Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From pain to hope., 11 Jun 2007
Anya Peters first became familiar to a whole readership in her blog, WanderingScribe. There was a lot of mystery in her writing, it was poetic and I found myself vividly able to visualise her environment, and able to empathise with much she wrote and both carried me along. All the time I was reading her blog I kept thinking, "if only this woman would realise the talent she has as a writer and make the most of it," even though I knew that the depression and the desperate situation she was in would prevent her from getting started unless she had some extraordinary luck. Imagine my joy when that luck came her way and she announced that she'd been offered a book deal.
I've experienced depression myself and know how hard it is to battle through it. I've experienced bad times but nothing as difficult or painful as Anya's battle to find and be herself, to survive through experiences that nobody should have to experience. But at that stage I hadn't read her book. Now that I have, I marvel at her strengths, at how she pushed herself through the multitude of barriers both from within and without, to move herself to her goal: this book and beyond. And I marvelled at how her writing skills shone through all the pain. She has a talent that I'm not sure she's even aware of - but you will be, when you read the book.
What is this book about? It's about a child constantly in pain and anguish just wanting someone to love her and stop hurting her. It's written about herself as a child and she writes from a child's viewpoint.That in itself takes courage, for if you look back as an adult, you invariably miss empathising with your past self. Instead, she's plunged herself in at the deep end and has let the child talk. It's about betrayals and let-downs. The amount of times one person can be betrayed will astonish you. It's about how people stay together despite absolute domination and abuse. It's about secrets and how silence can alter your very being, how it can prevent you from seeking help when you need it. It's about how people can be weakened by others to the point that they are easily manipulated without ever knowing they are, and how once they've reached that stage, decisions are almost impossible to take. It's also about courage to take a chance when luck suddenly comes your way, which indeed it did towards the end of the book, and to grab it with both hands, as she did.
All of us have whole worlds of potential in us and whole worlds that are hidden deep within us. Not very many people are able to bring out those hidden parts, but Anya has been brave enough to do.
Please read this book. It's heartwrenching, it shows parts of a person that most would not want to reveal, could not bear to reveal. She kept it within her for the whole of her life and now she's let it out for you to read and for her to find some closure. I hope from now on that the child that she has kept within her can find the joy that was missing when she most needed it, when she was a child. I hope that from now on she will continue to move forward.
On the surface this is a book about a homeless person and the reasons she became homeless. Beneath that though, it is a tribute to the blossoming and transformation of one woman as an individual, battling through pain and abuse. It is about Anya's life.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Honest, emotional, raw but ultimately uplifting, 1 Jun 2007
"Abandoned" has something genuinely important to say about the UK today - about homelessness, about the physical and sexual abuse of children, and about how people can be cast adrift in our society despite the systems of support that supposedly exist. About how this can happen to anyone, no matter who you think you are.
First and foremost it is an emotional read. The author's plight as she is separated from her parents and abused by her uncle is powerfully told and will reduce the strongest to tears. Time after time during her later descent into homelessness I wanted to leap into the page and save her. And there is a very happy ending too - which is a testimony to the author's spirit and resilience through all her troubles. It is proof that life is full of 'second chances'.
But more than this the book makes you think about how this can happen in the UK today, how so much can be swept out of sight under the carpet. Do buy a copy and read it - once you have you will think very differently about your life, the world you live in and the person sitting next to you on the train tomorrow.
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27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How unhappy and abused can one child be ..? , 6 April 2008
There is no end to the abuse little anya suffered-physical, sexual, emotional, mental- she endured mental torture that would break any adult. I had tears rolling down my face page after page. One reviewer said anya didn`t know what happened to her uncle - but yes she did - she said he went to prison for several years and she saw him again after his release at `mummy`s` house. It`s hardly a surprise to find out who her real father is-yet you are still shocked at the simplicity of it all..Her real parents are not at all short of money, and they must have had an idea that anya was suffering-i can`t understand why they allowed it to continue. Everyone in this story suffers in some way-except anya`s real parents-yet they are the cause of it all. `The sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children`-comes to mind. I was disgusted and sickened to my stomach when anya`s `mummy` took her husband back. Some women are so weak they will accept anything ! Poor anya-you really have been through it haven`t you ? I was soooo proud of you when you broke your silence-i thought `yes !` I do hope life is being kinder to you now-you have made a lot of friends through this book-you won`t be easily forgotten. I`m going to have a look at your blog now. x
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