I got this book delivered to me at work, I left work at 5pm, got home by 6pm and started reading this book. I read it all by 1 am the next morning. I could NOT put it down. It was the unbelelivable acts of a parent(s) that I was tyring to justify. I thought..somewhere in this book I would find the answer or that this abuse would subside or lessen the gruesomeness of it all. But..i didn't find that..it only worsens. I am at awe at the details and courage it took to write this book. I am at awe that a child can comprehend the necessary skills of survival and somehow have faith that things would one day, some day , in dreams get better.I am a graduate student earning my MFT degree. This book was very educational and gave me a look at what to possibly expect in my future career.
I look forward to the next book..which I just ordered..with a RUSH!

This book A Child Called It is a inspiration to many people. I think that this story about this young boy might inspire you to try to make it through if you have had some hard times in your life. This book is not fiction this is a true story the boys name is Dave Pelzer he is the author of the book and the boy is Dave. Dave was abused by his mother earlier in his life badly his father tried to help but he couldn't do much. Its very inspiring and I think it would also be inspiring to you. There are two sequels that go along with this book.

I do not doubt that the author was abused as a child for a long duration of time.The story, however, seems TOO fabricated and TOO embellished to be considered a memoir.
I have lived in a very physically torturous and emotionally abusive family situation from the age of FIVE until FIFTEEN,and I can understand some of the circumstances-unstabilities of alcoholic parent(s),a singled out child of multiple siblings, having school as "only" refugee, praying for God everyday more than any given Sunday's sermon,having the most creative imagination,having a parent who is there physically but not emotionally making you feel more hopeless as time passes by and so on. I can go on and on with the list of how genuinely he was abused and the psychological impact it had on the author but at the same time, I can go on and on about how ridiculous some of the stories are, not just for the graphic details of them but rather based on how it LACKS what goes through a child's mind BEING in those situations.

If you have become a motivational speaker or a spokesperson for child abuse, especially after you have genuinely lived through a horrific abusive situation, you have forgiven a lot of people around you--which is the only way to heal your childhood memories and to help you move forward with your life,as well as helping others by being a counselor or a speaker. If you have reached that point, you DO NOT merely talk about every single graphic details of abuse page after page without EVER stating your psychological states. The author stated some of the EMOTIONAL states he was in which validate his abuse but he did not state the PSYCHOLOGICAL impacts the abuse had even for a CHILD. If you are a survivor of true child abuse, even as a young child, you develop a coping skill which is far more than merely stating the FEAR you endured. You also find ways to try to make some sense out of only world you know psychologically. Furthermore, as a child you INTERNALIZE most of your physical and emotional abuse which affect you for the rest of your life. Only recently I have been able to seek professional help almost 20 years after I moved to US and was in the hands of my biological mother--who was the only vague hope for surviving my childhood abuse. I no longer have the wounds of my childhood abuse but I still have the scars of my childhood pain after having gone through much healing. I have forgiven most of my family members but I cannot forget the past although the memories have become distant as I focus more on the "present" and the "future."

I am not a good writer but I have read enough of SELP-HELP books in my life including this book and I was disgusted by the author's embellishments and falsehood more so than by the graphic nature of the abuse. I have only two conclusions--the author went through TOO horrific child abuse that he BLOCKED out most of his psychological states OR he got so caught up in the writing a most SENSATIONAL memoir( which, by the way, would make even James Frey envious) he had no choice but to embellish his childhood memories so much to a point where he BELIEVED every single incident happened day after day without any psychological process that went through his own childhood mind.

I cannot deny the fact that thousands of Amazon.com readers LOVED the book but it was an utter waste of MY time and money!!

I can tell you that from personal experience with my own son due to his father: That both Fireman's and Law Enforcement Families are some of the worst out there. The legal system allows them to get away with this kind of behavior by siding with them. Protective services fails these children most of the time by leaving them with the abusive parent or family. God help the children.

Though this book makes you feel so sad for Dave, it's so detailed it makes you feel all his pain..one of my favorite books!!

What a wonderful heartbreaking book. I read this book in one night. I tried to put it down after the chapter The Accident. I lay there in my bed and cannot stop my mind from wondering, what happened to this little boy. I had to finish it, that night. The next morning I ordered 3 more of David's books. 5 STAR BOOK

I found this book to be very disturbing in many ways.
First the shear horror of the acts inflicted on this child by a parent were too disturbing to complete.
Second, the detail that is included in the book from the time this man was 5 or 6 until he was 12 or 13 is just a little too over the top for me to believe it is actually the memory of a small child.

