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Summary: Child abuse takes many forms
Review: This book does not flinch from reality. The book starts with the childhood of the mother. Her mother came from a world where incest was usual and it was not uncommon for the babies to be born deformed. It then launches into the life of Julie, the author of the book. Her mother is determined that Julie is fatally ill. She drags her from doctor to doctor, coaxing the child on what she should tell the doctor. The child is not aware of what she is saying. She tells the doctor that she has a headache when she is too young to know what a headache is. The child is starved and overworked so of course she always looks sick. The saddest part of the book for me is when her parents burn their double trailer leaving their dog inside. They then abandon their children. Julie is left with a legacy that never leaves her. Is she actually sick? She know longer knows. I have not been so moved by a book since White Oleander.
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Summary: Good Psychology Book
Review: I studied psychology but never read an indepth account/biography on this syndrome. Facinating and chilling.
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Summary: Unbelievable !
Review: After having seen Julie interviewed on television, I was immediately drawn to her story. I cannot believe the extent of her abuse and how she somehow managed physically and emotionally to overcome it and be the survivor she is today! Her story is something I will never forget and was written very well. The story is heartwrenching and brought me to tears several times. A horrific story, but a great read!
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Summary: interesting story not so interestingly written
Review: While the story Julie Gregory tells is certainly interesting, she could have used the help of a strong editor to improve her writing. Her shifting verb tenses and clichéd healing terminology only weaken the impact of her tale. Should this kind of book, written to help others and to attain some kind of catharsis for its author, be judged on its literary merit? Maybe not as the sole criteria, but I found myself distracted by poor writing. This book could have benefited from a more straightforward storytelling approach.
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Summary: In Awe of Her Strength to Overcome
Review: As a mother of two small children who I love more than life itself and would fiercely protect against any physical or emotional distress, I found myself absolutley drawn to this book and could hardly put it down once I began reading it. I am in awe of Julie's strength in overcoming such hardships she experienced by the hands of those who should have loved and protected her most, her parents.I look forward to reading more books written by this author and look forward to any future writings that detail further experiences to follow up Sickended.
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Summary: Amazing book
Review: This is the most fascinating and inspirational book I have read in a long time. Julie survived a hellish childhood, yet persevered to take back her own life. I feel thankful that she went through the painful process of writing this book in order to bring this horrible disease out of hiding.
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Summary: Right under our noses
Review: Julie Gregory's remarkable memoir is an illustration that child abuse rather than some rare occurence goes on under our noses all the time. While Julie lived with her family in a rural setting, her mother's behavior was observed by family practitioners, surgeons, hospital staff, teachers and social workers galore. All of them were manipulated by a woman who barely had an education whose cunning, manipulation and resolve were razor sharp and refined religiously to conceal her actions. Julie's hapless father is unaware of the effect of his
thoughtless reflexive actions, played like a violin by her mother's rabid projections and eventually acknowledged as an accomplice in the deprived lives that Julie and her foster siblings led. Julie's compassionate, understated prose exposes her mother's intense needs, drive for pathological attention and voracious aggression on an intimate level. The conversations she recalls convey the technicolor nature of her life where abuse, neglect, deprivation and physical abuse are interspersed with play, school and attempts by Julie to fit in somehow somewhere. Few memoirs illustrate how the foster care system and child abuse prevention system fail those they claim to serve. Fear of retaliation is at the forefront of any child's mind when and if they disclose what is really going on at home. When Julie finally gets up the courage to disclose the abuse to someone who can be trusted, the consequences are enormous for her and once again the system fails her catastrophically. Julie has no choice but to return to the abusers who now claim it was a figment of her imagination. And no one notices an abused neglected child even when they can hardly walk, talk or complete a simple test at school. But Julie Gregory's excellent memoir is not just about her childhood. Julie cannot give up on the mother who sought to control her every bodily function. She goes back time and again trying to squeeze, cure and remonstrate with her mother that she has needs too and wants a mother somehow, someway. Abused children are purported to love their abusers and forgive them and live happily ever after in the popular press versions of events. Julie Gregory's excellent, timely, measured prose illustrates for many the abandonment is complete by the very system that purports to help children. There is no benevolent figure who makes up for the childhood she never had, no saving grace when a child is deprived, neglected and abandoned by her biological family, the doctors who are supposed to care for her, the school system that fails to notice the broken bones, unexplained absences and the apparent neglect, or the professional(s) who claim that cases like Julie's are rare and atypical. My heart goes out to the foster children who lived with Julie who have not yet got the recognition or the timely intervention that Julie somehow fashioned for herself. There's no doubt that Julie wrote the book to tell their story as well as her own in this stunning memoir
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Summary: Sick of Insecure Abusers!
Review: I do not understand the motivation behind the ignorant and inncurate posts left behind by some people here. This book was a heartfelt and chilling account of child abuse which was very well written. Your posts are an indication of your own insecurities and shady intentions. GROW UP!
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Summary: Sickened
Review: This story gave me chills as it brought me into the reality of the MBP disorder I have only ever heard on the news. I was shocked and angered by the way the author's mother so callously treated her own child. I am suprised the author survived and so well. It makes me sad to think about all the children who are being abused. We are responsible as human beings to do everything we can to help these children when we know they are being abused. I am sorry your mother did these things to you Julie Gregory. It was not your fault. Thank you for sharing your story with me and your other readers.
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Summary: Epidemic of Abuse
Review: I don't know if abuse in America is more exposed and has always been there at these levels or if there is an epidemic of abuse going on right now. This book brings to light the kind of abuse which in the past would never have been believed. She brings us into the mind of an innocent little girl whose only fault is existing. My heart was drawn into her story and I felt what that little girl felt. I was moved by this book, the author is truly gifted in articulating her pain. I can only imagine the rollercoaster she endured to produce this truly heart rending memoir of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother. This book will remain in my library for a long time as a reminder to be careful with the precious soul of a child. I will recommend this book to all my friends and look forward to the author's future writings.
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