A horribly messy and filthy home as seen from the perspective of a child who grew up in it.
349159
During the reading of this book, it made me want to clean.  I felt so badly that a child had to grow up in such a mess.  How many more are there out there needing help from grownups who could help, but not knowing how to be found... This was a very good book.  If you know of someone who is farther along than just "messy," perhaps giving them a copy of this book would make them aware of the damage they are doing to their innocent children.  Maybe that would be enough to get some to clean up their house.  This could give them the push they need.  Or give a child enough courage to go ask a trusted adult to help them.
3799836
I read the book A CHILD CALLED "IT" by Dave Peltzer.  Dave is the main character in A CHILD CALLED "IT."  He is an extremely abused child who saw a better life and was determined to get it, no matter what.  Dave's mom was an abusive, mean hearted, alcoholic.  Dave's dad was not emotionally there for the family.  He had 48 hour shifts as a firefighter and would come home to an abusive wife and a abused children.  He would get his wife drunk, thinking it would make everything better, when it really just increased the abuse.  He would then leave, because he could not mentally handle it, as the children, especially Dave, mentally and physically got it.  Out of five children, Dave had to fight for life the most because Dave's mom favored the other siblings.  Dave was the household ragdoll.  I think this is a great book.  The extreme abuse was terribly disturbing, yet it gave you a better perspective on your life.  The best part is to see what he's done in his life.  He saw the better world and through all the mental and physical abuse, he still got everything he wanted.
2597523
I was at a school where this book was not allowed for assigned reading. The part where the boys are sexually abused for food was deemed "inappropriate" and the book was removed. But this is stuff that happened, and there are lessons to learn from it.

Back when I was a kid I learned that Apartheid was horrible, but I never knew how bad things were in the townships; the squalor, the feces, wife-beating, the gangs hacking people with machetes. This kid is abused first by his father, who drinks and gambles away his wages, then by the sewage collectors, who shove his face in the muck as punishment for mocking them, and then by his teachers, who beat the kids daily. I'm not talking about the typical English school canings; this kid is beaten so bad that he can barely walk home.

Today, South Africa's a mess. Whatever was going on in Alexandria spilled over throughout the country.
2947261
Hard to describe the pain and anger felt just reading about the atrocities and crimes against humanity-- against children, of all people-- documented here. Evil is the only word for it. Unlike the children, where illegal actions are understandable given that they ARE children (brain development not complete until the 20's) and the backgrounds of abuse and neglect they come from, the discrimination they face, the actions of those responsible defy any hope for reform or excuse except a basic lack of humanity. Yet, the ones responsible are generally rewarded and praised, a blind eye turned to the torture of the most vulnerable members of our society.

This is something that I believe future generations will look back on in the way we look on the worst incidents of human history, asking each other how this could have been allowed to have happened, why decent people didn't storm the gates and bring down the walls themselves. The statistics and types of incidents the author cites are very well documented. The "Oh, this couldn't have happened..." and "Oh, she couldn't have been put there for THAT..." type of comments I've seen online are quite disturbing in themselves, that people would rather just stick their heads in the sand.
838872
Jeannette Walls has made a respectable life for herself after being literally raised in squaller by her undisciplined parents.  Her father was an alcoholic and arrogant dreamer of a man who was fired from most every job he ever held.  He was unemployed for long stretches of time where he would spend a great deal of time and energy trying to come up with inventions which would make him rich.  Not surprisingly, none of his "get rich quick" schemes would ever be completed and his children would become so hungry that they would forage for food in the school garbage cans.  Jeannette's mother was blindly loyal to her husband and went along with every half baked scheme he would come up with.  She was college educated with a teaching degree but lacked any drive or motivation to work for a living.  Both parents would rather go with their whims rather than take any responsibility to properly feed, clothe, and house their four children.

As repulsed as I was at the parents, I could not help but admire the children and their maturity throughout the difficult lives they led.  The oldest three children, including Jeannette, grew to have normal productive adult lives.  The youngest child grew into a troubled young woman and lost touch with her siblings.

