and realises that certain behaviours are not quite right. For example, she is sent to beat one of the foster children and makes a turning point when she decides to beat her own hand so that her Mother can hear the thwacking sounds she expects, without Julie having to wrongly harm the young child.

I would spoil this book by revealing too much about the journey that Julie takes, but it goes without saying that Julie eventually makes adulthood in one piece and gets away from her Mother. The truly harrowing part of this story is that no matter how much she realises her Mother's treatment of her, and others, is wrong; Julie does not stop wishing she and her Mother could have a good relationship. Julie never quite gets away from being the little girl who wants her Mum to love her.

I found this a particularly disturbing read because I know someone who has been through a similar ordeal. Her Mother repeatedly convinced doctors that she had mental illnesses when she did not. The crunch really came when her Mother tried to have her sectioned, and they refused to do so. Her daughter broke away after that and finally realised that her Mother was not on her side and trying to help her but actually the cause of the problems. The same revelation occurs to Julie when she realises at last that there is nothing wrong with her heart, and that the problem is with her Mother.

What disturbed me in equal measures is the lack of support and assistance Julie received from the officials who should have protected her. The child welfare services repeatedly messed up, and the courts were little help too. But it was interesting and productive for me as a reader to hear the truth. Julie coming forward and spilling it all out like this in black and white might just help to save another child in a similar situation from going through what she went through.

This is a tough book to read, and one that will make you want to go and hug your children and tell them how much you love them. But it is an important book to read too, and one that can help to make us stronger, better parents. Despite Julie's broken education, she is obviously an intelligent woman and she has been given sufficient editorial assistance to make this a well written book that flows well and is easy to read.

Summary: I highly recommend this book.