Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Cara

This book is an autobiography by Dave Pelzer. it's a heart breaking story of a child that was abused by his own mother. Dave's mother was described as a usually loving mother but because of her depression (a chemical imbalance as Dave refers to it) this drove her to hate her own so much she tortured him. Dave describes his mother as a loving lady but had such severe depression she didn't even know he was there most of the time. Dave could actually tell what sort of day he was going to have just by the way his mother dressed. If she was done up and had her make up on he would have a good day but if she looked tired and still wore her dressing gown etc then he expected to be starved and neglected.

Dave was severely beaten by his mother. The abuse usually took place when his father was at work but when it did happen at home his father tried to blank it out. It did mention that his father had tried to intervene a couple of time but had no success. On a good day Dave would get half a meal if he was lucky. Dave was starved due to no fault of his own.

This young boy was unloved and at the tender age of 8 he was actually burned on the back by his own mother. She also burned his hand on the stove and made him sit on his until there was smoke. Dave's younger brother was never abused and his mother seemed to "love him".