I am not denying that he was abused but I felt there was a little bit of embelishment from the adult writing.

I could not finish the book nor am I interested in ready the rest of his writtings. I find it amazing that he can over come the abuse and become a whole person but it was just a little much for me

It's hard to believe that anything like this can ever happen. I admire that Dave Pelzer came far enough to be able to write about this book and the horrors of child abuse. Violent, senseless, and powefully told.

The book was for my daughter. It arrived quickly and she didn't put it down until she was finished. Transaction went very smoothly.

This book was painful and disturbing to read. The author's point-of-view, which seems confusing at first, is absolutely the voice of an abused child. I am highly upset at those Amazon reviewers who questioned whether or not he was really an abused child. This is Dave Pelzer's view of his world as a child. The emotions are overdrawn and the situations outrageous and improbable because he is writing as an adult, trying to recreate the emotions he felt and what he lived through as a child.

I'm not a big book reader so of course I was the last person in my group of friends to read A Child Called It. Having heard so many good things about the book, I had really high hopes for it and fortunately I found it be so good that I read it straight through in a couple of hours.

So what's the book about? A Child Called it is an autobiographical account of a young boy named Dave and his horrible childhood. At first, Dave's family seemed perfect. His mother was doting and a perfect housewife. His dad was a firefighter. He had two brothers and the lot of them would go on wonderful family vacations. Then, almost overnight, Dave's mother becomes violent and seperates Dave from the rest of the family. She makes him starve, forces him to do chores (when his brothers don't have to do any), and even stabs him. A Child Called It describes the gruesome events that surrounded his childhood leading up to the day Dave is taken away from his mother.

Let's talk about the positives first. Although this book mainly describes the horrible things that Dave was forced to go through, I liked that it was still written as a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Dave goes into detail about certain events in which he was disgustingly mistreated. The most heartbreaking scenes deal with events in which Dave's mother appears to show some sympathy towards the boy, giving Dave hope, only to return back to her unloving state. I don't consider myself to be an emotional person but I actually shed a few tears during one point.

I think the biggest part of the book that I enjoyed was the overall feeling of Dave pushing himself to survive even through his grim circumstances. Dave had to deal with physical problems as well as emotional problems and he still pushed himself through it all. I think that's incredible.

And now for the negatives. I personally feel that the book is short. I understand that Dave Pelzer had plans to turn his story into a trilogy but as an individual book, I felt that there should've been more. Other reviewers have mentioned that certain parts of the book seem to be a bit overly dramatized. In a way I agree but there's no way of knowing if Mr. Pelzer stretched the truth a bit or things did indeed happen the way they were described in the book.

If you're like me and you haven't read this amazing book yet, I encourage you to read it whenever you can. It's truly inspiring and I can't wait to read the others.

this book was amazing i am at a loss of words here......??? i just dont know buy it it is worth it!!!!! amazing that anyone could endure that!!!!

I think it is likely that Dave Pelzer was abused as a child. However, my gut feeling is that much of this story is fabricated. By page 56, when "Mother" was forcing Dave to eat poop from his brother's diaper, I was totally disgusted. By page 75, when Mother made Dave drink ammonia, I'd had enough and decided to do some research online. Turns out I'm not the only person who questions the validity of this book. I'm throwing my copy of this book in the garbage can.

This was a very touching book. I could not put it down what so ever! I read it on my way to Wisconsin Dells for a vacation back in May. I cried because it is heartfelt and God forbid a child ever go through that!

A Child Called It is a wonderful story about courage, tenacity and redemption. Although heart wrenching to read in parts it's inspiring to know that a person can survive the most tragic of events and come out living a prosperous life filled with family, success, love and joy.Crossing 13

I thought the book was well written, everything the good reviews said, but the nightmarishness just made me physically sick to my stomach. It you are a sensitive person I would not recommend this book. Really. Not inspiring at all. Just horrors.

A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer is a memoir I read about 8 years ago. I could not put this harrowing book down, Pelzer is a child abuse survivor. He recounts the physical and mental abuse he suffered from the hands of his alcoholic and deeply troubled mother. This book brought me to tears and just broke my heart. I highly recommend this unsettling but important book.

