Books I Loathed discussion
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a child called it
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smetchie
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Feb 14, 2008 11:06AM
worst book i ever read. that dave pelzer is a terrible writer.
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wow, way to encourage students.
I've read in a number of places (including a NYTimes Magazine article) that no one can verify any of what he's written and that it looks like he's another James Frey (or, more accurately, that James Frey's another David Pelzer).
I have actually met Dave Pelzer's brother who verifies the horrifying story. Their parents were terrible people who abused their children beyond reason or imagination.
The story is worth telling but if you are a horrible writer you should hire a co-author.
I didn't like this book. And, I know it may seem insensitive, but I didn't believe much of it either.
Every time I see this book in the bookstore, I always want to ask "What did the child call it?"
I teach high school and always hear my students talking about this book. I have been meaning to read it, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I know the story grips them, and who cares if he is a terrible writer? At least my kids are reading a book! Maybe a terrible writer is okay for a memoir. He is telling his story in his own words, as he remembers it. Maybe a co-author wouldn't capture the same sentiment?
But, like I said, I have never read it.
It was such a sad, interesting, and inspiring story, that it being written on a 5th grade level didn't matter to me. My heart goes out to those kids.
If you want a sob story, read The Kite Runner,
I was SO disappointed with "The Kite Runner". So boring I had to force myself through it.Didn't like "A Child Called It" either. Like Christina I'm not sure I believe it, and the writing was just terrible and manipulative.
I found that I couldn't believe much of A Child Called It, but who am I to say it didn't happen? It certainly is possible. I just can't say I liked it, because it was just so horrifying. Having an interest in the book makes me feel like I've committed a small crime myself.
I didn't care for the writing style and his sequels are even worse. However, if you doubt such abuse could happen, talk to any teacher, pediatrician, counselor or social worker. Be warned, the stories will make your hair stand on end. And don't let them show you any photographs. I've seen some and they were the stuff of nightmares.
Dave Pelzer is a man who survived a terrible, horrible, words beyond words childhood and lots of other things, he could have given up but this man endured this hell of a life and lived again. He should be praised with honors, he could have done anything but survive a hell of a life and yet he stumbled out of his rotten life to reach higher and he found his cloud with a silver lining.
I don't doubt for a minute what happened to him, and I found his story quite horrifying. I have the three volume omnibus on the shelf and while it wasn't particularly well-written it was very poignant. What annoys me about the whole "genre" however, is that for a while child abuse stories seemed to be "hip". I remember going into a bookstore a couple of years ago and six of the top ten were child abuse stories. I mean, do people really enjoy other people's misery so much?There seems to be a bandwagon of it. I saw a self-pubbed book the other day which was basically a middle-aged woman's account of how sleeping with dozens of men during her youth was so terrible. I mean, half the girls I knew at school could have written that book. I'm thinking of writing a woe-is-me book about how I couldn't get laid at university and that no one used to invite me to the pub. Bestseller coming up ...!
Fiona wrote: "This is one of those books that I've had sitting on my shelf thinking I should read it to see what the fuss is about. But... I just can't stand 'true-life' sob stories. There's just so many of them..."Completely agree with you! Except nothing could convince me to read the Sun!
Yeah, I'm not going to way on whether this is a hoax or not (there are doubts as to the book's veracity but nothing has been confirmed), but regardless of what he did and didn't survive, this book is poorly written. There's little if any insight into why his parents were so horrible, just more of the "WAH! Everyone so mean!" insight of children (yeah, I know he was a child when this happened, but he's writing as an adult looking back, so I expect a little insight). Not to mention, I'm a little suspicious that there weren't brief moments of happiness in his life. An example of what I mean would be in Change Me into Zeus's Daughter (a much, much better book), while the writer doesn't hold back in laying out the sins of the fater (and the mother) she does talk about little moments of happiness like sharing an RC cola with her siblings and running around and getting into trouble with said siblings.
Shelley wrote: "Pelzer came to speak at my college and I remember feeling emotionally usurped afterwards. I bought a copy of A child Called It and 10 years later have yet to read even a page of it."Be warned!!! it's very graphic and it should be rated: PG-13 so be prepared for really terrible and graphic child abuse. By the way that is so cool Dave came to speak to your cottage, I would have loved to gotten his autograph.
