I cried for the child, I cried for the man!. Review on A Child Called It - Dave Pelzer

A Child Called ''It''

by David Pelzer

Morbid? Yes, I think this story is morbid, in nature, BUT this true story remains so riveting, page after page. It represents evil in the eyes of innocence. If this story were fiction, I think I could be offended by the authors’ horrific tales, but this is not fiction, it is a sad reality!

This story is based on the authors’ real life of abuse from a very early age and at the hand of his repulsive mother. In the fore-page of this book, David’s teacher, Athena Konstan states, “In my 31 years of teaching, David Pelzer was the most severely abused child I have ever known.” (A Child Called “It”). This abuse continued while so many enablers closed their eyes to the obvious afflictions this poor child endured. His father, a coward in reality but a hero to David, left the family home for his own enhancement. This abandonment meant knowingly leaving little David behind to be further abused. The author narrates the twists and turns of his life from a child’s perspective…filled with confusion, shame, pain, self preservation, innocence, hope and strategy. This child wielded to his mothers’ every whim in hopes that she would remember him as being the child she once loved, that this horrible cloud that distorted her thinking would be lifted and she would once again embrace him as her own. She caught on to his desire to be loved and used it to play games with him…very evil games that were no less than unthinkable. While reading this book, I kept hoping that his pain would soon end, “surely someone will notice soon and rescue him…” and on several occasions, I was inspired to promptly hug my own children. I wanted to drive across this country in search of this man, who endured so much pain in his life, and just hug him, because I hurt for him. I, often, cried while reading this book and upon finishing the book, I ran out to buy the sequels. Not because I reveled in his misery, but because I was amazed and wanted, desperately, to know when and how this boy came to be free from such imprisonment.

Yes, the book is morbid in that such abuse has ever taken place, but amazing and riveting that this small child found ways to cope and survive a most horrible existence. I invite you to read this book and its sequels…at the end of his trials and tribulations, there is a Man Named Dave…how wonderful!

(If you are depressed or sad, I recommend a happier book and wait for this one until you are feeling better).