Rating: 
Summary: Unpleasantly grim tale of child abuse
Review: Okay. First of all, I want to establish something: I am not someone who recoils at the first little drop of blood. I like Monty Python, I like Gahan Wilson, and I've watched slasher movies where people are slashed and dashed upside down. I think it says something then that I found this book genuinely unpleasant. There is no hope in this book. There is no light in this book. For 160 pages there is much violence, chaos, and the spirtual damaging of an innocent little boy. Of course, there is a tacked on happy ending ( epilogue ) that made the pages that came before all the more repugnant. This book contained, among many others things:A little boy being gruesomely stabbed by his mother.
The same boy being forced to drink ammonia, as well as Clorox.
The boy's classmates encouraging him to commit suicide.
A boy being submerged in ice cold water and then left outside in the cold for hours at a time.
I just opened the book at random. I find the following passage at the top of the page:
"Well, Roerva, if you would just let The Boy have *something* to eat."
A heated battle of words broke out in front of me and, as always, mother won.
"EAT ? You want The Boy to eat, Stephen ? Well, the Boy is going to EAT! He can eat this!" And what is the mother referring to ? Interesting story. Well, it seems that the mother enjoys starving this boy. The Boy ( that's the only thing he's referred to, you see ) has to steal in order to survive. Literally. So the mother forced the Boy to vomit the cafeteria lunch he stole. Then, after the passage above, the Boy was forced to eat his own vomit.
Then of course is the part where the mother forces the Boy to eat fesces from a used diaper. Oh, and then there's the part where the Boy is locked in a room with a bucket of ammonia and Clorox without ventillation. This does, of course, create a particularly dangerous gas that makes the Boy spit up blood.
If this sounds like the kind of book you would enjoy, then go ahead and read it. Of course, I'm not sure that the word "enjoy" is something that you can do with this book.
Rating: 
Summary: George's Thoughts
Review: I read David Pelzer's book cover to cover, this book kept me glued in the libray for the hours i spent reading it. A true nspiration, it gives others hope to whom ever reads it. david showed the true aspect of how bad abuse in America can be.
The struggles he went as a young boy are truely amazing, i
was shocked he survived such torture. It should show how some kids have it under the shade. An emotional book, that will
keep you in the edge of your seat with anxiety,and
fill you with inquisitive thoughts
5 stars from me
Rating:
Summary: My review
Review: This was a great book. I couldn't put it down. The day after my friend showed the book to me I went to the libary and got it out. Most of my family read the book. But for me to read a book its an amzing thing. I finished the book in 3 days. I couldn't put it down. This book is an inspiration to me.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Eye Opener
Review: This book has opened my eyes to the terrible tragedy of child abuse. Dave Pelzer accomplished his goal of informing us about what so many unfortunate children face everyday. I have heard the stories that many of us hear on the news, but nothing compares to what you learn by reading this book from the perspective of a child who lived it. He is a courageous survivor! I believe his story will enlighten many and help us make this world a better place! I will definitely read the follow up books on his story!
Rating:
Summary: A Child Called It.
Review: "A Child Called It" by David Pelzer was a fantastic book. This was a great story that David told from his heart. He kepts his readers interested in wanting to know what is going to happen next. I love reading his stories and understanding what he had to go through as a child and how he coped with all of the mistreatment. The mental and physical abuse that he had to encounter as a child is very sad. I don't think anyone really wants to believe things like this happen. In this book Steve will let you know first hand of what it is like. This book made me think back about how good my childhood really was. Most people will say that they had it bad as a child until they read this book. I have to admit that I cried a few times as Steve touched my heart with his writing. He made me feel as if I was there as it was happening and could feel everything he was feeling. I just don't understand how any parent could treat their child that way. I respect Steve for being able to speak out and talk about his experiences the way that he does. I feel sorry for what he had to go through but I think it is only made him a much stronger person. I recommend this book to anyone who loves to read a good non-fiction book. Steve will touch your heart in many ways that I know you will love his writing just as much as I do.
Rating:
Summary: A child called it
Review: I read the book "A child called it" by: David Pelzer. It is a true story by a man who was seriously abused by his mother. While David had other siblings, his mother, a very depressed and angry woman, only abused him. I feel that this book will touch the hearts of anyone who lays a hand on it. It will make you laugh, cry, cuss, and cringe! Once you start reading it you will not be able to stop. This heart wrenching story explains how David Pelzer's mother beat him, mentally abused him, starved him for days at a time, and would bring him as near to death as any of us can imagine, and then stop the abuse in just enough time for him to survive.
This book tells you just how young David Pelzer made it through this incredible abuse and lived. I definately would recommend this book to anyone that likes to read " tear jerkers!"
Rating:
Summary: Great!!!
Review: I loved this book!!!! It was so real and life like--the sad part is that to acheive this it had to have been....He dealt with some horrible things...and overcame them. This book kept me reading...and I jus wanted to scream and hollar at the mother for being so mean and hateful!!! I will definatly read the other 2 books!! I think everyone should read this book! It really makes you think about how lucky you are!
Rating:
Summary: A True Story Of a Child's Courage
Review: When I read this book, I was horrified. To think things like this actually go on. How could a mother be so EVIL? And yet, I've heard stories that are worse... What made this book stand out is that I KNOW that David Pelzer survived this abuse and I was looking for clues about what made him survive and triumph, what made him turn his story of abuse into a way to help others (as a guest lecturer for social agencies and author). What I saw was that he looked for ways that he could have some control, ways that he could have small triumphs over the abuser, a woman who might put [others] to shame! This is a story as bad as the houlocaust except it is still happening to millions of children, and I celebrate Dave Pelzer's victory. This book made me want to read the other 2 books: THE LOST BOY and A MAN NAMED DAVE to find more clues about how he survived. Ultimately though I don't think he would have if someone hadn't stepped in when they did, and this book ultimately shows us how important it is to help these children and report abuse.
Rating:
Summary: Living in a nightmare
Review: I put the book down from reading it the second time. Questions buzz through my head. Questions like, "Why didn't the father help him?", "Why didn't the mother have to go to court after people from the school and the police found out her secert?" Then it hit me full force. It didn't really matter what did or didn't happen. The part that was very important was the fact that a young boy, about the age of eleven, had to live through all of that and still survived. Not only did Dave Pelzer survived, but he also made something of himself instead of pitying himself or turning against the whole world.
Child abuse cases are becomeing worse and worse as the years go by. I strongly feel that this book is going to open some people's eye's, and their mind, to what some children are going through everyday. And maybe there will be little less hesiation in helping this kids. This was such a WONDERFUL and INSPIRATIONAL book. It showed triumph, horror, sadness, lonliness, and most of all the will to live.
Rating:
Summary: horrifying
Review: This book is an endless account of the tortures the writer went through as a child. While reading it I felt sick to the stomach. How amazing for him to have survived all of the terrible terrible abuse by his mother.
I feel this book was written for the author to somehow deal with his terrible childhood. I don't feel this account should have been published as a book though. I felt it was so thorough and detailed in its descriptions that it made me feel like I was listening in on things that are really none of my business. If you want to understand sexuality you don't rent a porn movie, if you want to understand child abuse, you don't read this book.
There are no insights given in how the abuse comes about, how it effects the author (although I believe in the sequel there is some attention to that issue). It is just an endless summing up of all the horrors.
I do commend the writer for writing his memories, I believe however that the book was published only to make money through a sensationalist interest people have in horror stories. It seems like the author got 'abused' again, at least this time it must have made him some money.
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