Life Growing Up by Marta Nater is a heartbreakingly true story of child abuse. In this book, Marta shares her life and invites the reader to discover the horrors she and her siblings endured while growing up. This important story needs to be known since it’s constantly repeated worldwide behind closed doors.

What are the things that some children have to go through in their lives? This book opens a discourse surrounding the mental and physical abuse that children sometimes have to endure and showcases the many ways in which this sort of abuse ruins their development. The story has a strong emphasis on sexual abuse and how horrific it can be to a child. In the book, we see Marta’s story through the eyes of a child, getting to see the hurt, the pain, and the inability to run away from the torture since it’s a horror that starts in her own home, committed and ignored by her own family.

Many questions are raised throughout the book. What are we willing to do as a society to protect children? Are we doing that right now? What needs to be changed? Currently, the problem of child and sexual abuse is very complex, with a tendency to be hidden and ignored, so it can never be dealt with with the urgency it needs. The authorities and Child Protective Services often make the problem worse and ignore their role in protecting and securing the lives of children. All of this is showcased throughout the book with great detail so the reader can grasp the state of the situation.

The story that is told is definitely a very hard one, but it’s essential to share it, given how many people there are out there dealing with this sort of abuse. The author also takes an opportunity to explore the origin of child and sexual abuse, sharing how often the children that are abused turn around as adults and cause the same abuse to others, their minds completely changed and damaged. Despite the horrors recounted in the book, the author finds a way to understand her abusers and tries to forgive the people that caused her so much pain and ruined her childhood. The importance of raising children with love and care is shown, understanding that many are trapped in hell inside their own homes, and something needs to be done urgently to fix the situation.

Each chapter reads like a diary entry where we get a glimpse of the different forms of abuse that were going on in the author’s home throughout her childhood. I feel that this book would benefit from another editing; there are a few instances where a few grammar errors and writing mistakes appear; however, the story told is incredibly relevant and gets the message across.

Life Growing Up is a heartwrenching memoir showcasing a severe and universal problem that affects and impacts children worldwide. It’s not often that people get to understand and view directly the sort of suffering that others have gone through. This profoundly personal biography will open the eyes of readers that have never experienced abuse, and for those that have, it is a hand reaching out to say you are not alone.

Pages: 114 | ASIN :  B00D4X8NEA