The Privilege Of Youth: A Teenager's Story (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
Have you ever faced hunger when there is food in the refrigerator? Loneliness when you even have a family? Or even homeless when you do have a home? Well Dave Pelzer had faced through that horrible, unpleasant moments every single day he woke up in the garage with the newspaper twisted in his body because he did not have a blanket. Because his dramatic and diavolic mother considered Dave no longer as a son, but as an slave, an object, an nothing. Dave had lived in a large amount foster care homes. He felt like he didn’t fit in this world because he couldn’t stay in a foster home for long time and live like a normal person; that’s all he wanted, be a normal person. Dave is bulled at his neighborhoods and at school, every time he looked up he felt like a huge basketball sphere was thrown at his face and that would explode . In my opinion this book is a great book, one of those books where you learn a lot by reading it, those books when you read them you start realizing how the world really is.Dave Pelzer is a teenager who has been in the foster care home since he was twelve years old. He was rescued from his evil and alcoholic mother who mentally and physically abused, tortured and almost killed him. He moved to a new neighborhood and met very nice people, people who changed his life dramatically; He met Dan, his foster father who always encourage him and gave him plenty of advices. Dave admired Dan from who he was, and how Dan treated him as his own son. Later he met David and Paul, two teenagers who became his best friends, two young kids who shared their life and adventures with Dave. Dave was worried, terrified of when he was going to turn eighteen because by that age he cut off in the foster care program; and then he would be all on his own. And in order to not to starve a single night again, he worked full time in many jobs. He dropped high school in order to keep working and save enough money to know what his next meal is going to be. People might not have the same opinion of this book, and maybe even in Dave's decision because he was really silly to drop school in order to keep his job. It might have been a good decision to work but not to drop the high school, your education; because nowadays school is very important for their futures and goals. Having a degree in college now matters a lot to find a good and stable job.I admire Dave Pelzer because of his strength of overcoming his horrible past and the power to publish his auto biological book. I really recommend "The Privilege of Youth" because it makes you value on what you have and never look back and hide.
The non-fiction novel, "The Privilege of Youth :A Teenager's Story" by Dave Pelezer was definitely written to inform and to entertain. He is telling the story of his childhood abuse and neglect, then talking about how it effects his still to this day. He often times refers back to his childhood through the story. He has written four books on the sugject of his abuse now, and certainly knows how to cut derectly to the core. In his books, he talks about not only overcoming the obsticles of his past, but also the small everyday problems we run into.The basic theme of the book was that with humanity comes a huge amount of situations to run into, but with a little faith they can all be overcome. Dave Pelezer does not just come straight out and say those words, but it becomes obvious after the first sentence: "Its been a long four days." You can practically hear the exhaustion in those words. But then, as we all do, he eventually overcomes with a small victory and gets past those rough days. This book would be considered an exposition. The author writes 225 pages on the effects of childhood abuse. His struggle was harsh, and he talks about hating even the thought of his past. A few of the pages became depressing enough to make my eyes water. With that, I can say that this book was definitely effective. He easily hot the point across, and made me think about what some people go through every day. I adored the book. Its kind of like a slice-of-life genre book, which I really liked. It seriously took me to the point that I could not put it down for the life of me. I would recommend it to anyone, it makes you think about things you might not normally think about, which is something I really appreciated.
What do You think about The Privilege Of Youth: A Teenager's Story (2004)?
Started this book without reading the preceeding ones. Paused one page in and considered if this book would be to difficult or arouse to many memories within myself. Taking a deep breath I read on - and oh so glad I did! Pelzer was able to communicate the difficult aquardness of teenage-hood, the desparation to be accepted. Once finished the book I cheered that he'd manage to find in his teens what took me well into my 30's to establish. Is he a pulizer prize author? I think not. He IS an author for the people who can write the real of life in readable, understandable yet never dumbed-down language. Thanks Dave!Johnnie
—Mrs Johnnie Tate
The author Dave Pelzer went through a tough childhood with his mentally disturbed alcoholic mother abusing him. Later it was found out to be one of the worst cases of child abuse in the state of California. But this book was mostly about him growing up in out of foster homes and trying to fit in like a normal high school student. Some people would say he lived a truly extraordinary life and now sharing his inspirational stories with the world in his books like The Privlage Youth.Throughout the book I felt that certain parts the pase moved slow and at some parts of the story got a little boring. But other than that what I like about it was that it was very discriptive and you always understood what was going on. Also it showed me how precious life is and that we shouldn't take life for granted because some kids don't get as lucky and get the sane things we get. But Dave Pelzer didn't look at his life as awful as it was he looked at in a positive way. By working hard he was able to Become part of the armed forces and got hand picked to midair refuel the highly secretive SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Stealth Fighter. Also by his successful books he wrote about his life.So I would recommend reading this book to anyone looking for a inspiring, eye opener, and touching book like The Privlage Youth.
—Kelsey D
The book is educational to those in the educational and social work field, its helps a teacher or social worker to understand how a youth may act on order to get acceptance from his peers. It also helps from the standpoint of how a child feels when being bullied at school. I find all of Dave Pelzer's book to be inspirational. This child endured so much more than any child should ever have to and then instead of breaking, had made such an impact on many people around the world. Dave Pelzer is defintely a hero!!
—Christina
