A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer. I'm going to be honest with you. I had no desire to read this book. True accounts of child abuse or any type of harm brought on by one human being onto another make me sick. It is frightening to think how some peoples' minds work in comparison to the norm, and that they could be living right down the street from me. I had to stop watching Criminal Minds because of this. I'm weird; I know. Anyway, back to the book.
My friend checked the book out from the library, and during the two day stint of her reading it, asked if I had read it, and talked about how parts of it had her crying; it was that awful. She has two sons of her own and could not imagine doing to her children what this mother had done to hers. She brought it for me to read, and I read it within four hours (large typeface).
I had already heard of some of the types of abuse before: how a parent will choose one child to take out their "anger" on. I say "anger," because it sure as hell (pardon me) is not anger - these people are sick in the head - while treating their other children like angels. Parts of it actually made me queasy, and I had to put the book down, until the feelings passed. I don't know if it was because I had only had coffee at that point in the morning and nothing to eat, or if it was just that gross and disturbing. Despite all of it, the story is written by the boy, who survived, so you know that he made it out of his living nightmare.
Do I think it's a great read? I don't know. Is it honest? Brutally. Should you read it? Probably.
Why? There were plenty of signs for the adults in his life to see...for years...and it took years for them to do anything about it. Why was he the only one of his brothers with dirty clothes with holes in them? Why was he the only one of his brothers stealing food? Why was he the only one of his brothers who was never seen playing outside? Why, when the social worker was called to their house on a report he was being abused (because a neighbor did what was right) did she not do anything, when he admitted that his mom beat him, but only when he deserved it? So many people should have stepped up to help this child, but nobody did.
Nobody saw the signs or realized they were seeing the signs of a child being abused by his own mother.
I don't suggest reading the book to make you cry or to make you sick to your stomach, but to make you aware. You may come across a child in your life or may know one now, that is silently calling out for help. That is why Dave Pelzer wrote his book - awareness. He was silently calling out for help. And he was forever thankful for the people who finally became aware and stood up for him, when no one else would.
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