Metal Mummy

Oh my god. What a book. I haven’t read this sort of book in a while, and I remember why now. I remember reading Dave Pelzer’s “A Child Called It” several years ago, and I remember being in tears with it. I then read Kevin Lewis’ “The Kid” and again, it resulted in tears. You’d think I’d learn.

Having given my usual novel choices a break (I usually read crime fiction), I had a look at some reasonably priced eBooks and came across Broken, a true story written by Shy Keenan. The book synopsis read horrendously – not because the book sounded like it’d be awful, but because the subject matter was gut-wrenching – the subject of child abuse. The true story, of a helpless little girl, who was physically, sexually, mentally and emotionally abused for years by several men (should they be called men?), including her step-father.

Having delved into the story further, I researched it online, and found that it was a completely true story, appearing on Newsnight a decade ago. This made the subject matter so much worse. Especially as I now have a  child of my own. I didn’t realise how much the book would get to me since having a child of my own. The stories of child abuse have always made me emotional, don’t get me wrong, but when you have a child of your own – the thought of it sickens you even more.

How anyone could ever do anything like that to a child is beyond me. I could never understand how these monsters could even contemplate anything of the sort. They just aren’t human. A poor defenceless child doesn’t deserve any of that. They deserve to be nurtured, loved, and protected.

Told from her own perspective, Broken is a book about Shy’s so-called life. From an early age, she and other family members, were victims of her step-father’s sexual abuse, and her mother wasn’t much cop either. It tells  of her struggle to be heard, to be believed and to be wanted. It tells of her constant hurt and her attempts to escape it. What makes her a complete inspiration is the fact that she didn’t let any of it turn her into the monster they believed her to be. She concentrated on the rays of hope she had, the Aunt Pat and the Uncle Ken – her distant family members who never hurt her, her sister whom she always tried to protect, the friends she picked up along the way. She kept fighting for her life, and for her voice, until eventually somebody listened. How it took so long for someone to listen is beyond me.

I’m so glad I read the book. Despite, on multiple occasions, wanting to put it down – I kept reading, hoping that at some point, there would be a happy ending. As she says in the closing chapter, she is broken, but by concentrating on the good bits in her life – the Aunt Pats and the Uncle Kens – she’s “…not too bad for broken”.

Bloody brilliant.