Thursday, November 16, 2006

THEY CAGE THE ANIMALS AT NIGHT by Jennings Michael Burch 11/16/06

They Cage the Animals at Night, by Jennings Michael Burch.
New York: Signet, 1985. paperback, 293 pps.

The author, J. Michael Burch tells the story of his childhood and adolescence quite well. His mother was not a well woman; his father a drunk absent from his life. Periodically, his mother would drop him off [and later on his youngest brother] at an orphanage or at social services because of her inability to provide for her offspring. The two oldest boys were able to go to relatives to live, the middle brother had a heart condition and lived at a hospital for most of his life.

This book recounts the horrifying abuses suffered by the author and other boys entrusted to New York City's foster care system during the fifties and how the author was able to find his way out.
Definately worth a read for anyone with their own childhood memories of abuse. Not for those who dislike sentimentality.

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1 comment:

Jeremy Crow said...

I'll have to check this one out ... If his skin color was different, and he could have been purchased then Madonna probably could have bought him ;-) JC