Kim M. (Eucalia) reviewed on 10/23/2009 + 52 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

This book is amazing. The most amazing thing about it is that it is a memoir, which means it's all more or less true. This is the story of the girlhood of someone who grew up in an environment of extreme neglect. The second of four children, her parents consisted of a violent drunk father and a mother who felt the world owed her everything and she owed it--and her children--nothing. The story opens when the author, at the age of three, using the stove unsupervised, catches her dress on fire and is severely burned. The parents can't or won't hold down jobs and the family is often starving, the children resorting to eating food out of the school cafeteria trash cans after the other children have left. The parents always seem to have the attitude that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, not even coming to the rescue when their children are sexually assaulted. I could go on and on about the awful things these children experienced and in general this is definitely not a happy story, but what is most striking about this story is how the author never talks about anything negatively. The attitude of the narrative always seems to be that this is just another adventure. Through it all, there is love in this family. Despite everything that happens, the ties that bind this family seem to remain just as strong or stronger than those of other more stable, more normal families.

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