I'm a little annoyed...Tonight I read a book entitled "A Chiled Called 'It'" and I believe it's fiction, to say the least."A Child Called 'It'" is a story about a boy who survives horrendous over-the-top abuse at the hands of his mother. It basically reads as a long list of horrors that the author describes in grisly detail and sometimes depicts with startling clarity...My problems with the book are many, For the sake of brevity however, I'll just list a few:--He couldn't remember the color of his mothers eyes or hair, yet he remembered even the dates of certain abuses, the number of hits, the words said, and every fleeting thought. He remembers each abuse in vivid detail, clarity and full color descriptions. --He remembers too many specifics; One *tiny* example taken from the end of chapter two: "... The green river was as smooth as glass. The bluejays scolded the other birds, and a warm breeze blew through my hair. Without a word, we stood watching the firebhall-like sun as it sank behind the tall trees, leaving bright blue and orange streaks in the sky. From above, I felt someone hug my shoulders...." (Keep in mind that he was like 8 or 9 in that 'memory.' There are lots of these scenes throughout the book. Yes I remember certain things in my childhood quite vividly, but not *so* well that I could tell you when a warm breeze ruffled my hair.--After the first chapter (which is really the end of this story), the second chapter is devoted to describing the absolute perfect family in which he lived; perfect experiences and happiness in every way. There isn't even a hint of trouble like "mother had a drink with breakfast every day for the whole vacation" -- nothing like that.. Yet the first paragraph of chapter 3 reads "My relationship with Mom drastically changed from discipline to punishment that grew out of control. It became so bad at times, I had no strength to crawl away -- even if it meant saving my life." That's a hell of a jump there. Out of nowhere she starts drinking heavily and the abuse starts.--He recalls MANY times being shoved into a locked bathroom with a bucket containing Ammonia and Bleach. (This he called the gas-chamber game.) Each time it would happen, he'd be locked in there for a goodly amount of time.... And yet he suffered no permanent lung damage? He joined the service, and I'm amazed his lungs worked well enough to get him through basic training.--He describes his stabbing, and how his blood "completely soaked through" a number of shirts. And how he himself squeezed the pus out of it to rid of the infection that had set in. Pretty good for a (10?) year old.I don't know.. I just got a real funny feeling about the whole thing, and I've learned to trust my instincts, SO I turn to the internet, and for the past few hours have been searching and reading and searching and reading... I even watched a couple of interviews with Dave Pelzer (author / victim), and the man gives me the absolute impression of a charlatan. He speaks of his childhood abuses too flippantly, and seems more obsessed about book and ticket sales than he does about getting his story out.There is no doubt that child abuse happens. But just because it CAN happen, doesn't mean it happened to HIM. And even if he was abused as a child, I honestly believe he embellished his stories to the point of absurdity, and that is what makes me angry. Making up stories, or even embelishing on stories of abuse, cheapens what is *actually* happening to kids around the world.That is my opinion of this book: It's a fake. Just do the research, read the articles and watch the videos. Make up your own mind, but I'll bet you find his story is at least somewhat suspicious.
Oh my god, what can I possibly say about this book? When I first started reading this book last year, I was just so hooked to it and I just wanted to know everything about this book. It was all about this author's childhood gone horrible with the extreme abuse, the torture and suffering. I really couldn't believe my eyes, the author described like, everything he went through, all the pain he had to go through, how he felt and everything. I could really understand how he felt but one thing about this book I don't get at all is how his own mother transformed from a loving mother to a nightmarish, abusive mother so quickly. I mean, the author was only, like a little boy when his mother started abusing him.This book is extremely emotional and can make you feel so bad for the author and even cry so. This book was all about the author's childhood and how he survived through such abuse, starvation, and neglect. This also showed how bad things happen to good people - the author's own father didn't even help out at all - he was once a fun, loving fireman, turned into an alcoholic, carless father. The only way for the author to get help was through school but the only thing that kept him from telling the school the truth was his fear of his mother going after him and make his life last through hell forever; even though the school sort of already knew, from all the bruises on him, him stealing the children's food because of hunger, from his mother starving the author and how he constantly uses identical/unreasonable lies about his bruises and wounds. He was pratically stabbed in the belly and had to go through such pain. His faith and hope kept him going & he never let his mother win this sick game. In the end, he told the school the truth and he was finally taken out of the horrible home, with the abusive mother, two brothers that weren't treated horribly at all and the careless, alcoholic father - and put into a much better home - foster home. I loved this first book so much that I even continued on to the next book!A lot of thanks goes to my teacher, for lending me the books - it's one of my most favorites!
