A true loveless childhood (Ugly - Constance Briscoe)

Member Name: kgray71

Product:	Ugly - Constance Briscoe
Date:	13/02/07 (420 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Inspiring story

Disadvantages: None

Introduction
==========

My Manager had bought this book and had leant it to her sister (who also works with me) and once she had finished it the Manager could not be bothered to walk home with it so leant it to me.

I only decided to read the book because I had read other people's review on the book sometime ago and thought it would be in an interesting read.

The Story
========

This story is an autobiography about a young girl called Clare who has a very hard childhood due to her mother. Her mother abuses her both mentally and physically. Clare is not an only child though she has a number of brothers and sisters, though the boys get treated like little princes while all the girls are forced into cooking and cleaning for the rest of the household.

Clare does not discover her real name of Constance until she goes to university but the main story is based in the 1960’s while Clare was growing up.

However none of the other children seem to receive the same kind of abuse as Clare. Her Mother drives Clare to the point that she is so nervous of being attacked by either her Mother or her Mother’s boyfriend that she is constantly wetting the bed.

My Opinion
==========

I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though I spent most of the time being angry with her Mother, Brothers and Sisters. The Mother for doing what she did and angry with the Brothers and Sisters who do absolutely nothing to help Clare. If anything at times they actually caused more hassle for Clare.

Regardless of the attacks Clare receives her courage is most inspiring, how in the face of all the abuse she can remain focused on what she wants to achieve out of life. The suffering and hard ship Clare goes through should be a reminder to us all that no matter how hard we think our own life is, it is nothing compared to what she endured for years.

This may be a true story but the characters in the book are written well and give a true likeness of what was happening and how Clare felt throughout all these terrible times. Even though the author is telling her story the other characters are describe good as well and complete and utter fear can be felt throughout the book.

This book can be bought from amazon.co.uk new for £12.99 (Hardcover) or £3.89 (paperback). I borrowed the hardcover version so there are 310 pages to the book. I would recommend this book, as I was not able to put it down. I spent most the time wanting desperately for Clare to be saved or for her to tell her Mother where to go.

ISBN 0-340-89597-7

Recommend, thanks for reading.

Summary: Inspiring recommend