Do You like book Abandoned (2007)?
There are fiction books that we fall into and allow ourselves to dream are true - then there are non-fiction books that we really , really wish weren't true . Abandoned is one of those ;-( How this child ever survived is beyond me . To overcome such ugliness and still be able to write ...."...this isn't a book about blame . Neither , aside from the abuse , is it about anyone doing anything wrong .It's about people making mistakes and trying to make the best of the situation . It's about being human , about falling and picking yourself up again . " So utterly amazing and such an inspiration !
—Angie
After reading this book I kept telling myself how lucky I was to be surrounded with all love and care of family..Being pampered with the warmth of mom and dad...To read horrible tales of fiction never bothers me for a very long time as I know that may not have happened to real people, but reading a memoir like this is a stressing affair as I have a habbit of immersing myself completely into a book, I get attached to the characters very easily and a book like this gets me into a saddening mode..Glad that I read it completely to make me see the good parts of book..Anya was brought up by her mother's elder sister, she called her 'mummy' and she believed that to be true but her 'daddy' figure was just the wrong person,..He was always drunk abusive and she was physically and mentally tormented at the age of six..All these were a part of family secrets under wrap sealed completely..She endured all this hoping that her mummy would always be there loving her all through...But her uncle started abusing her in front of other children and her supposedly siblings start calling her whore.. At the tender age of eleven she breaks up giving away all her agony into public... Uncle is arrested and taken away, predictably her mummy takes him back...Kathy (her biological mom) and her friend Brendan (who happens to be her father) she is put in a boarding school to get on with a new life..But Anya longs for her mummy, and gets back, her mummy abandons out of guilt and she has none now , with no job, hopeless relationship she has no where to go ending up living in a car...This is the part where my spirit started to sore when Anya decides to fight back , she does odd jobs in hospital, visiting library to get internet access for sending job applications, finally she stumbles upon the world of blogging naming her blog wanderingscribe....It takes ages to admit that she is homeless and put all these things into words yet she finds courage to go ahead..Luckily she finds solace and encouragements through unknown people..Being anonymous adds up her morale to pour in all her troubles...With the help Ian Urbina a journalist of The New york Times , her blog gets international attention...She then slides onto writing a book , Abandoned ..Isn't this an inspirational tale of a girl who faced all the tribulation to end up into a stable life again with hopes..She also hopes that her Mummy and Kathy might also find a place in her life, she also plans to open up herself to Brendan..Inspite of describing all her tormenting childhood she quickly points out that this book is not about cornering anyone but to find courage inspite of odds...Anya's writing is flawless though bit repetitive as she describes her time living in a car , anyone can call me partial for not complaining about it.....I only wish that people think before taking any hasty decisions especially when it involves a child..
—Vibina Venugopal
This book is a true story; I didn't realise this until I had actually started to read it. I don't normally read a great deal of non-fiction, but I enjoyed this slightly more than I imagined I would have.Anya Peters has been through some really awful times in her life, and hats off to her for being a survivor. For these reasons, I'm going to be very careful how I criticise the novel, and keep some of my opinions to myself, in fear of sounding distasteful.The first half is extremely difficult to read and disturbing on a lot of levels. I can read about practically anything without batting an eyelid, but child abuse is a lot different. The suffering Peters was put through by her uncle is something no one should ever have to experience, especially at such a young age. The abuse scenes are extremely vivid, and made me feel a bit sick at times. It must have been terrible. I found it shocking that Peters' aunt let the abuser back into her home after he was released - and then allowed Peters to come back and live there! That is truly disgusting behaviour.The second half of the book is about Peters escaping an abusive relationship and her subsequent homelessness as a result of this. The relationship was mostly documented in retrospect, whereas the first half of the novel happened in real time. Then we go along with Peters as she tries in vain to pull money together and find a home.She then discovers blogging in a library, and now we have her book!How she ever survived, I can't even begin to imagine. Many would just have given up. But Anya Peters now has a successful blog and a novel, and she has truly risen up from the dirt.
—JK
