Book Review Of A Child Called It English Literature Essay

The book entitled “A Child called ‘It'” is based on a true story written by a man namely Dave Pelzer, the author of the book himself. The book is the first edition; however, it is published by The Orion Publishing Group in 1995. Besides that, the number of pages of the book consisted 169 pages. Besides that, the book is based on the child’s life from age 4 to 12.

Furthermore, The Child Called ‘It’ is about the author’s life when he was in his childhood days, Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally, unstable, alcoholic mother. On the other hand, Dave Pelzer’s mother, a mother who played torturous, unpredictable games that left one of her sons’ nearly dead. She no longer considered him a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an ‘it’. In addition, Dave Pelzer’s bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and, when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dogs bowl. The outside world however knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. It took years of struggle, deprivation and despair to find his dream and make something of himself in the world.

Conversely, based on the book, Pelzer begins his story with a resolution. He achieves this by describing his last morning living under the abusive control of his mother. The actual beginning of the horrid tale occurs in the next chapter, in the 1960s. However, this technique completes a few things including catching the reader’s attention immediately and making the rest of the story all the more unbelievable because the reader knows that David survives. Most prominently, it creates a story of survival not one of demise. Hence, it brings in the major theme of the power of the human spirit to overcome remarkable odds. This chapter also establishes two of the main characters, David and Mother. David has seemingly sustained his tormented way of life for many years because he has become cunning and able to anticipate Mother’s games. This is obvious in the opening scene where he cleverly pretends to be fearful of Mother, when in reality he doesn’t care if he is beaten- he is playing along so he will be allowed to eat. However, the torture has left him weak, tattered, apprehensive, and essentially brain washed.

On the other hand, in the next chapter, the author brought the reader up to the beginning which is like a fairytale. In addition, chapter 2 is written in the past tense, which will continue until the epilogue, and signifies the true beginning of the story. Most importantly, the book establishes an ironic foundation for the rest of the twisted tale in that it makes Pelzer’s suffering all the more heart breaking.

As for overall of the plot, it is unique and interesting as it is a true event. Consequently, it is of particular values to pay attention to the each event that is in depth because they are not simply creations of the author’s mind, nevertheless chosen from many memories for a specific purpose. David himself tells the story in the first person. This is effectual because this essentially a description of his internal struggle to survive. Besides his physical survival, the author places a great emphasis on his emotional and psychological survival of which we would not know if this were told in the third person. Pelzer begins his story in the present tense, from which later chapters will depart.

On the other hand, the genre of the book is categorized as nonfiction. Nonfiction is books that are based on true story or events. Thus, the book is based on Dave Pelzer’s childhood life where he was brutally abused by his mother and hid determination to survive his misery life. Besides that, his written language is rather an easy read for readers with subtle poetic proses.

Furthermore, in my opinion some part the book however is too good to be true and it is unbelievable. As you can see there is a part where Pelzer was brutally abused by his mother where he was forced to breathe in a special batch of ammonia and Clorox. Surprisingly, he did not die from inhaling those chemicals that is proven to be harmful and can even cause death. However, from a logical point of view, the punishments received are sometimes deemed to be unbelievable of he survived the deal without being critically ill.

On the other hand, Pelzer’s story inspires me the fact that his unyielding determination to survive and shows the reader how to find hope, courage and happiness in difficult times. Besides that, despite that his punishment was terrifying yet he was able to rise above these horrific circumstances and become who he wanted to be. Hence, the book gives me inspiration to be a strong person.

As for the target audiences, this book is suitable for all kinds of readers at any range of age whether is it from teenagers too adults. The book depicts the true life of the child abuse guy which was brutally abused emotionally and physically during his childhood days. Thus it develops awareness to neither readers nor the society to be conscious that a child’s life should be full of affection from their parent instead of being abused and full of hatred as well.

Additionally, the author however did not write any other books previously, as the book entitle The Child called ‘It’ was his first book though. Yet, the author have published two books which the sequels of the second part of the trilogy, entitled ‘The Lost Boy’, is based on his life from ages 12 to 18. Whereas, the final part of the trilogy is entitled ‘A Man Named Dave’ is based on his adult life. However, the second and third book had significant in terms of the way the author describes the plot and the structure of the story is relevant.

As a conclusion, the book is worth for reading as it gives readers the awareness of abuse. Besides that, the story entail by the author gives the courage and hope to survive in difficult times as a vulnerable boy who longs for love but denied by his mother. Hence, this book should be spread more to readers as is it an interesting true story where society should be aware off.