I recently had the displeasure of seeing Mr. Pelzer in person. He has either told his lies so many times that he actually belives them to be true or he is a just a snake oil salesman like so many others in his "profession". Being that he claims to have survived several Mustard Gas attacks(keep in mind that Hitler found this to be to cruel to use on "the enemy", durring WWii, but a mother used it against her own offspring), a stabbing(in person he claimed the wound was in his heart), being burned for "58 seconds"(who is counting while being burnt???)and being beaten daily, while neither his father or brother(s) came to his aid, im guessing that the guy is a complete fake. Either way don't waste your money on this rubbish. dont take my word,look him up on google! --please note these "facts" come from his speach not the book, he may make even wilder claims in print--

I recently had the displeasure of seeing Mr. Pelzer in person. He has either told his lies so many times that he actually belives them to be true or he is a just a snake oil salesman like so many others in his "profession". Being that he claims to have survived several Mustard Gas attacks, a stabbing( in person he claimed the wound was in his heart), being burned for "58 seconds"(who is counting while being burnt???)and being beaten daily, while neither his father or brothers came to his aid, im guessing that the guy is a complete fake. either way don't waste your money on this rubbish. dont take my word,look him up on google! --please note these "facts" come from his speach not the book, he may make even wilder claims in print--

This book was unbelievable...I read it in a single afternoon!! Couldn't put it down. In the face of unreal odds, a boy's will to survive in a home so filled with hate and abuse.

This is the story of David. A little boy who started out with what seemed to be the perfect family. Gradually as his mother starts drinking more and more, she ends up not caring about herself and feeling angry all the time. That anger was taken out on David. Through this book you read about the horrific things that his mother did to him and how his will to survive kept him going. This book made me cry, made me angry and most of all made me think. I know a lot of people do not believe his story. But before you have doubts, read his books "The Lost Boy" and "A Man Named Dave" and then read his brothers book "A Brother's Journey" and decide for yourself.

Check out "Dysfunction For Dollars" written July 28, 2002 for the NYT Magazine. The author, Pat Jordan, notes that "...In Pelzer's case, how much he is healing or how much he is swindling is unclear..."Peter Vegso, from his former publisher, Health Communications Inc, is quoted in the article. He says "David's always complaining we don't appreciate him, David's a professional victim. I haven't a clue if his abuse stories are true, but we kept his book in stock when it wasn't selling. Then Dave got on Montel Williams, and there was an instant demand." The author also notes that "Pelzer frequently purchases his own books for his signings at a discount and then sells them at list price." His brother, Stephen, was interviewed. He denies the abuse and says "David had to be the center of attention. He was a hyper, spoiled brat."

If this isn't enough to convince you, check out "Dave Pelzer, The child-abuse entrepreneur" by David Plotz posted Friday, Sept. 29, 2000 on Slate. He writes "Pelzer, whose most insistent piece of advice is "don't dwell on the past," dwells on it very profitably." Describing Pelfrey's depiction of his mother Plotz says she "becomes more cartoonish, more Cruella De Vil. In the first book, she's horrible but erratic. By the third she is the incarnation of pure, calculating evil, saying things like, 'You gave me no pleasure, so you were disposed of.'" Plotz continues "his (Pelfrey's) dialogue, which is full of such over-the-top lines, is sometimes suspicious. Though it's reconstructed 20 or 30 years after the fact, it is eerily precise."

Memoirs like this and James Frey's novel, A Million Little Pieces, (another Oprah interviewee) should never have made it as far as they did. It's a sad commentary that they have.

I, too, like several others, started this book, and was immediately taken aback by the poor quality of the writing, AND the relentless onslaught of horrific, somewhat unbelievable, scenarios described by the author.

I don't doubt that he endured some form of abuse, probably severe, but it's hard to feel much sympathy for the story when there are so many holes, inconsistencies, and it's very poorly written.

Disappointed that I spent money on this.

I loved this book I read it in one day I Have read "The Lost Boy" I suggest if you buy this read the other one too! I could not put it down it was scary to think that someone could grow up being abused like this and lived to share his story with everyone!

This was a very real study of emotions in the mind of a very young child.I wanted to know how this story would end. I felt that since it was the author's life story,he made it to adulthood,but at what cost?
I was so haunted by the actions of the parents ,I wanted to take some kind of action to see that these parents were punished for the damage that they had done to him.In my mind I wrapped my love around him to try and ease the hurt in his heart,mind and soul.

