Product Description

Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother, a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games - games that left one of her three sons nearly dead. She no longer considered Dave a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dog's bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. But throughout Dave kept alive dreams of finding a family to love him. This book covers the early years of his life and is an affecting an inspirational book of the horrors of child abuse and the steadfast determination of one child to survive. 'Dave Pelzer conveys brilliantly how his own determination allowed him to keep alive his dream of one day find a family who would be proud to call him their son. Truly touching, and emotionally shocking. A marvel' Best

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2832 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
David J. Pelzer's mother, Catherine Roerva, was, he writes in this ghastly, fascinating memoir, a devoted den mother to the Cub Scouts in her care but not to David, her son, whom she referred to as "an It". This book is a brief, horrifying account of the bizarre tortures she inflicted on him, told from the point of view of the author as a young boy being starved, stabbed, smashed face-first into mirrors, forced to eat the contents of his sibling's diapers and a spoonful of ammonia, and burned over a gas stove by a maniacal, alcoholic mom. Sometimes she claimed he had violated some rule--no walking on the grass at school--but mostly it was pure sadism. Inexplicably, his father didn't protect him; only an alert schoolteacher saved David. One wants to learn more about his ordeal and its aftermath, and now he's written a sequel,The Lost Boy, detailing his life in the foster-care system.

Though it's a grim story, A Child Called "It" is very much in the tradition of Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul and the many books in that upbeat series, whose author Pelzer thanks for helping get his book going. It's all about weathering adversity to find love and Pelzer is an expert witness.--Christine Buttery

Review
The media continue to report shocking and almost unbelievable stories of child abuse. Invariably the same questions are asked. Why is this still happening? Why did no one notice what was going on? There are never any satisfactory answers, often because the child is dead. Pelzer courageously allows us to be a fly on the wall throughout his terror-soaked childhood. We are with him every day, through every incident and every minute of toture. This is the story of a tiny soldier battling to keep alive in the face of horrific treatment by his alcoholic mother. Like all real wars, it's wholly encompassing for both participants and observers, engaging every nerve and sinew, every ounce of suffering. From primary school onwards, Dave is continually denied food, denied even the contents of the trash can, forced to eat faeces, burned over the gas stove, stabbed in the stomach, asphyxiated with ammonia and sent to sleep in the unheated basement like a dog or an 'It'. Why didn't he tell someone? With Dave's help we realize that the power of an aggressive parent is absolute and the fear instilled is paralysing. Dave explains how difficult it was for outsiders to connect the well-dressed, public spirited neighbour with the alter ego who succumbed to drunken rages and sadistic acts within the security of their own home. Dave's survival rests entirely on his will to live which he keeps alive with small acts of defiance. There is something in suffering and surviving that builds an inner strength and the suvivor may well, as Pelzer has done, go on to enjoy a successful and worthwhile career in the world. This is the first of a trilogy; the second and third books will be eagerly awaited, especially if they flesh out more of the background and circumstances of his mother Catherine Roerva and his ineffectual father. (Kirkus UK)

Synopsis
Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother, a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games - games that left one of her three sons nearly dead. She no longer considered Dave a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dog's bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. But throughout Dave kept alive dreams of finding a family to love him. This book covers the early years of his life and is an affecting an inspirational book of the horrors of child abuse and the steadfast determination of one child to survive. 'Dave Pelzer conveys brilliantly how his own determination allowed him to keep alive his dream of one day find a family who would be proud to call him their son. Truly touching, and emotionally shocking. A marvel' Best

Customer Reviews

frightening and truly amazing
A Child Called 'It'

I first read this book 4 years ago whilst on a sun bed in Spain. As soon as I began, I did not put the book down and ended up with bad sunburn.
What an extraordinary and horribly disturbing tale. Dave tells us about the abuse he suffered from his mother, and the distress of his father abandoning him, throwing him into a lonely and lost world. Dave describes the distressing scenarios which we as readers cannot swallow in words - stories of starvation, beatings, mental torture and physical agaony.
The words are written from the perspective of when he was very young, so it is simple to read and very straight forward. As you read his other books you realise how complex he grew to be.
I would only recommend this to people with a strong stomach - ir to those who need their own lives put into a little perspective.

A hard book to like
As this book is autobiographical you would hate to be too critical. The characters are real as is the plot so what happened happened. However having not ever been a victim of child abuse or had any encounter with its horrors I found this book a little boring. What happened to David was disgusting and this book just chronicles years of abuse and describes in detail many types of torture. After reading it, I said to myself wasn't that dreadful and rolled over and fell asleep without giving it a second thought. I don't think that that is what the author had in mind.

Heartbreaking
I read one of the most horrific parts of this book on a train, and had to bite my tongue to stop myself from sobbing. The sort of aubse Dave went through doesn't bare thinking about. Don't read this book unless you're prepared for it to leave a perminant mark on you.