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A Child Called It
Jan. 13th, 2007 09:28Title: A Child Called "It"
Author: Dave Pelzer
Genre: non-fiction
Rating: unrateable
# pages: 152
Date read: January, 2007
Summary: Dave Pelzer was the second of five boys. His father was a fireman and, according to David, his mother was originally a loving, kind and caring mother.
The book states that around the time that the author turned five, things within the family slowly began to change. While his father was away at work often, his mother became an alcoholic. The author's mother has claimed that Dave was so badly behaved that he required punishment. The summer before Dave started kindergarten his mother reportedly beat him, dislocating his shoulder. The book goes on to describe a period of mixed emotions over the following few years with the increasingly abusive and damaging behaviour from Ms Roerva gradually ostracizing Dave from the rest of the family.
The book describes the worsening abuse which Dave suffered at the hand of his mother and her alcoholism. Among the many incidents discussed is that Ms. Roerva attempted to burn Dave on a cooker when he was eight years old. By this point he was no longer considered as part of the family and lived in the basement denied basic contact, play or food. Ms. Roerva has stated that she did not want Dave to interact with "her family" demonstrating the lack of regard in which he was held.
Over time the depth of the abuse worsened. Dave claims he was forced to sit in the Prisoner of War position (head bent backwards facing sky and sitting on hands). His mother stopped using his name and began referring to him first as "The Boy" and finally "It". The punishments are reported to have evolved into 'sick games' in which Ms. Roerva made her son suffer.
Incidents cited in the book include; making him drink ammonia, cleaning the bathroom with ammonia mixed with chlorine bleach resulting in a near fatal outcome, inducing vomit followed by forced ingestion, smashing his face against the mirror while screaming "I'm a bad boy", lying in the bathtub naked with freezing water for hours, stabbing, rubbing his face in his brother's dirty diaper/nappy, making him eat dog's faeces and starvation. (From Wikipedia)
Review: I did not like this book. But that's okay. You're not supposed to like it. It's a horrible, horrible book. A trainwreck of a book. I wanted to look away, but just couldn't. I know it's the first part in a trilogy, but I doubt I'm going to read the other two books. It was too, too depressing.
Actually, the person I got most angry with was the father. The mother was obviously sick and needed help. There's no other explanation for the awful things she subjected her son to. But what's the father's excuse? He just stood by and did nothing? No, that's not true - he stood by and did nothing... and THEN he abandoned the family. I don't get it. Nowhere in the book was it stated that he seemed afraid of his wife, so why did he allow her to treat their son so horribly? You don't just stand by and let your SO practically kill your son, you just don't!
There were two things I would have liked to know: 1) What made David different from the rest of his brothers? Why was he the one who was treated so horribly? If his mother had had some kind of reason, just something that set him apart, it would at least be part of an explanation even if it's no excuse, but it seemed totally random. I guess it was... after all, sick people often don't need reasons for doing as they do. 2) What happened to his mother afterwards? Did she get some kind of help? Were her other boys taken away from her too? The book ended in a cliff-hanger fashion which annoyed me. Too many loose ends.
I don't recommend it. Most of you would never treat a child like that anyway, and if you would, no amount of reading about it would change your opinion that you're in the 'right'. The only time I would encourage reading it is if you know somebody you fear may be subjected to child abuse, or if you want to be convinced that you should become a foster parent.
Book List
Author: Dave Pelzer
Genre: non-fiction
Rating: unrateable
# pages: 152
Date read: January, 2007
Summary: Dave Pelzer was the second of five boys. His father was a fireman and, according to David, his mother was originally a loving, kind and caring mother.
The book states that around the time that the author turned five, things within the family slowly began to change. While his father was away at work often, his mother became an alcoholic. The author's mother has claimed that Dave was so badly behaved that he required punishment. The summer before Dave started kindergarten his mother reportedly beat him, dislocating his shoulder. The book goes on to describe a period of mixed emotions over the following few years with the increasingly abusive and damaging behaviour from Ms Roerva gradually ostracizing Dave from the rest of the family.
The book describes the worsening abuse which Dave suffered at the hand of his mother and her alcoholism. Among the many incidents discussed is that Ms. Roerva attempted to burn Dave on a cooker when he was eight years old. By this point he was no longer considered as part of the family and lived in the basement denied basic contact, play or food. Ms. Roerva has stated that she did not want Dave to interact with "her family" demonstrating the lack of regard in which he was held.
Over time the depth of the abuse worsened. Dave claims he was forced to sit in the Prisoner of War position (head bent backwards facing sky and sitting on hands). His mother stopped using his name and began referring to him first as "The Boy" and finally "It". The punishments are reported to have evolved into 'sick games' in which Ms. Roerva made her son suffer.
Incidents cited in the book include; making him drink ammonia, cleaning the bathroom with ammonia mixed with chlorine bleach resulting in a near fatal outcome, inducing vomit followed by forced ingestion, smashing his face against the mirror while screaming "I'm a bad boy", lying in the bathtub naked with freezing water for hours, stabbing, rubbing his face in his brother's dirty diaper/nappy, making him eat dog's faeces and starvation. (From Wikipedia)
Review: I did not like this book. But that's okay. You're not supposed to like it. It's a horrible, horrible book. A trainwreck of a book. I wanted to look away, but just couldn't. I know it's the first part in a trilogy, but I doubt I'm going to read the other two books. It was too, too depressing.
Actually, the person I got most angry with was the father. The mother was obviously sick and needed help. There's no other explanation for the awful things she subjected her son to. But what's the father's excuse? He just stood by and did nothing? No, that's not true - he stood by and did nothing... and THEN he abandoned the family. I don't get it. Nowhere in the book was it stated that he seemed afraid of his wife, so why did he allow her to treat their son so horribly? You don't just stand by and let your SO practically kill your son, you just don't!
There were two things I would have liked to know: 1) What made David different from the rest of his brothers? Why was he the one who was treated so horribly? If his mother had had some kind of reason, just something that set him apart, it would at least be part of an explanation even if it's no excuse, but it seemed totally random. I guess it was... after all, sick people often don't need reasons for doing as they do. 2) What happened to his mother afterwards? Did she get some kind of help? Were her other boys taken away from her too? The book ended in a cliff-hanger fashion which annoyed me. Too many loose ends.
I don't recommend it. Most of you would never treat a child like that anyway, and if you would, no amount of reading about it would change your opinion that you're in the 'right'. The only time I would encourage reading it is if you know somebody you fear may be subjected to child abuse, or if you want to be convinced that you should become a foster parent.
Book List
