A look at the horrors of alcohol and child abuse
345988
The synopsis of this story is that a grown-up Annie Mitchell returns to the town of Goshen, Texas because she's trying to find her childhood memories.  Something happened that was so horrific that she can't remember a thing about the first 11 years of her life.  She's come to stay with Bobo, her maternal grandmother, who seems to exist in a middle stage of senile dementia.  Annie's mother has died of cancer and she feels it is her turn to help care for her elderly grandmother.  It begins to work.  Through friends and by other means as well, fragments of memories are coming back, and even with only a few, she can already tell that it's going to be a real-life horror story!
1986199
This memoir tells the haunting story of how a boy makes a tragic mistake that lands him in prison. Of course this leads to a life of frequent  rape and psychological torture. This true tale will scare the crap out of you. It also shows how badly our justice system is often ran. This issue deserves great scrutiny by those in power. Darkly fascinating. This author is very brave.

Michael Travis Jasper, author of the novel "To Be Chosen"
3391756
For those of us who have been sheltered from the abuse and misery caused by illegal drugs, both passed on unfailingly from one generation to the next, this books is almost an overdose of what reality is like for the abused children of users.  It is also an absorbing account of pain and hope in the Texas juvenile justice system.  I'm glad I heard the author interviewed on NPR, and I'm glad I read his skillful account of one program in the justice system that appears to work.
2845844
I was fascinated with this book as it was written w/different voices telling their stories.  The children were really amazing since their parents and helpers were often a mess - much alcohol use and bordering on child abuse.  I liked the skills that the children showed and their ability to cope in so many difficult situations.  I am curious how the children became as adults.
915112
The story is interesting in the study of the affects of abuse of a child, how differently each might react.
2134557
Wow, a really personal look at the realities of alcoholism & abuse.  I think it's very easy to stereotype these situations, and reading Lizzy & Daniel's story definitely put a new perspective on this issue.  I am looking forward to reading the next in the series!
1746673
This was an exposing and gripping account of what it is like to struggle to overcome abuse and addiction. As a survivor of child sexual abuse I related in ways. I devoured this book rooting for the author. Hearing her story allowed me to better empathize with individuals that get drawn into drugs and other self-destructive behaviors.
4099610
This was certainly an interesting story. It was simplistic in some ways, yet advanced in others. But then
I guess it would be when tackling such a difficult subject such as alcohol abuse. I would think this would be aimed at pre and early teens (late elementary/beginning junior high level). Too young to understand the appeal and effects of alcohol, but old enough to be affected by the dangers associated with its consumption.

The book is not preachy, which is good, but tries to demonstrate the impact and damage that alcohol can have on families and young ones. It treats the target audience as mature enough to digest the material and see the problem without wagging a finger and shouting that alcohol is evil.

The book is told from Ben's perspective, a youngster who experienced the destruction caused by a drunk driver.

I did feel that the father, affected by Ben's sadness, stopped drinking a little too easily. It was mentioned that he had to get help to stop, but the solution was a bit simplistic for a complex problem, but it did make for a happy ending in a tragic story.

So well done to the author for taking on a difficult subject that will hopefully open up lines of communication for young people about issues of alcohol abuse.
4542198
I work as a nurse in an acute behavioral health hospital serving, children, adolescents and adults.  This book is so well written. It depicts the depth of the issues with child abuse and neglect in our country.  It is so telling of the pain and suffering and the effort mere survival requires for these children.
Most amazing is the the keen ability of the author and her siblings not to just survive,  but move on and become healthy, seemingly well adjusted adults.  Not all survivors have this degree of inner strength and desire to overcome this.  I see the emotionaly and mentally scared, and drug depend victims who do not fair so well.  Very moving, telling, straight forward, well written biography!!
2494111
As a child, Julie was always sickly.  Years and years were spent trying to determine what specific heart problems she had that made her childhood so awful.  After suffering various types of abuse for years, Julie leaves her family as a young adult and strives to find wholeness.  It is as an adult that she learns of Munchausen by Proxy, and realizes everything she thought she knew about her life was a lie.

This book made me nauseated when I read it, but I am very glad I read it.  The book details the incredibly disturbing childhood of a girl trapped in a dysfunctional family.  All I could think as I read it was that this situation was completely bonkers, and this girl is lucky to have survived.  I am going on the assumption that this is a true memoir, but there have been claims that this entire story has been falsified.  Many times memoirs of severely abused children draw fire for being false.  Perhaps they are false, or perhaps we want to think they are, because we cannot believe such monsters exist in the world.  But these monsters do exist.  As of right now, I am not sure there is enough conclusive evidence to determine the truth or lack thereof in terms of Julie's story.

I was familiar with Munchaisen by Proxy, having learned about it in abnormal psychology classes in college and graduate school.  For a while in the 1990's, it seemed like this was a hot new diagnosis, with many a made for t.v. movie cropping up.  But this is the first time I have ever heard an actual account of someone having lived through this situation (at least claiming to have anyway).  I found it fascinating and disturbing.  Like spectators at a car wreck craning their necks to survey the carnage, I simply could not look away.

