‘The Child called IT’ by ‘Dave Pelzer’ and ‘A Brother's Journey: Surviving A Childhood of Abuse’ by ‘Richard B. Pelzer’

 I've read books that have made me cry. I've even read books that have shocked me and I’ve wondered about the protagonist. But this book takes the cake for the cruelty, the psychotic mind of the mother, the book’s raw honesty and description of the protagonist’s angst.

The book is ‘The Child called IT’ by ‘Dave Pelzer’. Id recently borrowed the book from Bookelphia (the crowdfunding book library run by a friend Reethu Bhagat). This is a true story of the author Dave Pelzer and takes us through his childhood. One among five brothers, he was at the receiving end of all punishments in a home governed by his alcoholic and abusive mother and almost invisible and non-existential father.

To read what a boy as young as 5 went through is gut wrenching. Each chapter is filled with the boys angst, his desperation to get out, his undying love for his mother despite her crazy behavior, his hunger for food, love and acceptance, his feeling of homelessness and his sunken eyes devoid of any life.

All through the book I wondered how a mother could do this to her own child!!! I even wondered if she was mentally instable? Was that why she did what she did? But then she was good to the other boys!!! Then what transpired for her to single Dave out and treat him so???

When the book ended and Dave was finally able to get out, I signed a sigh of relief; but was curious and so hunted for the next two books of the trilogy. 

While I could not get those, I did find and order the book ‘A Brother's Journey: Surviving A Childhood of Abuse’ by ‘Richard B. Pelzer’. Richard is Dave’s brother and he was one of the closest support to their mother when she meted out punishment to Dave.   

Richard would snitch on his brother, make up stories and basically complain about his brother Dave to his mother only to watch in glee as older brother Dave got beaten black and blue. While reading ‘The Child called IT’, I hated Richard’s guts and was repulsed by his ruthlessness.

However, when I picked up ‘A Brother's Journey’, I realized that Richard was not completely at fault here. He too was a young child (barely 4-5 years old), fighting for survival. His actions although abhorrent, should be taken as the only means for him to stay afloat in a household ruled by a manic mother.

Once Dave leaves, Richard is the target of all the inhumane punishment. He too goes through what his brother went through and that is when you realize that the mother truly was a mental case.

The people you want to question are the authorities who having saved Dave, should have done something to save the other children in the house. You want to question the teachers and school authorities who despite seeing all the signs of abuse did nothing to save the young kids. You want to question the neighbors who despite knowing the abusive and atrocities being done, did nothing to intervein and save the children. You want to question the grandmother who knew how her grandchildren were suffering.    

Both the books left me in tears and left me wondering how someone could be so devilish that she put the devil to shame.

These books are not for the faint hearted; but if you must; then do read Dave Pelzer’s trilogy - A Child Called 'It', The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave; and Richard B. Pelzer’s two books ‘A Brother's Journey’ and ‘A teenagers Journey’. 

Dave Pelzer

Richard B Pelzer