Review: Disturbing & Heartrending
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 29, 2012
First of all, let me explain my rating. This memoir itself deserves 4 stars. The story is intriguing and hard to put down. In fact, it stayed with me after the book was finished. As some of the other reviewers have pointed out, there are some grammar, spelling, and editing errors. HOWEVER, once you read the story, you will understand these errors because the author did not have the benefit of a normal education. She was taught in the "Heavenly Loft" of the despicable Rebekkah School for Girls, a weird classroom situated above a working barn located on a sprawling cult-sponsored home for wayward girls that was little more than a prison.I admire the author's tenacity and resilience of spirit. She endured a childhood sprinkled with abuse, poverty, and domination by various inept and sometimes vicious authority figures. Born to a young mother who had no idea how to be a parent and absent her father, the author never had a loving relationship with a parent. It seemed to me that even when she was young, April was the scapegoat for her mother's bad decisions. Her mother eventually put her in this home for wayward girls where she was brainwashed and further abused by religious zealots. These are the hypocritical types that give Christians a bad name. I cannot call these people at the Rebekkah school Christian, for true Christians would never behave the way these people did.The author is far more generous than me when describing the keepers of this school. She states they may have had good intentions. I think they were cruel, domineering people who found a cash cow and rode it as far as they could. I am stunned that none of these people ended up in prison or as subjects of a class action law suit. I did a little research after reading April's story, and from what I read some of these people still operate, only under different school names. The preacher who started the whole outfit has since died, but it sounds like his successors keep on hurting young people. It would be a wonderful project for undercover journalism to install a young reporter in one of these "schools" or "homes" to get the truth out to the public who supports these shady institutions with donations. It makes me sick that this sort of thing is allowed to happen, operating under the radar, and protected by a benign guise of religion.April is brutally honest as she outlines the bad choices she made in her life. After finally getting away from the sadists at the home for girls, she ends up married to an abuser and endures savage beatings. And yes, you will cringe to realize he gets away with it too!All through the memoir the reader can clearly see how each bad circumstance set the author up to enter yet another unfortunate situation. Many of us are simply not prepared to make good, clear life decisions and the author more than most. Nowhere in her life was she given the tools to assess her options and make good choices. All is not bad, though. April does have a few people in her life who treat her well. Without giving any spoilers, I'll just say that her situation eventually improves.This is a book written from the heart, and it really tugged on mine. I admire April for having the courage to tell her story and for her resilient and positive outlook. I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read true stories. When you read it, keep in mind that it was written by someone who did not have the benefit of a good education or a stable home life, and the editing should not overly distract from the painful truths and tenacious hope contained within. April is a survivor.