Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: "Fighting Back" is a sad and disturbing read. It's the devastating story of a woman's battle with her violent, disgusting husband. But it's also a battle with herself. Due to unfortunte childhood circumstances, June Briand was molded into a victim who became trapped in a grotesquely abusive marriage with a dangerous and insecure man. Many people may say, "Well she should of just left him." But after reading this book you will hopefully gain a better understanding of why it is so difficult to simply walk. The story is well written, well paced and deeply moving. I cried with June in the beginning and cheered for her at the end. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: I've Been There
Review: ...This book gives the reader a glimpse into the hell so many women live in on a daily basis. ... Everyone should read this book and get an insight into what kind of terror is inflicted upon so many women on a daily basis. I'm sure it will be a real eyeopener to many.
Rating:
Summary: Fighting Back
Review: A compelling account of the life of a tortured wife and mother. This intense story is told with compassion and incredible detail. I could not put it down!
Rating: 
Summary: Fiction
Review: After reading this book, I do not see any documentation from police records, court records, hospital records. Therefore, it seams to me that the author only conversed with June. It does not seam to me that the author did any research whatsoever. I do see, however, many contradictions. One would think that a mother that did this horrible act, would have talked more about her children. It seams all she really cared about was herself. I really feel for these two little girls. Where are they now? What has become of them? Does she even care?
Rating:
Summary: Fiction
Review: After reading this book, I do not see any documentation from police records, court records, hospital records. Therefore, it seams to me that the author only conversed with June. It does not seam to me that the author did any research whatsoever. I do see, however, many contradictions. One would think that a mother that did this horrible act, would have talked more about her children. It seams all she really cared about was herself. I really feel for these two little girls. Where are they now? What has become of them? Does she even care?
Rating:
Summary: unbelievable
Review: As a counsellor, I have provided counselling to hundreds victims, both women and men, in the area of domestic violence. The case of June Briand is one of the most devastating accounts of spousal abuse ever documented, and hits the reader with the same gripping force as one other true life story, "Life with Billy." So often, I have been asked, "Why does a woman allow this to happen, why doesn't she just leave." To answer that question, one would have to fully understand the psychological transformation that takes place over long-term abuse. While leaving may appear to many who have never been abused as a simply solution, the ramifications are far from simple. One must first understand, as in June's case, the psychological factors,i.e., the unstable, unloving childhood, the loss of self-esteem and self-worth, the lack of financial resources, the inability to take control of the situation, the utter feeling of hopelessness after years of constant, endless physical and emotional abuse. As in many cases, June became psychologically conditioned to the abuse. For her, leaving was a dream as remote as flying to the moon. June endured abuse through a previous ralationship before her marriage to Jimmy Briand and struggled to maintain a sense of normalcy for her two children (one her husband's daughter from a previous relationship.) The family situation was far from normal; the emotional abuse for the children would have been sufficient to drive a sane person over the edge. June Briand's story is an extremely painful story to read. Even with all my years of training and experience behind me, a story such as this one still touches me to the core. The reader is left knowing that while this is one exceptional story (it ended in murder) there are countless other victims like June Briand walking among us whose story has not been, nor may ever be, told. June was a victim of abuse at the hands of her husband, but she was also a victim of the justice system. Was it cold-blooded murder or was it self-defence? What options did June have? The reader will have to conclude their own opinions on the outcome. Either you will agree with the punishment or you will not. Had Jimmy lived, it is extremely likely his insane rage, unleashed and uncontrollable, would eventually stike the final blow which would kill his wife. "When" was only a matter of time.
