Writing style
Conversational · Direct · Spare
A child called "it"
Biography and memoir
- First published
- 1995
- Print length
- 240 pagesSeven Dials, 2019
Description
David J. Pelzer’s A Child Called “It” recounts his experience of severe child abuse in California. Pelzer describes how his alcoholic and emotionally unstable mother beat and starved him, treating him as a slave rather than a son. He lived on an old cot in a basement and received only spoiled scraps of food. The abuse remained hidden from the outside world. Amid these conditions, Dave survived through dreams of being loved and cared for. The memoir centers on the abuse he endured and the hope for affection and care that helped him survive.
Reading profile
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Pace
Brisk
Tone
Bleak · Dark · Hopeful · Intimate
Structure
Chronological nonfiction
Focus
Character · Relationships · Voice
Emotional intensity
5 / 5
Reading complexity
1–5 · higher means more demanding- Writing
- 2 / 5
- Ideas
- 2 / 5
- Structure
- 2 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 1 / 5
Themes
Book details
For the print edition listed above.
- Publisher
- Seven Dials
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 9781841883090
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