Abused children books

[idly_enjoys]

I am slightly disturbed by all these books being published about people's horrendous childhoods. I am reading 'A Child Called It' and I can't believe how horrible it is. i can't stop reading it even though I don't want to. What does anyone else think of this type of book?

[Shadow Man]

Have you read "Flowers in the Attic"? I wouldn't if you are upset by "A Child Called It".

It is just reading. No different to watching a movie or listening to a song.

[idly_enjoys]

Yes I've read Flowers in the Attic, that was completely different as it was fictional, had a plot and was in a lot of ways just a normal book.

The kind of books I'm talking about are real-life stories, novel-length lists of horrendous ways people can abuse each other. It upsets me in a completely different way than when watching a sad film might do (I'm not easily upset).

[saxy_jag]

I've read one or two of these books and I know what you mean. There seems to be a bit of a market for other people's misery at the moment (in fact, the genre is known as 'misery').

I've had a relatively happy life, but I wonder whether I could concoct a fictional 'true' story that would sell a few million copies.

[pinkkitty]

oh god that book (a child called "it") is the most disturbing thing ever! I read somehwere (Wikipedia maybe?) that Flowers in the Attic was inspired by a true story.

a child called "it" did the rounds on my team at work, one woman read it and soon she lent it out to everyone on the team, we all read it and were all really depressed afterwards!

[LeMarchand]

I'm very worried by the rise in popularity of this sort of book. WH Smith now has an entire "True Life Tragedy" section. It seems to be that people are vicariously getting some sort of sick thrill from reading such junk, and it feeds into the whole culture of voyeurism that seems so prevalent with "Big Brother" and to some extent social networking sites.

I'm sure most of them are made up (I know "Child Called It" has been called into question, as has an early precursor to the genre, "Sleepers"). Certainly the chapters in one autobiography (of one of Mme LeMarchand's in-laws) that dip into such waters bear no resemblance to what the family remember. Like saxy_jag, I'm also thinking of making one up - but in my case I would (after having made my millions) reveal that it was all made up and that there would be no refunds!

[ruby27]

I tend to avoid them as they are so depressing. However, I think part of the fascination is the horror of the lives that they have had and survived.

I imagine for many of these authors the experience of writing them is cathartic

[andy-hughes]

I'm with lLeMarchand on this -

the notion that a major retailer would devote an entire section to this type of book is disturbing.

It does evidence the current trend towards 'grief-lite' - the notion of 'suffering' on behalf of complete strangers, as depicted by the current media obsession with the Madeline McCann story.

I would not for one minute wish to minimise or defer in ay way the tragedy of this instance, but the constant reference to it when in reality, nothing of significance has happened shows more the need for readers to remotely wring their hands and cast more judgement in the direction of the poor parents, than any possibly helpful approach, or soloution.

Likewise, these books probably do far more for bank balances than for emotional stability on the part of the writers.

The last serious emotional trauma I suffered I did eradicate the worst of the pain by writing it all down, but i dnd't try to get it published - i merely posted it to my closest friend, who has kept it safe, and never mentioned it again, and would not, unless I did.

The catharsism worked - I am just missing this six-figure bank balance to go with it.

[sdssnjk]

I guess you have not read any books written by Torey Hayden . They are about unfortunate little children

[GoWest]

A child called it is one of 3 books, each at a different stage in his life. If you enjoy it i would recommend reading the others. I too found it very disturbing but curiosity to see if life got any better for him kept me reading.