Anyone read 'a child called it'?

kelloggs36

I read them and thought they were harrowing, but now I am a bit cynical as there are so many of them, I wonder how many of them are actually genuine rather than cashing in on genuinely miserable lives?

Prudent

I have read all three. I do not find the accounts exagerated - I work teach children who are very damaged as a result of equally harrowing experiences. It is possible that some events are coloured by personal perception; that is true for all of us. I did find them quite depressing, in the way some of the case notes I read depress me.

There is also his brother's book A brother's journey, which is not so well written.

I borrowed the first one and got the other two from car boot sales for 10p each. I often see them in charity shops. It might be worth asking on free cycle. If you are in my area you can collect mine. I like to free cycle books.

mandy_moo_1

i got the whole set off ebay for about a fiver i think......haven't read the last one yet tho, but the first 2 were unputdownable!!!!

morg_monster

when i'm trawling the charity shops to satisfy my lust for reading i often see copies of these books.
I read them a few years ago, I thought the first one was a worthwhile read but I was a bit bored by the rest of them (I was travelling though so read anything in english I could get my hands on!). Like others have said, I can't believe he got so much mileage out of them. But then that much money is a nice karma thing to balance out the crappy start in life he got.
There's actualyy 4 books - there's one called "The Privilege of Youth: The Inspirational Story of a Teenager's Search for Acceptance and Friendship" - this one i feel is a total rip off, he's just going back to his teenage years and writing about them AGAIN!! but again - if people buy them, who am I to argue.
Oh and he's also written two self help books too.

jo_b_2

Angel777 wrote: »

I do want to read part 2 and 3 and was wondering what people thought of them and also where i can buy them cheaply?

You can buy the sequels from Amazon Marketplace for 1p each plus £2.75 P&P for each book you order.

You could also consider joining an online book swapping club https://www.readitswapit.co.uk where you list any books that you no longer want and swap them for other books. It's completely free - you just pay the cost of posting your old book to the other person.

It's a great site and also has a discussion forum where members review books/authors etc. It sounds as though you would enjoy it.

newcook

I haven't read them but I want to.

I have read 'the little prisoner' who went through a similar sort of thing - she actually says that she was recommended by her therapist to read 'a child called it' and she said that it was a huge help to her to read that someone else had been through a similar thing as she realised she wasn't alone in what had happened to her.

I read 'the little prisoner' twice as I found her story amazing. I think it takes a lot of courage and strength for people who have suffered abuse to put pen to paper and write about what happened.

for those who find it strange that people who have suffered abuse feel the need to tell the rest of the world about it with a book surely if it helps even just one person who has been abused either come to terms with it or help them find the strength to stand up to the abuser then its a book that money was well spent on.

Angel777

Like a few others have said, if it helps 1 person come to terms with such a terrible and traumatic start to their lives its worth it.

If people find it gruesome then dont buy/ read it.

Thanks for all the suggestions jo_b i will look into that sounds good.

pulliptears

I have read the Richard Pelzer one (a Brothers journey) and it is pure drivel. Its one of those books where they make the typeface extra big just to make it appear longer.

Its the worst bit of bandwagon jumping I have ever seen.

Barcode

Hugo: We all have a right to pass comment on that which is in the public domain. If somebody is going to put their story out there for the entire world to see, I have a right to pass judgement.

You're right on the other point, i.e, no-one is forcing me to buy it.

mishmash

I was suprised to find this thread, I have just come back from a few days at my brothers where we were talking about the ammount of these books in the shops.

I was a frontline childcare social worker for over 10 years, my brother still works with children in a care setting.

While working in this area, I worked with many children who had suffered the most horrific abuse. The things I have seen and heard still haunt me. However that was part of my role and I helped many children and families so I have no regrets.

I mentioned to my brother how I do not understand the appetite for these books, on an earlier post it mentions reading them for pleasure. I know it is 'each to their own' but I do not want to read about these things, in fact the conversation with my brother arose because I was suprised to find so many in the chart section of the bookshop. One was titled " please Daddy, don't" well, I don't need to read it to know what it is about. It does trouble my mind though, why people would want to read about such experiences.

Maybe it is because I am all too aware of the abuse that is taking place and the damage to children, but I hope this 'craze' passes soon.

My Mum has read some of them, but she says she found them interesting, maybe she is more detatched and reads them just like a novel.

Not for me I'm afraid.