A Child Called It
David Pelzer is an American, award winning author, and also the survivor of the third worst case of child-abuse recorded. He wrote the bestseller novel, ‘A Child Called ‘It’’, which is a true story which reveals Pelzer’s tragic past, describing vividly his life from the age of four, full of torture and cruelty, until he was rescued at the age of twelve. There are three instalments of his incredible story, (‘The Lost Boy’ and ‘A Man Named Dave’), each unfolding the next stage in his remarkable journey, and explain to us how it made him the man he is today.
The first chapter of the book is titled ‘The Rescue’, this is about the day when David’s situation becomes more noticed, and the first step is taken to save Pelzer’s life. For many people, it is important that Pelzer began his story here – since the book has many difficult and vivid extracts, it will help he reader get through them, knowing that there is a safe end to the suffering he experiences.
After ‘The Rescue’ the readers are lead through the happy times of his life, when his parents were “the perfect parents” and how his family was ‘the Brady Bunch of the 1960’s”.
In the second and third chapters, we see a change in all of the main characters – David, his mother and his father. Pelzer describes each of the characters in fine detail, and consequently creates a very realistic character, which I can easily imagine. The obvious change in character is the change which happens in his mother, suddenly she becomes a cruel, abusive monster, Pelzer tells the reader that his relationship with his mother “drastically changed from discipline that developed into a kind of lifestyle that developed out of control.” The readers eventually find out that alcohol might have been the cause for some of the change in her, “Mom got up only to go to the bathroom, get another drink or heat leftover food.” The way Pelzer describes his mothers actions and personality, makes the reader have a strong hatred for the mother. The change...
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