I just finished reading A Child Called It and The Lost Boy. I knew this book was embellished after just reading a few pages into it. How can anyone seriously believe this account to be solid truth? It is so sad that someone can make so much money from telling a false story as if it were fact. It is even sadder that we buy into it and allow it to happen. I am sorry I did, I should have read the negative reviews. I trusted a family member. This book lacks the ring of truth as soon as Dave begins listing the abuse he recieved from the hands of his alcoholic mother. He recounts vividly all that she did to him, but never once explains why. The strange part is that for the first few years of his life, his family was perfect. They had a lovely home, went on family trips, had picnics in the park, daddy was a hero fireman, mother cooked delicious meals, decorated the house with hundreds of lights at Christmas, they got loads of presents from Santa, and most importantly Mother hugged David and loved him. Suddenly, almost overnight, she changed into a monster and began beating him, starving him, stabbing him and burning him. She laid on the sofa all day, drinking and watching her shows. The father sounds like he was abused by her too as he was not able to stand up to her and allowed David to be abused and drank along with her. David was the only one of the kids that was chosen to be abused, she treated all the other children well and they also turned on David. The family ignored him and made him sleep on a cot in the basement with no blanket. He was not allowed to eat meals with them and then not allowed to eat at all(not even from the garbage). He was starved, made to wear old ripped up clothes to school and not allowed to bathe(except for the days that his mother tried to drown him in the tub). His brothers and their friends would walk into the bathroom and see him laying there in the water and look at him with disgust. No one thought to say anyhing and when caught stealing at school some food from kid's lunches, he got in trouble even though he must have looked like a holocaust victim? No one wondered why he was wandering the neighborhood knocking on random doors asking for food? The entire town and school system were scared of his alcoholic mother so much so that no one dared to cross her. Even the cop that rescued him near the end was shaking and looking over his shoulder until they crossed the city limits? And he had never even met her, had only spoken with her on the phone. This mother was powerful. When Dave decided to embellish his abuse story he could have at least made it more believable!! The timeline even contradicts itself. Child abuse is not funny, and I am not making fun of it. I just don't believe Mr. Pelzer's account. I do think he was abused, just not like he portrays. He decided to make it sensational in order to sell more books. What he does though is make it sad for real abuse victims. He supposedly tries to get a message across, but fails miserably. There is no real inspiration here, only his inspiration to make money. He portays himself a hero. Any child would have done the same in his situation, survive. The will to survive is usually strong in victimized children. Many do grow up to inspire others, they glean depth from their situation and are able to make something good come from something bad. Dave Pelzer fails to do that. Even as an adult he fails to inspire me with his words. His journey is only incredible in the telling, not in it's depth. He seems to have gained nothing from his suffering. I find it hard to believe that people go to listen to him as an inspirational speaker. I hope his speech is better than his books. If my child were given this book to read in class I would have to object. It is no different than watching a spot from MTV for an hour. A waste of time, both.

A Child Called "It" is the story of the childhood of Dave Pelzer. Do to his mother's drinking problem, he suffers severe punishments, which he refers to as "games." Some of the "games" are deadly, frightening, and down right malicious. She grinds down her second son's self esteem by forcing him to wear the same clothes to school day after day.
His world turns upside down when he was only four years old, when the abuse began. Unlike most abusive parents, Dave's mother focuses on him and his other brothers are left unharmed. It isn't until after he is rescued that his mother turns on his younger brother, Russell.**
Thanks to some staff at his school, he is rescued from his mother. The years he spends in foster care are written about in his book, The Lost Boy.
**Russell is not his brother's real name. In his books, he changes his brother's names.

I read this book about ten years ago, after my first child had turned one and as I read it I found myself picturing my child as David. I connected with him in that way- like a real loving mother should have.
I've never forgot the horror that he went through and still cannot believe that it's true. I was happy to read that he finally escaped his terrible monster of a mother, but then saddened deeply to read that his brother was his mother's next victim.
This story is truly one of brutal courage and not for the faint of heart. I was truly touched by David and he lives in my heart to this day.

This is a moving story of a child's efforts to survive extraordinary torturous and prolonged child abuse at the hands of his evil unrelenting mother. Sadly his fathers and siblings stood by and let it happen. Starved, beaten, humiliated and unloved this child survived the hellish and horrendous childhood of one's worst nightmare.

This is the first book of a trilogy that exposes the worst of abuse through the eyes of the abused. I recommend that it be read by parents, teachers, social workers, and all who are in a position to recognize, intervene, and prevent child abuse.

Thank you Dave for revealing your story and doing your part to protect children from abuse.

A true story about the third worst case of child abuse in California at a time when child abuse was not acted upon. This book was hard to put down; I read it in an evening. Mr. Pelzer tells about the brutal abuse he experienced from his mother, yet more poignant was his dad's reaction to it, or perhaps I should say failure to react. The book brought me to tears, telling of a child's survival mechanisms during the horrible abuse afforded him by his demented, cruel mother.

