A Child Called "it"

This character reminds me of...

I don't know anyone who has been put through any amount of abuse that could even come close to comparing with Dave Pelzer's mental and physical injuries. Although his character does remind me of a movie I saw when I was smaller, I think it was called Radio Flyer. It was about these two kids that lived on a farm-like setting. Their mother was nowhere to be found and their father was an extremely abusive alcoholic. They owned small planes. The two boys studied them well and created a plane of their own. The plane could only hold one of them, so the younger boy was left behind while his brother went to get some help. He eventually gets help and they get out of the custody of their father.

The best part of the book is when Dave Pelzer gets taken away from his mother. Tremendous weight is lifted after this chapter. This is the part where it's a given that he's going to be safe...at least that was the first impression I got, but then I found out there were sequels about his life after the removal. It left a type of mysterious curiosity in my head.

His stories about his torture have the ability to crush every bone in the human body. There's not a page in the entire book that doesn't mention some type of abuse. All of the abusive scenes were terrible, down to every foul word she said to him. Among those was the part when his mom stabbed him. She stabbed him in the ribs for not doing the dishes fast enough. It wasn't difficult to get through the words, but when you really think about it and start to comprehend what just happened, it feels like a jackhammer ate away at your heart.

I would recommend this book to anyone that thinks they've got problems. If everyone read this book, no one would have room to complain about how bad their lives are. People would be more appreciative, they would thank God they breathe air on their own, or that they don't have a hideous scarred body, or more importantly, a hideous scarred ego.