Truly Shocking

What a devastating story yet also an inspiration from a man who managed to capture his tortured life into words and continue to live and grow with his own family.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Heartbreaking and amazing

Heartbreaking story of Davids’s childhood and cruelty of one mother towards her own son! Amazing how David survived those horrors and will power to live and not give up! Beautiful narrated by Brian Keeler this is a must listen book for us all because every one of us can help rather than turn a blind eye! I was a survivor of my own child and later husband abuse but it would’ve been a big help if I knew that help was out there! I read critics review and some people suggest that it was not as bad as David made it out- it is totally untrue- No body can invent or make up such a story, you have to live through it! Well done David for being a person you are today!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

wow

What a strong Spirit, what an incredible and horrible experience.
Thank you for using this to create change in our world x

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Amazing Novel

This is an incredible story as is the other two books in this series. However, it makes me wonder how much "truth" there is to this narrative.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

the level of child abuse this man suffered!!

very very enjoyable but at times very hard to hear what this man went through at the hands of his sadistic mother.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Heartbreaking but eye opening

As a victim of child abuse this story hit really hard but also helped me process my pain in some ways.
Very well written and narrated
well worth the listen

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Sad and beautiful

Just wow! Words cannot express how this made me feel. Inspirational! He could have turned to a life of crime with all he had been through but chose to educate.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

The point of view from David

I loved how it shows the little brain games mother would play with David and at such a young age he know what to do to make the beatings less worse

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

a boy named it

No child is supposed to suffer from the abuse that David did especially from the person you expect to provide him love and support.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Unbelievable, and I mean that literally.

It's weird when, in the process of reading a book about terrible abuse, you have so many huh? moments when things don't make sense and the story seems unrealistic. I've read a number of biographies where people suffered terrible abuse as children, but the switch up between "everything was fine" and "suddenly I'm lower than the dogs" seemed to come out of nowhere. Apparently, it was due to his mum's alcoholism? But it's presented as just a blanket reason, with no other treatment by the author as to why she might have also become a psycho child abuser, and in such specific ways, out of nowhere. I assume he had counselling or something afterwards to come help him process the experiences, but there is no evidence of that in the book as a retrospective from the author. So it came to pass that I googled the author and the book for a bit more information and discovered the controversy surrounding the author, his potentially over-inflated stories, and the wealth of negative opinions about him as a person that have been expressed by people who have worked with him since. If you're interested, just head to the references related to his controversy in the wikipedia article about the book and you will find them.

I believe victims, but I don't really believe "Dave Pelzer". One of the articles about him called what he writes "snuff literature", and as a big reader of splatterpunk and extreme-horror, I found myself agreeing with this sentiment, especially when I compare it with the writing of other survivors of extreme child abuse. His book seemed to glorify his suffering, and that has been a profitable cash cow for him. I don't plan on reading any more of his books. They leave a bad taste in my mouth.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!