No child should have to go through this. I know the mother was mentally ill. I hope in death she is finally at rest

I have never experienced such a large amount of guilt and shame over our world, until I read the memoir of 12-year-old David Pelzer. A Child Called It is a grueling and powerful autobiography written about Dave Pelzer's abusive early childhood. In most of the books written by Dave Pelzer, such as Lost Boy: A foster child's search for the love of a family, and The Privilege of Youth: A teenager's story longing for acceptance and friendship, they all resemble some form of struggling to be accepted by others and finding a true home. By far, A Child Called It may be the most disturbing book Mr. Pelzer has written. It seems as if Pelzer focuses on two different things in the book. He tries to help people realize his struggle for acceptance in his own family and also, helping people understand that they are able to overcome any type of circumstance, but falls short of providing understanding of extreme abuse or how he made his journey from "Victim to Victor."
It takes some work to get past the "this happened, then this happened, and this is how I felt about it" approach and the self-importance theme throughout the book, but the book tries ardently to provide the child perspective that we need. One of the greater obstacles to healing for males is admitting that they have been victims, especially if their perpetrator is a woman. This author has overcome that obstacle and succeeded in life by such masculine norms as joining the Air Force and receiving awards for his volunteerism. However, while personal accounts of child maltreatment provide crucial information about the realities of childhood, youngsters need insight and hope in order to digest the raw material of abuse. Since the book covers Dave Pelzer's life from age four to twelve, there were many types of abuse that can damage a child's delicate psyche, like psychological abuse. The only aspect that the book lacks is an in-depth analysis of David's psychological experience to fully grasp the experience that cannot be perceived as an outsider. I recommend this book to experience the hard cold facts of abuse but not for psychological analysis.

The Child Called It is the saddest book. It makes you cry. The characters are Dave, his brothers, his crazy mom, and his dad. Dave never got food.He only got leftovers. Where Dave lived, you do not want to know. If Dave had to live with his mom, he will die. In The Child Called It, there were no adventures at all!! I like the beginning of book . My least favorite character is mom. So start reading more of it. It is good book.

This book I bought due to it being recommended by a guy that I work with. This is a page turner and it tares out your heart. There were some chapters that tore my heart out, especially the ones where his mother burned him and knifed him in the stomach. If something like this happened to anyone else it may of killed us but it gave Dave Pelzer more inner strength.My daughter and nieces have also read the books and were totally astonished. These books I believe give kids the inner strength to survive. Kids see that a person who was severly abused survived and so can they! I just can't see why a mother that carried her baby for nine months would do something like this to her own child. Why didn't anyone step in to save this child before they did. Even his own father would not help him. A must read to open your eyes to the real world and no this was not a movie but a real life event that actually took place by a mother.

I have read the one star reviews on this book and take them from an objective point of view. I take them into consideration when writing my review here.
This book is one of the most horrific stories of child abuse you will ever read. It is truly heart wrenching and will blow your mind away while making your heart cry.
Wether or not the sordid details are 100% accurate (read the one star reviews for details), we all know child abuse is out there and that there are sick people who make life unbearable for many children. If nothing else, this story makes you want to join the agencies that are in place to help and protect children. You want to go out there and make a difference in the lives of abused children.
This book is definitely worth reading. Ignore the points mentioned in the one star reviews - an abused child/person may have forgotten the exact time line and exaggerated some of the details because they are telling the story from their own point of view. It is easy to get too tied in to a story and elaborate when you have emotion tied to it. Plus, it can be easy for people (the readers and reviewers) to brush off such grotesque details when they are too terrible to believe.

I just finished this book today, in tears.
It is one of the if not THE most inspirational books
I have ever read.
I grabbed my baby and didnt wont to let go of him, and I
want to give the author a hug for sharing his story with
us.

This book also made me realize that a human spirit such as David's can provide strength in the toughest of situations. David's spirit helped him to survive through his mother's emotional and physical abuse. He refused to let his mother win by staying strong and believing that one day he'll be free form her whether it meant he had to die to be free. He had no one to help him so he learned how to fend for himself. His courage and determination saved him from all of the suffering that he endured at such a young age. I loved this book so much because it not only makes you realize that child abuse is really happening to millions but that the story is told throught the eyes and body of a person who once endured child abuse. I really felt like I was feeling the loneliness and pain with him as he told his story. I could not put this book down. This book it is now at my top 3 favorites and for those who havent read it yet it is a must read!!!!

