Kelly (travelbug2497) - reviewed on 5/29/2009

Helpful Score: 2

Dave Pelzers A Child Called It is a very incredible story about negligence and abuse that a mother gives to her son. This novel is easy to read, but hard to understand how a mother would treat a child this way. Yet, there is so much to admire about Dave Pelzer since there were conditions that he was unfortunately going through. What is so amazing is that the novel is told in the perspective of a child, it uses metaphors, dialect, has good sentence structure, and it has many themes that we can all relate to.

Dave Pelzer is telling his own story as if he were a child. He talks about how amazingly bad he was treated by his alcoholic mother. This really amazes me since he was only four years old when this sudden abuse started. Pelzer uses good description in his novel by using descriptive words which got some sort of mental picture in my head. Like when he says that I snatched another rag, rolled it up and stuffed it in my mouth. I focused all my attention on the thumb and first finger of my left hand, as I pinched the skin around my slit. With my other hand, I wiped away the pus: The pain from the pinching was more than I could stand. I believe he is a true genius in writing novels since this is also somewhat of an autobiography.

Pelzer uses metaphors in his writing. For example when he says that his mother used to compare him/refer him to an it rather than calling him her child, son, or Dave. Also, when saying that he was an object and that he did not mean anything to his mother and even so Pelzer still loved her.

Dialect was, for me, an important feature in this novel. Like when Pelzer calls her The Bit** for the maltreating that he had gotten since his mother called him The boy. This is also slang in a way. The words take me in and this is not just like any novel with its amazing uses of words.

His variety of usage of sentence structure gives it a meaning and it makes the novel more comprehendible. For example this sentence: Before I sat on my hands, I checked my shirt; only small drops of blood escaped from the wound to the rag bandage. This has a compound structure and it uses a semicolon.

There are many themes in this incredible novel. One for example, is life is too short to give up. This theme goes along well with the novel. Even though that he was going through many obstacles he kept on going and he had hope and faith that he was going to keep on living. Also, another theme is that love goes on. Even though Pelzer made it seem like he hated his mother he said that he still loved her and that after all she was the woman who gave him birth.

This novel is incredible and I would call this good literature since it made me give out an emotional response. I am sure that this story would touch anyone out there who decides to pick up this book and read it. It does use literary devices and he kept his writing simple and not to complicated so anyone could read it. This story has touched everyone who has read it and it has a message for all to understand."

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