This started out a bit slowly for me. The author starts out with his memories of when he was four years old and his older brother went missing. As he grows older, he learns more about what happened and you learn of his emotions and how his family reacted to this terrible tragedy. As I read further, this story gripped me and my heart ached for this family, but especially this four-year-old child who thought it was all his fault. Excellent read, but devastated that this family had to endure this horrible event.
I got this book for $.25 from a library that had withdrawn the book from circulation. The title was what grabbed my eye. I generally don't read memoirs but thought this sounded interesting. It's a slim book--243 pages--which I read in about three days. When I got to about the last 60-70 pages, I found myself getting annoyed and impatient for it to end. As others--from one-star to five-star reviews (on Amazon)--have noted, there is some repetition in the book. I felt dissatisfied when I finished the book--can't exactly put my finger on why.
Perhaps this book is more interesting and meaningful to those who have children or those who have lost a child or loved one, especially to violence. I've been fortunate enough not to have experienced a loss like that.
Perhaps this book is more interesting and meaningful to those who have children or those who have lost a child or loved one, especially to violence. I've been fortunate enough not to have experienced a loss like that.
A hard book to put down. It's about a 4 year old reacting to his 11 year old brother's murder (his perspective throughout his life). He realizes that the reaction to this and other publicized murders of children (from 1973 to 1980) led to big changes (not for the better) in how we raised our kids.
