I work with neglected and abused children. This story seems implausable to me. The neglect and abuse described here, plus constant food stealing at school, should have triggered responses from school officials much sooner than the author would have us believe. He was twelve when removed from the home and so we're to believe that six or seven years of stealing food at school, covered in bruises, wearing the same ragged clothes,... and the school does nothing? In San Francisco? In rare circumstances, mothers do starve children, but they rarely get away with it once children are in school. And this kind of abuse is usually given to step children, but this child is being raised by both his biological parents in an intact family. The father, who is portrayed as a meek man, allowing his wife to starve and abuse the child, was actually a fireman, ...not a profession for the meek. The parents are now dead, and cannot defend themselves. According to Wikipedia, one of his siblings says the book is a farce and wrote a book called, "Dysfunction for Dollars". The authors grandmother also disputes the abuse.