A Child Called "It"

The content is sad and forces you to face the harsh reality of child abuse that many times occurs behind closed doors. It was an easy and fast read because you’re desperate to find out what Dave’s mother comes up with next as a punishment for him and how he’ll survive it. The writing was mediocre at best and I attribute this to Dave Pelzer having never written anything in his life before. I felt that an editor would have really helped make the book better. Like many other readers of A Child Called It, I contemplated the validity of some of the abuse that occurred in the book. I don’t doubt it happened, but I feel that Pelzer may have exaggerated some of the situations that happened in order to give his story more substance in order to be more entertaining and shocking for readers and sales. One such scene was when Dave’s mother stabs him in the abdomen. The stab wound was deep and it festered, but all he does is squeeze out the puss and take one dose of aspirin and is ready to go to an 8 hour day at school. It’s absolutely unbelievable and Pelzer describes it with no emotion and as if it’s something of normal occurrence. The severity of the wound would have been almost fatal with no medical attention. I doubt it went down the way Pelzer said it did. In addition, when the book came out, one of his siblings denied any abuse took place in their household while another sibling said the abuse happened but never to the extent that Pelzer described in his book. As a result, I was left not knowing what exactly to believe about A Child Called It. The other issue I had with the book was that there was never an explanation for why Pelzer’s mother abused him and only him. I wanted to know if his mother suffered from depression or an emotional/mental disorder that made her act the way she did, but none was ever given. It was once mentioned that she was an alcoholic, but the abuse was never preceded by her drinking, making it impossible for the reader to connect the two. I kept on wishing that Dave would confront his mother or ask her why he treated him the way she did, but he never did. All he did was endure her horrible abuse in order to survive. I also kept picturing Dave as a teenager and how he would surely overpower his mother in strength and stature and would finally be able to hurt her back. Dave’s dad is also tormented by his wife and witnesses the abuse but never makes a real effort to help Dave. He was a poor excuse for a father that was supposed to protect his children, even from his wife. At first, he tried to help Dave and intervene but stopped because his wife was such an overwhelming force. In the end, he decided to save himself by leaving his wife and children. As he left, the advice he gave Dave was to be a man and stop making it easy for his mother to abuse him. It made me so upset that he blamed Dave for the abuse and left him in the clutches of his mother when he could have easily taken him away from it all. He willingly let the abuse continue and that was not okay.
After Dave gets rescued, the book cuts to him as an adult, a father to a son. I’m happy that he didn’t let the abuse change him into wreck and that he was able to show his son all the love in the world that was never shown him as a child. I know that the other two books in the series chronicle his time as a child/teenager in foster care and then as an adult, however, I won’t be continuing the trilogy as I think reading the first book is enough.

This book is absolutely outstanding. It will touch your heart indefinitely. Learning of the pain and suffering that this man experienced throughout his childhood made me shed many a tear. If you buy this book, I promise you, you will not be sorry. Just make sure to buy a box of tissues, too...you're gonna need them.

It was a good read at the time (6 or 7 years ago) Shocking, disturbing, very moving. But if I had found it these days for the first time, or even a few years ago I would not find the courage to read it. It would be pure torture and what would be the point of that?

A Child Called It is the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played torturous, unpredictable games - games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it."
Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing and no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive - dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.
Through each struggle you'll find yourself enduring his pain, comforting his loneliness and fighting for his will to survive. This compelling story will awaken you to the truth about child abuse - and the ability we all have to make a difference.