Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous book
Review: This is a book which contains material you wish was made up. Unfortunately it is not. Pelzer is extremely couragous for writing it, and while you wish the things that happened to him weren't true, his writing style makes for an easy read. My wife stayed up all night reading it; I finished it in two. A very interesting, yet tragic story.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous book
Review: This is a book which contains material you wish was made up. Unfortunately it is not. Pelzer is extremely couragous for writing it, and whioe you wish the things that happened to him weren't true, his writing style makes for an easy read. My wife stayed up all night reading it; I finished it in two. A very interesting, yet tragic story.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not the first such book of its kind
Review: a Ken Grant of Massachusetts and New Hampshire is said to have wrote the first such book of this kind on the market but to have been harassed and blackballed in preventing its publication,"The Wanderer". Grant once lived at the New England Home in Boston.Grant wrote of the experiences and people Bad and Good that he encountered while an abandoned,abused,handicapped child in state child care for over 15 years, representing less than 1% of the children who end up in state-sponsored care. Grant later went on to receive a college degree and even to lecture grad students on issues facing such children. This book serves a valuable purpose in forwarding little known issues for general public review and consumption.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: This is a book on an unbelievable memoir. He definitely had a horrifying childhood - torturous physically, psychologically, and spiritually. But he amazingly survived. I did felt skeptical. Where did he get the stregths to put up with all that? Survival instinct, I suppose. The book was written clearly, narrated in a "cool" manner, showing he has put this all in the past. What disturbed me most was the fact that I couldn't understand WHY his mother did that to him. This left me hanging. Maybe I need to read the sequel to find it out.
Rating: 
Summary: CHILD ABUSE FOR TOURISTS
Review: Being an adult who was battered as a child I am very interested in reading mamoirs of others who were abused. Who are they? What did they go through? What did they do? How are they doing now? These are some of the questions which interest me. But I never wanted to read this book. To me any book on child abuse which is on a general best seller list for even one week must be there for its entertainment value. I finally read this book out of curiosity more than anything else. This must be one of the oddest books put out by a US publishing house since THE AWFUL DISCLOSURES OF MARIA MONK in the 1830's. Here is not the minutiae of a life lived but the headlong rush from one horror to the next of the Penny Dreadful. The author, like a magician, forced to pull from his hat ever larger rabbits. The marketing ploys used to promote this book are even more disturbing. I don't think courage has any part in surviving child abuse. One simply does it. Survival is instinctual. Are all the children who didn't survive or who committed suicide cowards? And this business about the third most abused child in California history. Is this child abuse as contest? As competition? Do the people who voted (if anyone did) realize the potential for harm they have created for thousands of battered children? If you were a battered child who made it to adulthood and are looking for a therapist find one who has lots of experience with POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDERS. If anyone recommends this book--- run like Hell.
Rating:
Summary: A tear jerker account of child abuse
Review: I have read several reviews of people who do not want to believe that Dave Pelzer actually suffered through such horrible abuse, but the fact is it happened, no matter how bad you think it sounds. Some reviews do not believe the story because he does not explain why his mother and father acted the way they did. He gave no reasons. Hello people, did you read the books, don't you realize by him writing this is his way of trying to figure out for himself why these things happened. He does not know why his mother and father put him through the hell they did. I think if he did find out he would of shared that with us to help explain what happened. Unfortunately, the hardest part for him is living the rest of his life not knowing why.
Rating:
Summary: This book will change you
Review: This book is definitely worth reading. If you also had a childhood from the twilight zone of hell as the author did, you will find comfort in the fact that HE survived it and went on to have a normal, nice life. If you haven't been through any abuse like that, then I guess this book will show what evil does exist in the world and how people can survive such terrible things. The author is an amazing role model of how to be strong and how to not be a victim, regardless of what you have been through.
Rating:
Summary: Surely a book to give some thought to...
Review: I believe that this book is surely a book that every perspective parent and any person who has anger management problems should read. I could not imagine doing such horrid things to a young child. I could not put this book down. It was sad; however, it was also something that taught me a valuable lesson. This book shows that even those things that seem perfect are all to easy to turn around and become completely opposite of what they seem. Even the perfect family (in the beginning) turned out to be one of secrets and horror in the end. We should all read this. Think twice before you hit a child...it WILL turn into greater abuse. This man was living proof. Well written...I applaud him for what he's overcame.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put it Down
Review: I read this book for an extra credit project in a Psychology class and I must admit that not only was it the saddest thing I have ever read, but one of the best books I've ever read. I couldn't put it down and read the entire thing in two hours. A must read for anyone.
Rating:
Summary: child welfare system
Review: Like Dave, I too grew up in the child welfare care system. I am going to suggest that you read my books as well which are also available on Amazon.Com: Kids Who Outwit Adults, God Is In The Kitchen and Other Everyday Miracles and In Whose Best Interest. Thanks and God Bless to those who are willing to write about their misery in the child welfare system.
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