I think this story is a great story and a sad story because Dave Pelzer is beaten and starved by his mother who is an alcoholic. She played dangerous games with her son and he had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive. Also, I think this is not fair because no one should be treated like a slave by their very own mother. His mother also made him sleep in the basement on an old army cot and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When he grew up, he became a leader, not an alcoholic like his mother otherwise, but he learned not to make the same mistakes that his mother made when he was a child.