3.43 AVERAGE

grubsza's profile picture

grubsza's review

4.0
emotional informative sad medium-paced

The cruelty towards underprivileged children in Ireland depicted in this book during the 1950s is shocking. NSPCC, what a joke! Kathleen describes this in detail. How she survived the mental, let alone the physical, trauma is beyond me. 

emeriouss's review

5.0

A harrowing, but beautifully written memoir

hayley12337's review

5.0

I literally could not put this book down.
I absolutely loved it and went on such an emotional roller coaster with it.
There are grammatical mistakes and the writing isn't great, but the story makes up for it. It is shocking and a real insight into a time that a lot of children suffered through.

dorod59's review

3.0

I started this book yesterday, and I couldn't keep it down until I'd finished.
It's a quick read, but also a difficult one, as the story is very very sad... I can't nterstand how children can have been treated that way for years!
The writing was not the best I have come across, but I understand that this story needed to be written and read. I don't regret reading it and I recommend it to everyone liking true story and not minding a sad one.
xeni's profile picture

xeni's review

4.0

I got this book early this morning and I picked it up on the way to work. I couldn't focus all day for reading, and just now finished it!

It was such a moving story about Kathleen O'Malley and her life in the "justice" system of Ireland in the 50's and 60's. She was taken from her loving, caring mother and put into a sort of "religious workhouse" for orphans all because she was born out of wedlock. She was raped and then put back into another prison-like confinement until she was 16. She she spend almost her whole adult life still in this prison due to the brainwashing she received at such a young age.

I was really really glad to read this book. It's nothing something easy to digest (sort of like [b:A Child Called "It"|60748|A Child Called "It"|Dave Pelzer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170545613s/60748.jpg|59104]) but it did make me rethink my own childhood and how good I've had things.

I love Kathleen's candid take on her whole life. She has accepted what happened to her, and now wants to share with the rest of the world. Raising awareness for these things is just so important, I find. Plus, it makes me feel justified to be anti-institutions, especially religious ones.