Amazon.co.uk Review
David J. Pelzer's mother, Catherine Roerva, was, he writes in this ghastly, fascinating memoir, a devoted den mother to the Cub Scouts in her care but not to David, her son, whom she referred to as "an It". This book is a brief, horrifying account of the bizarre tortures she inflicted on him, told from the point of view of the author as a young boy being starved, stabbed, smashed face-first into mirrors, forced to eat the contents of his sibling's diapers and a spoonful of ammonia, and burned over a gas stove by a maniacal, alcoholic mom. Sometimes she claimed he had violated some rule--no walking on the grass at school--but mostly it was pure sadism. Inexplicably, his father didn't protect him; only an alert schoolteacher saved David. One wants to learn more about his ordeal and its aftermath, and now he's written a sequel,The Lost Boy, detailing his life in the foster-care system.

Book Description
The life-enhancing true story of a young boy’s struggle to free himself from his abusive mother and find a family to love him.

I knew that this would be a traumatic read and subconsciously I have put off reading it. As it has been sitting on our bookshelves for a little over two years I decided I should not put it off for any longer.
It is very short and I read it in its entirety yesterday afternoon. Certainly not a book one reads for pleasure or relaxation. It is not a story just the horrendous facts of a little boys life from the ages of four to twelve. I squirmed in horror as I read this example of the truth being so much scarier than fiction.
Dave Pelzer’s young life was a living hell with a Mother who physically and mentally tortured him. She was obviously a very disturbed woman but why was it that his brothers and his Father in particular, were unwilling or unable to stand up to her?
As this all happened over thirty years ago, one can only hope that nowadays such horrific cases of child abuse would never have gone on for so long. I really cannot understand why it was so very difficult for the school to rescue David from this situation, which they did eventually. It seemed to take them an eternity to gather the facts they needed! Why oh why did this child not have the strength to take the help that was tentatively offered at various times and just refuse to go home. I believe it was because he was so very very scared that if he did so no one would believe him and he would have ended up a murder victim. It seems to me that against all odds Dave Pelzer showed amazing strength of spirit and survived.
At times it seems unreal and is certainly very disturbing, however child abuse is sadly a reality in our society and for that reason I am glad that I decided to read this account.
I will read the sequel ‘The Lost Boy’ soon as it is also waiting on the bookshelves. It covers the period from age twelve to eighteen, when after his prayers were answered and he was rescued he became a foster child.


I gave this 7 stars not because it is a good book in the literary sense but because it is a bravely related memoir.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Given to my friend and fellow Bookcrosser Melamura as promised.


Happy reading

LindyLouMac

Finally I have read this much-hyped book and was a little disappointed. It is certainly harrowing and disturbing but much shorter than I anticipated, as the final 2 chapters are actually taken from the 2 sequels. I don't want to take anything away from the authors obviously awful childhood but found the book a little lacking. Having read other books based on child abuse prior to this, I found Dave Pelzers account slightly unbelievable. I am sure most of it is true as he would not have been removed from his home and placed in foster care. I find it strange though that the father did nothing and that the school did not intervene at an earlier stage, also that the other children were left in the care of an obviously disturbed woman. Why was she not prosecuted?

This book is now with me - picked it up at BC meeting along with its sequel, The lost Boy.

A 'horrible' but compulsory read. Have also finished the sequel, The Lost Boy, and shall look out for A Man Named Dave.
Would like to find out what happened to his parents, especially the mother. How can a loving mother turn into such a monster? Surely, not only alcohol was the cause of such extreme behaviour

This will travel with me to Finland. RABCK for Savotar.

Thank you Sobergirl for this book and candy. :)It was good to see you again.