The Girl Nobody Wants - A Shocking True Story Of Child Abuse In Ireland (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Don't believe it.I don't believe it for two reasons. First of all, this woman claims to have been sexually abused by just about everyone she ever met. Let's list them: Her stepfather, her older brother, her sister's boyfriend, the boy at the farm, the lesbian nuns, and the priest who was a brother of the nice family. There's another one, I'm sure, but I lost track. And then the ones who didn't sexually abuse her kicked her, hit her (daily), locked her in cupboards, fed her vomit, gravel and asphalt and practically sold her into slavery.Secondly, she has such a clear, vivid memory of precise events in her childhood. That's impossible. I remember precious little before I was about 11 years of age. I recall certain events very vaguely, but everything around those events is a fog. O'Brien remembers everything, right down to the minutest detail. She remembers events that happened when she was four and five so precisely that they just can't be true.And really, can everyone - I mean EVERYONE - in that part of Ireland be a such a child-abusing paedophile? Everyone? Where are all the decent families that make up a community?But it carries on. She finally ends up back in England and despite warning her sister, Karen, about Fred, their brother-in-law, fails to recognise him when she arrives in England herself until he tries it on with her again. What happens next is astounding. Her paedophile step-father, when he can't have his wicked way with her because she's pregnant ends up sleeping with her boyfriend! And her older brother starts raping her younger brother! And her mother just allows it all to go on!And at this stage I'm starting to feel that this is possibly a slightly dysfunctional family.So why have I given it three stars? Because it's actually a very readable story. Cleverly written in that she starts with no call for sympathy whatsoever, in fact making the point that she's a pain to live with and that her boyfriend has an undeservedly tough time of it. For the most part the book is written from a child's perspective, and I'm still undecided as to whether this is very clever writing or she actually did have such a poor education that this is the best she can do. Whatever, it works, and you're drawn into the narrative through the eyes of a five-year-old. The love she feels for her younger brother, Simon is unimpaired and flawless, and this, along with her great stoicism is one of her many redeeming features.For although I began this by stating that I don't believe it, I do believe this girl was abused, and badly. I just don't know how much is true. I think she's started off to write her story and just got carried away with it, losing herself in the narrative, perhaps adding other children's stories to her own as she went.In short, I just don't know what to believe. Either way, though, it's a good read We have all heard of child abuse and been horrifed by it. In recent years, some new cases came to light, including the "Ireland Church Scandal". How can anyone not be disgusted by what some human beings inflicted on innocents?This book hit me in the guts. From a literary point of view, it is a bit naive, not very polished. But I think this is what this sort of book needs. It needs to be raw, to be about fact and not about florish. The fast that the story is told at the 1st person makes it all the more gut wrenching. My heart cried for Lily and Simon - for (some of) her brothers and sisters too, but they are the ones who come across as the gentlest souls and endured the worse life can hand someone. You feel rage towards the mother, the Nuns, the families who "took care" of Lily during holidays and any other person she and little Simon had to deal with. The father? well you just want to shake him until he comes to his senses (but you know he's just weak). Just writing this review brings tears to my eyes... If I could tell Lily one thing, it would be not to gve up hope entirely. She made it this far, she's stronger than she thinks. And she has a great husband by her side. I would also give angels Lily & Simon a big hug each and tell them that not everyone is rotten to the core, that some people do protect the more fragile. VERY emotional biography.
What do You think about The Girl Nobody Wants - A Shocking True Story Of Child Abuse In Ireland (2012)?
Book had its good points. Got very long winded towards the end. However it is a very tragic story.
—chessydignium
A shocking story, as the title says. It did seem like fiction at times which is awful really :(
—Angge
WTF is wrong with people? This book is haunting and beyond sad yet I could not put it down.
—Steffers0713
Great book to read but it was also hard to read. It will open your eyes. This is for sure.
—mharris
