The lost boy
1994
- biography
- abused children
- abusive mothers
- foster home care
- family violence
- case studies
- family relationships
- children of alcoholics
- personal narratives
- biografía
The story
Imagine a young boy who has never had a loving home. His only possesions are the old, torn clothes he carries in a paper bag. The only world he knows is one of isolation and fear. Although others had rescued this boy from his abusive alcoholic mother, his real hurt is just begining -- he has no place to call home. This is Dave Pelzer's long-awaited sequel to A Child Called "It". In The Lost Boy, he answers questions and reveals new adventures through the compelling story of his life as an adolescent. Now considered an F-Child (Foster Child), Dave is moved in and out of five different homes. He suffers shame and experiences resentment from those who feel that all foster kids are trouble and unworthy of being loved just because they are not part of a "real" family. Tears, laughter, devastation and hope create the journey of this little lost boy who searches desperately for just one thing -- the love of a family.
What it’s like
Bare, unadorned first-person prose that reads like a case file turned into testimony, with short declarative sentences and very little figurative language to soften what it describes. The mood is heavy and sorrowful, rarely relieved, though a few flickers of warmth and humour appear when Dave finds a kind teacher or a patient foster parent. Its emotional register is grief and endurance rather than catharsis: a lonely boy moving through five homes, learning to distrust kindness and then slowly, painfully reaching toward it. The violence of his past is referred to and recalled rather than staged in graphic detail, but the subject is unrelentingly harsh, with frank accounts of neglect, shame, and cruelty from adults, so it lands as bleak and emotionally punishing. Pacing is episodic, moving from one placement to the next, which makes it easy to read in long stretches but hard to read at night when tired. It suits readers who want a raw, true-life account of resilience, social workers and foster carers wanting insight into a child's inner world, and anyone drawn to survivor memoir. It does not suit anyone seeking something gentle, comforting, or light.
More books like The lost boy
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved The lost boyand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
