I know it's not nice to burn, stab, poison, starve or otherwise torture your kid, but damn! If THAT can't motivate a boy to do the dishes in less than half an hour, how's he ever gonna learn?!

Seriously, though. I'm enjoying this short little autobiography from a "glad it wasn't me" perspective. The only problem is I can't believe a book so poorly edited became a New York Times Bestseller. The man uses commas like they're going out of style and uses "everyday" instead of "every day." [Everyday is an adjective, as in "Storms were becoming an everyday occurrence." Every day should be used when you are talking about the frequency of an event, as in "It rained every day during our vacation."] On one page, I found three grammatical errors. And these pages are small, with large type!

P.S. Now that I am finished reading it and have read some other reviews of the book on Goodreads, plus a NY Times article linked from another Goodreads review, I am inclined to believe the author is a liar. The article suggests that the book's lengthy stay on the NYT bestseller list is due to the author's habit of purchasing thousands of copies at a time (at a discount) and selling them at his speaking engagements. He also tells everyone who listens that "A Child Called It" was nominated for a Pulitzer, when it really wasn't. Submitted for review, maybe. Plus, how are you going to believe someone can recall graphic scenes from their childhood, but not what their mother looked like? Would have been nice if the Times reporter had interviewed the teachers who reported his abuse (if, in fact those people and reports weren't fabricated) or if the reporter had looked for the police report taken when Pelzer was removed from his home. The brother, Stephen, says David was removed for setting fires or something... It's not quite fair to leave it as a he-said-she-said when there are documents of the event out there.