Review by Booklist Review
Is Pelzer piggybacking on the success of his older brother Dave's story of being abused, A Child Called It (1995)? Maybe, but Richard certainly has his own tragic tale. Most of his grim recollections are from the time after Dave was removed from the household by social services, leaving Richard, then 8, as the focus for their alcoholic mother's rage. He remained so until, at age 15, he took his first tentative steps toward breaking his mother's psychological hold. Pelzer spares no detail here, and though he certainly takes his mother to task, he writes with an amazing lack of bitterness toward his other brothers, who sometimes participated in his anguish, and toward the social services agency that left him traumatized and alone. As devastating as his story is, it's little more than a catalog of abuse, and the disappointing ending leaves readers in the dark about how he actually turned his life around. But the fact that he did manage to do that, despite the odds, makes his story worth reading, especially by those who know his brother's book. --Stephanie Zvirin Copyright 2004 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this gripping, deeply troubling memoir, a follow-up to his brother David's bestselling A Child Called It, Pelzer reveals the unyielding suffering he says he experienced at the hands of his depraved mother growing up in the 1970s. Once David, the elder of the two, was removed from the household, the author, by this account, became the target of their mother's alcohol-induced rage. As Pelzer details his outward struggle to survive-learning to fall asleep with his eyes open, for example-and his internal efforts to understand and rise above his circumstances, he assaults readers with the graphic facts, told in surprisingly matter-of-fact language, about being beaten bloody for falling asleep when he was supposed to be awake, and being forbidden to bathe and forced to eat scraps from a dog bowl. Family members (including Pelzer's father), neighbors and teachers were aware of the abuse but did nothing to help, and Pelzer credits outsiders, especially his friend Ben, with finally "allowing" him to see himself more clearly. By looking back at-and then releasing-the image of the skinny, red-haired boy who wanted nothing more than his mother's love, Pelzer discovers his true spirit, which he shares courageously and selflessly here in the hope of healing himself, as well as raising awareness of and preventing child abuse. Agent, Jim Schiavone. (Jan. 5) Forecast: Print ads and a radio satellite tour to 25 markets will draw in readers who were riveted by 1995's A Child Called It (interestingly, though, Pelzer doesn't comment on It, which came under scrutiny because of allegations that its account was embellished). (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Born into a family of boys raised by a single mother, Pelzer recounts horrendous incidents of physical and emotional abuse that he suffered during childhood and adolescence. The mother is described as a sadistic alcoholic who scapegoats the author after his brother, David, was removed from the home. David told his story in the trilogy made up of A Child Called It, The Lost Boy, and A Man Named Dave. This book clearly reveals the dynamics of a deeply dysfunctional family and the unholy alliances that often develop in such a unit. The author expresses understandable anger at his mother and others who failed to rescue him despite obvious manifestations of his plight. However, he provides little insight into what caused the mother's unspeakably cruel behavior and the father's shadowy existence, ending rather abruptly during his teenage years. There is little reflection on how the abuse affected his later life, perhaps suggestive of a planned sequel. The result is a graphic and gut-wrenching account of private evil rather than an inspiring story of suffering and resilience like Antwone Fisher's Finding Fish. Recommended only for comprehensive self-help collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/04.]-Antoinette Brinkman, Evansville, IN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Gut-wrenching recollections of the horrendous, years-long abuse inflicted on the author by his alcoholic, emotionally disturbed mother, and of his participation in the similar torture that his brother David described in A Child Called "It" (1999). Pelzer has a guilty conscience, it seems, and so--for therapeutic reasons--one of his aims here is to explain why he was a coconspirator in the mental and physical tormenting of his older brother some 30 years ago. As a young child, he states, he lived in constant fear that he would replace his brother as the one of the five sons their mother singled out for particularly brutal treatment. In the interest of self-preservation, then, he became Mom's accomplice, purposely creating situations that would arouse her wrath and lead to harsh punishment of David. After a time, he reports, he came to relish "the bitter sweetness of causing him harm." Finally, in 1972, the authorities removed David from the family, and eight-year-old Richard, as he had feared, became the new object of his mother's cruelty. Meanwhile, another brother took his place as her "Little Nazi." What Pelzer was subjected to beggars the imagination: Mom's tactics included bloody violence, degradation, and humiliation. Sometimes, though, the author's memory seems suspect: Could anyone physically swallow four mouthfuls of Tabasco sauce, as he asserts he was once forced to do? It's also hard to understand why no one intervened, since Pelzer makes it clear that relatives were aware of his mother's drunkenness and mental instability, neighbors witnessed the beatings, a nurse at a local hospital recognized as child abuse the battery his body had received, and school authorities had previously seen the need to rescue his brother David. The author's explanation is that community awareness of child abuse is much higher today than it was in the 1970s. If so, disturbing accounts by survivors like this one must take some credit for the change. Corroborates David's memories, but provides no special insight into abuse. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
