Helpful Score: 5
soul-raping torture
These are the authors words describing her going against her abusers defense team many, many years after the fact. I'd use those words to describe almost every single experience of her entire childhood.
The cover of this book claims it to be "the most shocking true story of abuse ever told". When I saw that I took it with a grain of salt- EVERY abuse case is shocking, every abuse case is horrible. Well, they were right. I've read countless books of this nature and have yet to come across anything even close to what this woman endured as a toddler, child, and teenager.
Shy Keenan was abused basically from birth, sexually, physically, emotionally and any other kind you can think of. There were very few people in her life that didn't abuse her and those few were kept far away by her "mother" (I use the quotes because while she was her birth mother I have a truly hard time calling the woman a mother) and step father. During her childhood and teenage years she was repeatedly molested and raped by her step father, sold to his friends and friends of their friends, made to pose nude for pictures, and so much more.
She tried more than once to tell her "mother" who either didn't believe her or just plain didn't care enough to stop it, depending on which time she was told. She tried telling authority figures, professionals, everyone at one time or another and was ignored by all. Her socail services files held comments that she was promiscuious, sexually attacking her step father, an all around problem child.
I'll be blunt- this is a HARD book to read in the sense that these things that she went through are truly not something most of us can understand. It's a very EASY book in that she's a great writer. She's a great writer who takes you through her life story (which had to have been very difficult I'm sure) with so much emotion and so much feeling that you can't help but struggle through every single emotion out there yourself. Even at such a young age she was so strong, doing her best to protect her baby sister and take on more of the abuse herself and trying to care for her "mother" when she was sick. Mrs. Keenan is able to do what a lot of others in her situation haven't been able to do for me and that is to make me truly understand how she felt, as much as it's possible to without having gone through this myself, and truly make me ache for her and everyone else affected by these evil people she had the bad luck to have to live her life around.
If you're looking for something easy to read I wouldn't dare stop here but if you like reading about strong women, women who were able to make it against overwhelming odds, then this is your book. I can think of none better.
I wish Mrs. Keenan all the luck in the world and trust me, she deserves it.
These are the authors words describing her going against her abusers defense team many, many years after the fact. I'd use those words to describe almost every single experience of her entire childhood.
The cover of this book claims it to be "the most shocking true story of abuse ever told". When I saw that I took it with a grain of salt- EVERY abuse case is shocking, every abuse case is horrible. Well, they were right. I've read countless books of this nature and have yet to come across anything even close to what this woman endured as a toddler, child, and teenager.
Shy Keenan was abused basically from birth, sexually, physically, emotionally and any other kind you can think of. There were very few people in her life that didn't abuse her and those few were kept far away by her "mother" (I use the quotes because while she was her birth mother I have a truly hard time calling the woman a mother) and step father. During her childhood and teenage years she was repeatedly molested and raped by her step father, sold to his friends and friends of their friends, made to pose nude for pictures, and so much more.
She tried more than once to tell her "mother" who either didn't believe her or just plain didn't care enough to stop it, depending on which time she was told. She tried telling authority figures, professionals, everyone at one time or another and was ignored by all. Her socail services files held comments that she was promiscuious, sexually attacking her step father, an all around problem child.
I'll be blunt- this is a HARD book to read in the sense that these things that she went through are truly not something most of us can understand. It's a very EASY book in that she's a great writer. She's a great writer who takes you through her life story (which had to have been very difficult I'm sure) with so much emotion and so much feeling that you can't help but struggle through every single emotion out there yourself. Even at such a young age she was so strong, doing her best to protect her baby sister and take on more of the abuse herself and trying to care for her "mother" when she was sick. Mrs. Keenan is able to do what a lot of others in her situation haven't been able to do for me and that is to make me truly understand how she felt, as much as it's possible to without having gone through this myself, and truly make me ache for her and everyone else affected by these evil people she had the bad luck to have to live her life around.
If you're looking for something easy to read I wouldn't dare stop here but if you like reading about strong women, women who were able to make it against overwhelming odds, then this is your book. I can think of none better.
I wish Mrs. Keenan all the luck in the world and trust me, she deserves it.
I will never understand how a community could fail a child that cried so desperately for help. Not only did this book make me sad it also made me angry at those who failed her.
As a child I always felt safe because I had my mom. I can't begine to imagine the amount of fear this girl went through being abused and not being able to depend on her mom for protection.
While reading this I played her favorite song "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" and thought about her childhood and I just wanted to cry. It really does seem that song was wrote for her. This is one of the most heartbreaking books I have ever read.
As a child I always felt safe because I had my mom. I can't begine to imagine the amount of fear this girl went through being abused and not being able to depend on her mom for protection.
While reading this I played her favorite song "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" and thought about her childhood and I just wanted to cry. It really does seem that song was wrote for her. This is one of the most heartbreaking books I have ever read.
This was such an emotionally written book (that affected me so deeply)that it has taken me some time to think about how to word my review.
BROKEN is a heart breaking account of YES one of the worst cases of child abuse I have ever read. I found myself horrified yet unable to stop turning the pages to find out how she survivied to even write this.
I loved the ending and knowing that "the monsters" in her life were held accountable (but not as much as they should of been). What was so sad for me was she never stopped loving the one person who should of protected her...her own mother. We see this so often in abused children, no matter how bad the abuse is, they still love and want the acceptance of the parent or loved one. Almost like the dog who is kicked and will still crawl back for more. I am happy for Shy that she was able to get past her childhood abuse and share her story with the world. I am sure that it was part of her healing process and may I say she has done a fine job and has went on to be an advocate for others. This is well written, well edited and well done! Bravo Shy!
BROKEN is a heart breaking account of YES one of the worst cases of child abuse I have ever read. I found myself horrified yet unable to stop turning the pages to find out how she survivied to even write this.
I loved the ending and knowing that "the monsters" in her life were held accountable (but not as much as they should of been). What was so sad for me was she never stopped loving the one person who should of protected her...her own mother. We see this so often in abused children, no matter how bad the abuse is, they still love and want the acceptance of the parent or loved one. Almost like the dog who is kicked and will still crawl back for more. I am happy for Shy that she was able to get past her childhood abuse and share her story with the world. I am sure that it was part of her healing process and may I say she has done a fine job and has went on to be an advocate for others. This is well written, well edited and well done! Bravo Shy!
This is the sadest book I have ever read. It is very interesting. It made me cry and get really mad many times.
This is an important book, one so horrifying and difficult to read not only because of the rape and torture Shy Keenan was forced to endure all her childhood, but also that the authorities failed so spectacularly to help her in any way. If it helps even ONE victim to come forward against pedophiles it'll be worth it. It's very well written and show how she overcame her horrific past to become a strong, beautiful woman. A must-read, and even if it's oh so hard to do so, reading it couldn't be on tenth as hard as living through the hell as she did. For Shy, and for other kids who face such evil, read this book and help kids who you suspect are going through the same.
