Short description
This is the author's story of his childhood as a boy brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother, a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games - games that left one of her three sons nearly dead.
Long description
Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother, a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games. Games that left one of her three sons nearly dead.;She considered Dave a slave; no longer a boy, but an it . His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dogs bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. But throughout Dave kept alive dreams of finding a family to love him. This work covers the early years of his life and the horrors of child abuse as well as acting as testament to the steadfast determination of one child to survive.
Review
The media continue to report shocking and almost unbelievable stories of child abuse. Invariably the same questions are asked. Why is this still happening? Why did no one notice what was going on? There are never any satisfactory answers, often because the child is dead. Pelzer courageously allows us to be a fly on the wall throughout his terror-soaked childhood. We are with him every day, through every incident and every minute of toture. This is the story of a tiny soldier battling to keep alive in the face of horrific treatment by his alcoholic mother. Like all real wars, it's wholly encompassing for both participants and observers, engaging every nerve and sinew, every ounce of suffering. From primary school onwards, Dave is continually denied food, denied even the contents of the trash can, forced to eat faeces, burned over the gas stove, stabbed in the stomach, asphyxiated with ammonia and sent to sleep in the unheated basement like a dog or an 'It'. Why didn't he tell someone? With Dave's help we realize that the power of an aggressive parent is absolute and the fear instilled is paralysing. Dave explains how difficult it was for outsiders to connect the well-dressed, public spirited neighbour with the alter ego who succumbed to drunken rages and sadistic acts within the security of their own home. Dave's survival rests entirely on his will to live which he keeps alive with small acts of defiance. There is something in suffering and surviving that builds an inner strength and the suvivor may well, as Pelzer has done, go on to enjoy a successful and worthwhile career in the world. This is the first of a trilogy; the second and third books will be eagerly awaited, especially if they flesh out more of the background and circumstances of his mother Catherine Roerva and his ineffectual father. (Kirkus UK)