A Brother’s Journey Surviving a Childhood of Abuse: An Overview
Richard B. Pelzer wrote a follow up book to his brother Dave Pelzer’s book The Lost Boy. In The Lost Boy Dave told the story of his child hood abuse. In A Brother’s Journey, Richard tells the story from his point of view. He says that he had to go along with his mother’s hatred of David because if not, he would be abused by his mother. While going along with his mother he too grew a hatred for the helpless David. He would hide food in the basement where David stayed, on purpose, so his mother would find it and beat David for stealing food. Although, towards the end of The Lost Boy, and during A Brother’s Journey Dave was taken out of the house he had been abused in for all his life. Now that David is gone, his mother has nobody to take her drunken anger out on. She
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His plan for this book was to advocate for children that have been abused and to bring awareness to people who have parents that love them are part of the lucky group. For a very long time he hid his child abuse from many people, even including his wife. But when he was ready he started writing down his feeling and later made a book out of it.
The one thing that stuck out to me in this book is simply the dedication page.
He first dedicates it to other people who have grown up in an abusive house hold. He states, “We are not survivors nor victims”. By going through this troubling experience, he says that he has been “made stronger in [his] foundation”. He now believes that since he had to go through it that he should give back to abused children. “We have the opportunity to share, understand, and even heal.” Since he grew up in such an abusive house hold and endured many difficult trials through this that he wants to help other children that have been abused. He also dedicates it to parents that step up and have loving homes for their children to live in, feel safe in, and be loved