I just finished the book and its very upsetting. As an 11 year old I thought it was horrible when I had to do the dishes, take out the trash, and go to school. Dave had it way worse. I can't imagine my mom doing such vile things to me, I still don't understand why he didn't call the police though. Perhaps he was afraid his mom would lie and then beat him more. I dearly love this book and recommend it deeply. This came from the life of a kid who almost got killed every day, and was called "The Boy" and worst of all an "it". I don't understand what kind of mom that would do such things, or what was going through her head when she did this. I'm reading the next book now. And to whoever said that " People lie, this is a fake blah blah blah" need to get a life. This kid went through 10 X what you went through. I'm still wondering what was going through his mom's head right then. Its horrible but such a good book. Recommend it definately.