Dave Pelzer

If it wasn't for the authorities, Dave Pelzer wouldn't be here today, he would have been killed at the hands of his mother. When Dave was 12 he managed to get out with the help of the police and his teachers, but left behind his four brothers, one of whom suffered his mother's raff. Dave was placed in foster homes up until he was 18 when he became a US Army officer. His first book a child called it was on the US best seller for 6 years and his other books were on for nearlly as many as that. I haven't read a child called it in over a year, but it still chills me to this day to remember it ... more

The publication of Pelzer's two books, "A Boy Called It" and "A Man Called Dave" in one volume was wriitten in such a style as to be easy reading, but not so with its content. The main protagonist, written in the first person, describing his life, I found particularly dull and not a little self-piteous, self-indulgent and 'holier- than- thou." Moreover, since the book was supposed to be an honest account of childhood abuse and recovery, it hardly rang true, reading more like an advertisement for the social services department than anything else. Having had first hand experience of abused ... more