This book is a testimony to anyone that you can truly overcome your problems and make something of yourself.
2709625
This is a very well written book with a novel perspective on the drug world. The child's perspective gives some insight into what it must be like growing up in a drug lords home.
4509877
The love for her parents shines through even when you see the trauma and horror of growing up with hoarders well before most people even knew what it was.
3942787
A forgotten, and little known, part of our country's past. Children, ripped from the tenements of inner city slums when their parents die leaving them without a means to live, were dumped into overcrowded orphanages where abuse and neglect were rampant. In what I believe was a true spirit of humane endeavor, an organization was formed to oversee the redistribution of the orphans. They were placed on trains and sent out of the city into small towns, villages, and rural areas where advertisements had been circulated announcing the arrival of children for adoption. There were no background checks of the perspective parents, and few requirements directing the treatment of the children. Some were welcomed into loving homes as part of the new family and others became little more than unpaid servants (almost slaves) and laborers.
The story unfolds as a young girl in modern day foster care, after committing a petty crime, is assigned community service; assisting an elderly woman clean out years of accumulated items and papers from her attic. While the girl cleaned and sorted, the woman shared her lifes experiences as a child on the orphan train. The story is well written and the book is hard to put down, With each turned page, I wanted to know what would happened next.
1426831
Informative look into what hoarders dump on the children. Emotional dammage for life.
4835966
I have finished reading the book called "A child called 'it'" I was horrifyed by what i read and in disbelieve that this could really happen? A autobiography by Dave Pelzer the vivtim of salvary and abuse. Dave surrived horrifing accounts of burning, stabbing, gas chambers, beating, poisoning and starvation were all just daily things that happened to him through his mother as he struggled to eat and sleep in order to stay alive of another day. Dave could not understand why it was happening to him but as his mother said he was a "bad boy"
I recomend this book to everyone, except children under the age of 12 because of the disturbing context, but for older people this will truly have a impact on you one way or another.
1872619
Reading The White House Boys was painful. I hate to think that treatment like this happened in America, but I know that sick people gravitate toward the weak and helpless. This was a testament to the memories of this young boy.
592929
In light of recent events, this memoir is absolutely horrifying. It is so difficult to believe that such harsh realities exist for so many in the world today. It is also shameful that this familys reign continues in North Korea, despite the horrific living conditions Kim Il-sung and his descendants have produced in their communist nation thus far. It is surreal and shocking that they have brainwashed an entire population into believing that these men are direct descendants of God. That a rebel faction hasn't sprung from the ashes yet, is unfathomable. It was so disturbing to read what Kang Chol-hwan dealt with for so long. Most of the families that were moved from Japan during this period of repatriation, were under the assumption that they would be well-cared-for, that they were among the elite that were being summoned to North Korea to lead the nation to prosperity. When they heard about free housing and guaranteed jobs in Kim Il Sungs socialist state, most families were jumping through hoops to be chosen to head back to their home country. It was a terribly harsh reality for many when they realized that rather than be revered, they would be treated like animals the rest of their lives; sadly, for the great majority, there is no way out of this nightmare of an existence.

The valor and strength that Chol-hwan exhibited is so awe-inspiring, and I am so grateful to him for sharing his story, and shedding more light on the horrific realities of North Korea and this unrelenting family of dictators.
2207627
The contrast between a loving family and an abusive one is stark. I find myself reflecting on my own life experiences - grateful that I have had a loving family.
688119
Told from the perspective of a young girl growing up in a war-ravaged village, Harris depicts the simplicity and straightforwardness of childhood, the complexities and confusion of coming-of-age and the weariness of dysfunction of family in adulthood.  Through it all, terrible secrets are harboured and slowly revealed.  The characters will haunt you for days after finishing this book.
3493416
In a very few words the author creates a vivid picture of a woman and her son attempting to get away from a man and a life that both clearly hate. Their aim is to set up home in a new and in many ways 'perfect' village location where they hope that he will never find them. The misgivings and anxiety that they feel on thir first day are understandable, and might be discounted as entirely due to their circumstances, but on the hill behind their new council flat is a dark and sinister wood, and there is something unsettling about the woman in the housing office who offers them the tenancy. Quite literally, the writing is on the wall.

I think it would be difficult to read this opening and not want to know what happens next. This is an entry that is going to be difficult to beat.
1443442
A brutal firsthand study of eviction, emphasizing both its high frequency and the devastating toll it takes on families. Matthew Desmond, an ethnographer who spent years living in low-income neighborhoods and trailer parks to research this book, shows how precarious the living situation is for people in poverty, and how easily they can be abused by the housing system. Sudden upsets like job loss or hospital bills can lead to eviction when families fall behind on their rent, but even renters who are up-to-date can be kicked out of their home for the flimsiest of reasons when they cannot afford to contest the order in court.

(For instance, Desmond writes of women who have been evicted after calling the police to report domestic violence, because their landlords don't want to have their properties in the system as nuisance addresses -- which also leads to a severe under-reporting of abuse among renters who don't want to risk eviction over it. Despite such factors making eviction a common occurrence, landlords can lawfully discriminate against potential renters on the basis of previous evictions, and many government assistance programs explicitly rule out candidates who have been evicted in the past.)

Property-owners are not all conniving slumlords -- just as evicted people are not all blameless innocents -- and Desmond spends some time showing eviction from the landlords' perspective as they seek to pay their own bills and hold tenants responsible for rent and damages to their property. But his primary focus is on the evicted people themselves, on how their lives are completely disrupted by every forced move, and on the policies we might put in place to mitigate these circumstances and lower the overall rate of eviction. It's an important message that I hope spreads far and wide.
1190303
Having done a term paper in college on the politics of Haiti over the centuries, it is no surprise that the corruption and suffering continues today as its has throughout Haiti's history. This book gives a good perspective at a personal day to day life through the eyes of a child in modern day Haiti. What a shame,