Blog Assignment 2

I have chosen to write about a book I have just read, the book is called “A Child Called it”, written by Dave Pelzer.

The book is an autobiography and is about the author's, Dave Pelzer’s, growing up as a child.  He lived a perfectly normal life, without any problems or insulting, until the day he turned 4 years old, that’s when everything changed. Dave’s mother turned from thin air into a heartless monster, and she abused this little boy, both mentally and physically. Dave’s mother took him down to the basement and she forced him to sleep there, she also throw knives at him, and burned him against a stove. This was just a few examples of what Dave had to undergo, his mother exposed him to more suffering in different ways. Dave was repeatedly beaten and left without food, so that he would starve. You could clearly read that Dave’s mother had psychologically issues and problems with alcohol. During all abuse Dave’s father ignored him, like it didn’t have any effect on him that his son is hurting and suffering.  

During all abuse and horrific acts Dave’s mother put him through, she couldn’t even call Dave by name, she called him “it”, that’s how the book got its name. To survive the horrible things that his mother put him through, he searched deep in his soul to find inner strength that he knew was required to survive. He refused to let his mother win her sick games that she forced him to participate in. Years passed and the beating continued, but he survived. He was finally free, and today he writes about the terriblethings that his mother exposed him to.

My personal views and reflections on the book:

I can’t compare with or talking about someone else's childhood, except my own. I can’t understand how parents can treat their child in a terrible way like they way Dave’s parents treated him, how could they do like that to their own flesh and blood. It’s so awful, it all gets much worse when you know that the book is based on a true story. Just the thought of children being exposed to such things make me sick. I have never experienced anything even close to what Dave had to go through, it doesn’t exist in “my world”. I’ve always knew that terrible things exist around us, but it has been so far away that you could think that it belongs to another world, and not the world that we live in.

It's admirable that a person who had to undergo terrible things have the courage and strength to write about it. I believe that the book have been a big support to children who have had a tough upbringing. I recommend people to read the book to get a glimpse of how hard some children have it at home.