Rating:
Summary: THE HORROR AND REALITY OF LONG-TIME ABUSE
Review: As a counsellor, I have provided counselling to hundreds victims, both women and men, in the area of domestic violence. The case of June Briand is one of the most devastating accounts of spousal abuse ever documented, and hits the reader with the same gripping force as one other true life story, "Life with Billy." So often, I have been asked, "Why does a woman allow this to happen, why doesn't she just leave." To answer that question, one would have to fully understand the psychological transformation that takes place over long-term abuse. While leaving may appear to many who have never been abused as a simply solution, the ramifications are far from simple. One must first understand, as in June's case, the psychological factors,i.e., the unstable, unloving childhood, the loss of self-esteem and self-worth, the lack of financial resources, the inability to take control of the situation, the utter feeling of hopelessness after years of constant, endless physical and emotional abuse. As in many cases, June became psychologically conditioned to the abuse. For her, leaving was a dream as remote as flying to the moon. June endured abuse through a previous ralationship before her marriage to Jimmy Briand and struggled to maintain a sense of normalcy for her two children (one her husband's daughter from a previous relationship.) The family situation was far from normal; the emotional abuse for the children would have been sufficient to drive a sane person over the edge. June Briand's story is an extremely painful story to read. Even with all my years of training and experience behind me, a story such as this one still touches me to the core. The reader is left knowing that while this is one exceptional story (it ended in murder) there are countless other victims like June Briand walking among us whose story has not been, nor may ever be, told. June was a victim of abuse at the hands of her husband, but she was also a victim of the justice system. Was it cold-blooded murder or was it self-defence? What options did June have? The reader will have to conclude their own opinions on the outcome. Either you will agree with the punishment or you will not. Had Jimmy lived, it is extremely likely his insane rage, unleashed and uncontrollable, would eventually stike the final blow which would kill his wife. "When" was only a matter of time.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable Life for Children
Review: Fighting Back was an excellent supplemental reading source for the upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses I teach on Family Violence. The author brings together in one book all of the elements found in violent, abusive relationships. A fictional work could not possibly have captured the true reality of an abusive relationship as experienced by the principal character, June. The author does a superior job of getting the reader into the mindset of a woman experiencing both the battered woman syndrome and learned helplessness. Some, expecially those who have been in an abusive relationship, found it difficult to read, as it brought back memories of their own tragic experiences. For others, it helped them to understand how women they know personally--family members, friends, acquaintances--will not listen to them when they try to convince them that they are trapped in an abusive situation. Many students passed the book on to other family members or friends to read.
The book is gripping. Even though I have more than twenty years of experience studying and lecturing on family violence, I still found the book enlightening. And, like so many of my students and others who have read the book, I could not put it down until I had completed reading it. The book reads like the best of mystery novels and the reader cannot wait to find out what happens in the next section or chapter. The outcome is totally unpredictable and a reader would be well-advised to avoid the temptation to turn to the end in order to learn the final outcome. Wait and let the pieces unfold.
The author has addressed a complex subject, a subject shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding by most of the public, and helps the average person understand three very important issues: how women find themselves in abusive relationships; why women stay in abusive relationships; and, why women feel so trapped that they kill the abuser.
Rating:
Summary: Fighting Back: Insight Into the World of Battered Women
Review: Fighting Back was an excellent supplemental reading source for the upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses I teach on Family Violence. The author brings together in one book all of the elements found in violent, abusive relationships. A fictional work could not possibly have captured the true reality of an abusive relationship as experienced by the principal character, June. The author does a superior job of getting the reader into the mindset of a woman experiencing both the battered woman syndrome and learned helplessness. Some, expecially those who have been in an abusive relationship, found it difficult to read, as it brought back memories of their own tragic experiences. For others, it helped them to understand how women they know personally--family members, friends, acquaintances--will not listen to them when they try to convince them that they are trapped in an abusive situation. Many students passed the book on to other family members or friends to read.
The book is gripping. Even though I have more than twenty years of experience studying and lecturing on family violence, I still found the book enlightening. And, like so many of my students and others who have read the book, I could not put it down until I had completed reading it. The book reads like the best of mystery novels and the reader cannot wait to find out what happens in the next section or chapter. The outcome is totally unpredictable and a reader would be well-advised to avoid the temptation to turn to the end in order to learn the final outcome. Wait and let the pieces unfold.
The author has addressed a complex subject, a subject shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding by most of the public, and helps the average person understand three very important issues: how women find themselves in abusive relationships; why women stay in abusive relationships; and, why women feel so trapped that they kill the abuser.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read
Review: From a previous review: "There is not much mention about the heart-ache she placed on her children by taking their fathers life. It makes me wonder what the publishing of this book has done to her children." It makes me wonder what seeing their mother beaten and raped DAILY did to her children. Would you say the same thing if Jimmy Briand had killed June, rather than the other way around? And: "...Why wouldn't June want her husbands family to take the children where they could find comfort and love, instead of throwing them into a disgruntal family and then on to foster homes." Probably because the Norton family was (is?) just as violent as Briand himself was. You didn't pay much attention to the book, did you? To the people who said they noticed inconsistancies in June's story: June was most likely suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A common byproduct of this is not being able to remember all the details of the events triggering the disorder itself. If you'd been beaten that often, and had as many concussions and injuries as June did, I bet your memories would be a bit hazy, too.
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