A Child Called It

[Grumpy]

Who has read "A Child Called It"?

It's a sad story of a boy who is physically and mentally abused by his mother in the late 60's and 70's, and his father is too scared to stop the abuse.

It tells a true story which is very sad, and includes a lot of violence so is not for the faint-hearted.

If you haven't yet read it, I'd recommend it without a doubt.

 

[Tonyblack]

I haven't read it, but there are two sequels to it: The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave.

 

[Tiffany]

I couldn't finish it, I cried so much.

 

[Tiffany]

I decided to read it again, but I skipped the really horrible places as they made me feel sick.
I wondered what had happened to his mother, so I googled & she was never punished for what she did to David. She carried on the torture with another brother, for 10 years. :x
I can't believe the authorities let her get away with it, nor can I believe she was never monitored to make sure she didn't start again with another of her children. She was an evil woman & should have been locked up for a long time in a mental institution.

 

[raisindot]

I haven't read the book, but, alas, the tragedy of child abuse in just endemic worldwide.

Here in the states, barely a day goes by without a news story reporting about a parent or step-parent physically and sexually abusing and killing his or her children and how the authorities missed all the signs or never responded. And these are only the stories that are reported. For every one publicized crime, there must be hundreds of other abuse cases going on that will never be reported.

 

[shegallivants]

I read it many years ago, when I was much younger. I remember finding it very upsetting.

To be very honest, his prose does not aspire to much. He doesn't aim to tell many angles or delve more deeply into the psychological patterns and motivations of abuse. It works more as a very stark, bleak recounting of his childhood, and as that it's quite graphic and powerful. It's been a great source of encouragement for many child abuse survivors, which I think is wonderful. I think a lot of the power of memoirs of this type is therapeutic.