Richard is one of David's older brother's. Richard was used by their mother to get at oportunities to abuse her youngest even more. Richard and the other brother (as so unamed) did do much that they made sure Dave got blamed for as children, if for no other reason to protect themselves, this is the story through much of their childood with their mother. After David got removed by child services, Richard and the remaining son became the sole point of torture, neglect and abuse by their mother. She didn't have her youngest and most vulnerable boy anymore so she turnned her sigts on the older two. At this point I do not believe their father was in the picture anymore. I think he left them before Richard was put in foster care. Given how controlling his wife was, and he didn't know how to handle it, he didn't even come home on his day's off, and much of the off time was spent in bar's. It got to the point where he barely spent 10-30 minutes a day at home because of his wife. Why did he not take action. Back then, 1973, it would not have been difficult for him to file for divorce and get custody of his own children. Given how unstable his wife was, she most likely would have never been able to fight for the boy's herself. Her appearance reflected her instability and ancoholism. As far as I can tell, considering the boy's much younger childhood (late 1960's) was blissful with talk of a brady bunch type life, the fact that their mother changed so drasticly tell's me that she got hit with an onset of some serious mential disorder that wasn't yet known. She went from being a plain jane classic clean, loveing mother and wife, to an alcoholic, abusive, caniveing mother and wife, almost over night. What does that tell you?
A Brother's Journey is a sequel-esque book, following up in an abusive household that A Child Called It (David) was able to escape when he was 12. The book is told from the younger brother's viewpoint: how he treated his older brother and what happened after his brother left. This book was not as visually/emotionally engaging for me as A Child Called IT. When I read that book I ached in knowing what type of horrible child abuse happened within the household of an alcoholic, possible mental illness, mother with a rarely seen father. Richard chronicals his take on how he was his mother's "Little Nazi" helping cause and report David's wrongful behavior to his mother (This included eating when he wasn't supposed to.) It is amazing that this type of child abuse happened/s and that both brother's survived. In the book, Richard explains the abuse his brother received and how it and his leaving impacted him. It was interesting to see how his child/adolescent mind grew so twisted and confused due to his mother's abuse. After reading the book and coming to the last chapter, anxiously awaiting to see just how Richard escaped or survived, the book ends. For that, I gave it a 3. I wanted to know what kind of man he became and how he dealt with the physical and emotional abuse. Even more, I wanted to know what became of his mother.
Do You like book A Brother's Journey (2006)?
If you've read A Child Called It you should read this book. It is told from the perspective of David's younger brother Richard who was his mother's "Little Nazi" when David was in the home and after David was taken away he became It.The things that went on in this home just boggle the mind I hope that something like this would not be able to happen in this day and age, that they took one child away and left the rest in the “care” of this insane woman is just unfathomable.This story will break your heart as Richard deals with the beatings and mental abuse from his mother but also the guilt of his part in what happened to David. That any of these children grew up to be productive members of society proves the existence of the human spirit.
—MissSusie
After reading __10__ pages of __A brothers journey_______________ (title) by __Richard Pelzer___________________ (author), I chose not to read it for my second book report. I chose to not read it for my book report because ____i already started another book.__________________________________________. Another reason I chose to not read this book was because _ive been reading a lot of abusing books and I want to take a break on them__. Lastly, I thought _this book at a great beginning._________________________________________________________. Because of these reasons, I rated the book __5_____ stars. However, this could change if I were to read the book in It's entirety.
—Brianna Dossie
HEARTBREAKING STORYThis story gives a heartbreaking personal look into child abuse during a time when no one stepped in to help. The ending w Aaron s disappointing though..I wanted to know the rest of the story(that's all I'm saying to prevent spoilers). I read all of his brother's(Dave Pelzer) accounts of what happened to him, and I was always curious about what happened to Dave's brothers when the was finally taken away,and this novel answered many of the questions for me; however, the needing of this novel has left me with more questions...
—Renee Watson