I thought A Child Called "It", written by David Pelzer, was an incredibly good book. As a kid Dave was abused physically and mentally everyday by his mother. He was beaten, burned, and even stabbed by his abusive mom. Not many children look forward to going to school everyday, but to Dave it was a safe-haven. From his problems at home it led to more problems at school. He tries to keep his troubles hidden but it's hard.
He no longer has his dad to protect him. His mom is the only thing else in his house besides his brothers. She blames him for everything. The way Pelzer recalls the events are amazing. The things that happen to him as a boy should never happen to anyone ever in their life. I never thought that it would be possible for anyone to have to deal with the accounts that he calls to in this book. You can almost feel the blows hitting yourself as you read this book.
I would suggest reading this book to anyone that likes a very well written novel. The way Pelzer illustrates his past is incredible. If you want to hear the sad sides of real life experiences and the way that they can be fought this is a great book.

This was a gift for niece. She's not a big reader, but could not put the book down.

If it's a fake or not, I don't care. It makes you think every moment how you're treating your kids and how you can be a better parent. Very good.

Google 'Dysfunction For Dollars" and "New York Times" as one search phrase and see what Dave's brother and grandmother are saying. His second brother actually backed him up ... and then wrote his own bestselling book. This is also a guy who buys an estimated 40,000 copies of his book from stores to sell at speaking engagements. Don't worry it's not made up, it's admitted to by Dave's wife, Marsha, who's also vice president of his company. It's there in the same article mentioned above. Er ... perhaps that explains why it's a "bestseller."

This is the same as the writer who claimed to have lived with a pack of wolves after surviving the holocaust. Don't be so quick to assume they're telling the truth. Oh and don't shoot the messenger.

When I first read the book, it became one of my most favorite memoirs. Peltzer, I thought, had such courage, strength, and endurance despite having gone through such a harrowing experience.

Then I find out everything he'd written was a lie and that the only reason he was a bestseller was the fact that he bought many of his books himself. Peltzer lied about his childhood and I realize now that the reason how he kept me captivated was that he painted gruesome images that horrify and delights the mind.

I have tried reading his book after finding out but could not stomach it - the lies stopped me in my tracks. But overall, the book is good but remember to read it as fiction.

A Child Called "It" is based on a true story. David is only five years old when his mother starts drinking and becomes and alcoholic, and his father isn't brave enough to stop any of this. David's mother was once a perfect mother and everyone loved her it wasn't until she started drinking that she lost everyone around her, she took out all her anger on poor David and would punch him and beat him. Years later David was known as "IT", "it's" mother believed to not use his name because he is not worth it. He was also not aloud to sleep in the house because he's not part of the "family" so he was moved into the garage. One day while "it" was cleaning up the kitchen, "mother" came in drunk as ever she sat down on the chair and watched David try to finish the dishes in the amount of time she gave him. As he looked at her and won't clean, she soon lost it and through a knife into "it's" stomach. As you read this book you can feel that you're with there with David on his journey for the fight of his life.
I absolutely loved this book, I couldn't put it down. It was an amazing book of a child's fight for his life. It was also the third worse child abuse case in the state of California.

Loved it, Got it in No time at all.. Was really, really happy with my purchase!

This was written so well. I know there is so much child abuse but never have seen so much in print. This book is written so well. You see all the torture and pain and know exactly what the child is feeling and experencing.

I loved this book and could not put it down. It is a touching story that at times can be too much to imagine. I think everyone should read this book.

This was a very fast read. It's amazing how someone can go through all of this and come out so positive.

I have never read a book that I became so personally invested in. You start becoming part of his life and wishing you could do something. You can't put it down. It is an emotional rollercoaster that is so compelling!

This is easily the worst book I've ever seen published. Who authorized this publication?

One would think that a story about a boy who was helplessly abused nearly to death, and stabbed by his own mother, would raise at least some sympathy. However, the writing was so.... bad, that I could only cringe. I began resenting the woman who abused her son for the sole reason that he grew up to write this book.

It's bad. That's all there is to say about it. Just bad. Dave Pelzer should have found a ghost writer to tell this story for him.

As I have read a few of the other reviews, people writing saying they do believe David Pelzer, I can not help but fear that is what happens to these abuse victims from the start. This boy had to endure torture for many years, because no one helped him. I think EVEN if this book is exagerated in anyway, this book has probably helped lots of child abuse survivors. This is a real heartfelt, very sad book. God bless David and his son.