What do You think about A Child Called "It" (1995)?
The Child Called ItBy: Dave PelzerThe child called it wasa touching story written by Dave Pelzer telling about his childhood. His childhood was well i guess you could say a living "hell" His mother was constantly beating him for no reason. He never got any food ever, but on occasions he would get unwanted table scraps that even the dog didn't want, but because he never got any food he cherished the food and ate it like it would be his last meal for years to come. Dave had two brother that were his age and his mother being the witch she was seriously banned them from talking to Dave talk about a crappy childhood. His mother an unstable alcoholic was always drinking and the more drunk she was the more pain she would give Dave. She once was so drunk and wanted to see pain that she took her son Dave into the kitchen and turned on all of the stove burners and nearly laid her own son across the burners. One time when she was throwing Dave around like a rag doll she carelessly broke his arm and being the mother that she was made him sleep on the top bunk, the morning after that she took him to the doctor and told him that Dave fell off the top bunk and that's how he broke his arm. She always made him just go along with the stories so she wouldn't get into any trouble. So basically this book was about the childhood of a boy who was constantly beaten.I give this book 5 whole stars because it was a heart touching book that made me realize that other people have it worse than me. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a book that will make them cry and want to see what other peoples lives are like.
—Jocelyn Brandom
A Child Called "It" HCI, 1995 $9.95By Dave Pelzer ISBN 1558743669tOne very common issue that goes around in our world is child abuse, it happens everywhere and it is something that is horrible and cannot be stopped. Dave Pelzer, the author of the autobiographical book, A Child Called It, shows the very dark corners of child abuse by viewing to the readers his horrific life as a young boy living with his mother that constantly abused him.tDave Pelzer, who lived with his unstable, disturbed, alcoholic mother in a town in California during the early 70's, explains his story about his torturous unforgettable years as a young boy. Throughout the story, he does his best to survive from his mother and tries to stay alive from the pain of hunger, bruises and cuts he receives. The only thing that keeps him alive are his dreams, wanting a happy and safe family, and also being someone. tIt’s terrifying to think after reading this that, this really had happened to someone, it isn’t fake. This made me say to myself, “wow, life can be so messed up, but you can survive even the most horrible things, as long as you follow your dream, and keep it with you as close as possible.” I believe this is the message, Dave Pelzer is trying to reach out, not only to the people who get abused consistently, but also to those who suffer a great deal of pain from something terrible everyday. Once you have read the last word of the story, and closed the book, you will definitely know that this book has just changed your life, and your perspective of issues like these around the world, trust me, that is a fact.
—Kohei
My book review is over A Child Called “IT” By: Dave Pelzer. This book is a true story about a child’s devastating childhood in which he experienced child abuse physically and verbally. David’s child abuse first started when he was only two and a half years old, and continued for ten years after that.David’s abuse came from his mother who once was a loving woman that cared for her children and was willing to do anything for them and her husband. Quickly all the good in his mother turned to bad.David’s mother was mentally unstable, was an alcoholic, and did drugs. She soon began playing cruel twisted ‘life or death’ games with David. She locked him in bathrooms with cleaning chemicals giving David no option but to inhale them, she nearly starved David to death, she made him sleep in the basement on a cottage, and she stabbed him, with refusal to take him to the hospital. David’s childhood was filled with multiple events involving abuse. David’s mom even stopped calling him ‘David’ and started calling him ‘It’ because to her he was nothing and worthless. This book provides you with amazing details making you feel like you’re there in person with David himself. This book really made me realize the difficulties people face in the world and not to treat anyone with disrespect because you never know what might be happening at their home. David Pelzer blew me away with A Child Called It. His life story brought so much sympathy to heart and tears to my eyes. I definitely couldn’t stop reading without wanting to know what was next in this amazing book. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know a real life experience of someone who dealt with child abuse in full detail.
—Jeannifer Floyd