In terms of the writing, I found for the most part the book progressed in a logical manner.  However, there were times that I could not keep the timeline straight, as Julie may have been talking about her 11th year, and mentioned a memory from her teen years.  It did get a little muddy at times, and I found the end of the book to lack closure.  I think that the portion of the book detailing Julie's life with her parents is captivating, but when she leaves home, the book takes a different tone, and it just seemed a little off.

All in all, I was captivated by the book.  I am unsure what is worse, believing that someone would do these terrible things to their child (and I know that many people do) or believing that someone would make it all up to sell a book.

I borrowed this book from a friend.
168865
I was privileged to read this book after I became an adult and a grandmother. I could not fathom being in the position this child was in. When I was working as a Registered Nurse, I worked in many different capacities and did see some child abuse but thank God I didn't see anything as horrific as this. What I did see was bad enough and no child should ever have to go through. I can not imagine any child ever having to go through anything like this. I was lucky enough to have loving parents who sacrificed everything for me when they had me and raised me as an only child. To have survived and have been able to document this horrendous experience takes a level of guts I could only imagine.
447786
Ruth Tucker candidly shares the horror story of the abuse she and her son endured in her first marriage. Your heart will weep to imagine all that she suffered. Her torturous treatment was exacerbated as her ex-husband's pounded her with Scriptures about headship and submission. The story offers insight into the heart and the hidden circumstances of abuse victims. The book will hopefully be helpful for some enduring abusive situations to find their voices and seek help. The downside is that Tucker seems to read the Bible through her painful experiences. One can imagine a victim of child abuse or police brutality seeking to overturn God's designs for authority structures in his world because of their terrible experiences. Terrible abuses of authority do not change God's good designs, which were rooted in creation not culture. All that said, it is tragic that Tucker and her son suffered so horribly. It seems that the Lord is caring for her greatly in her new marriage.
2137558
Michael Stapleton's Blood and Alcohol will be of interest to anyone who would like to know about how an ordinary American family copes simultaneously with being close to the powerful yet wrestling with personal demons.
1678703
Ms. Knapp chronicles her drinking saga from adolescence to her mid-thirties, when she finally decided to quit. Her father was a well-known psychoanalyst, her mother an artist. She had one brother (hardly mentioned), and one sister, a twin (not mentioned much).  The most she writes about her childhood is that her father, previously married, had three children, one of whom came to stay with them for awhile. Wicky was blind, and apparently violent toward her mother and brother.  Her half-sister later told her that he obviously had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (the mother drank).

Ms. Knapp felt uncomfortable and awkward around her father, but since there is not enough information about her childhood, I'm not really sure why. As it turns out, he was supposedly an alcoholic as well, although she had to ask a colleague of her father's if he thought so, after her father had died. Her mother apparently didn't offer her opinion.

Mainly the book concentrates on the various ways that Ms. Knapp fed her addiction: what she drank, where she drank, when she drank, with whom she drank. Since she finally admitted that she was an alcoholic (but a high-functioning one - we must remember) she could then blame every wrong thing she did on "the disease".  She just couldn't help it.  She was involved with two men at the same time, Michael and Julian.  They both were aware that she was seeing the other, but she was compelled (because of the alcohol) to lie to both of them about where she was, with whom, etc.  Ms. Knapp became pregnant, and apparently told them both that they were the father.  One went with her to the doctor's appointment to determine pregnancy, the other went with her to get the abortion.  How cold can you be?  But she couldn't help it, she says, the alcoholism forced her to behave in this manner. Since her father had a long-term extra-marital affair, and he drank, well, it couldn't be that they were immoral or anything, it was the alcohol!

The book leaves out a lot, but has the same refrain for many pages: I couldn't help myself.  Until I decided to stop. But, to me, it's like anything else.  You do what you do until you are ready to see the light (which in Ms. Knapp's case, strangely enough, was reading an article which quoted Shirley Maclaine).  But don't blame it on "the disease".

After reading the book, I still don't know much about Ms. Knapp's life, but I do know what she liked to drink the most: white wine.  She died in 2002 at age 42 of lung cancer.
2807372
I know that children are abused quite often, but this book gives you a lot to think about and wonder how anyone could have not stepped in sooner and taken care of the children before they endured all that they endured. it shines a bad light on social services and teaches alike for not following up on how the kids fell through the system.
519028
Though gut wrenching at times, this book is a excellent read.  It sheds light on child abuse victims, foster homes, and social services and shows both the good and the bad of all of it.

I hope this book gets into the hands of those who need it most.  Victims who need hope.
3930188
This is the story of one of America's most popular actors, Leo Gorcey, and Leo Gorcey, Jr's account of growing up with his famous father and alcoholism. Subjected to verbal and sometimes physical abuse, in what psychologists call the formative years, leaves the children of alcoholics scarred for life.
Although his father died of cirrosis of the liver when he was just 19 (Leo Jr. is 54) it has taken many years for his son to forgive his father. Reading this book, although sad at times, offers hope for all children of alcoholics.
This book is not just a great read but a moving, inside look into the life of Leo Gorcey, Sr. Thanks Leo for a great book and best of luck to you.
Ed Franks