I was in the hairdresser's a couple of months ago. In addition to my monthly cut, highlight and wax (and no, it's not my mustache) I always am treated to a very loose based version of a book club.

We're not talking Oprah's book club here. Just a bunch of women who spend at least three hours a month in each other's company who talk about the latest books that they have read.

Well, while I was being wrapped in about a two dozen pieces of foil (wondering if all the extra metal by my head would make my piece of crap Cingular phone service work better), "the girls" started talking about "A Child Called It."

Well, I was compelled to say the least. A kid whose parents made him eat out of a dog bowl? A kid who stole food to survive? A mother who hated her eldest son yet not her other children?

What a trip!

Well last weekend I was visiting my hairdresser (who is now my friend) at her home and found the book in her bookcase. So I borrowed it. I read it.

A Child Called It... The good stuff

The book is truly bizarre. The author writes in a sort of dreamlike sequence. You almost get the feeling that it happened to somebody else. Vivid and descriptive at times. Bold and brave yet very surreal. Did this guy live this life and survive to tell about it? According to the story, "IT" truly overcame. Or did he?

A Child Called It... Why I didn't get what I was expecting.

Like any one of you who has read "When Rabbit Howls" or other such psychologically-based memoirs, I was expecting more. More what? Well more explanation for one. David's mother was truly a monster. But why? His father stopped sticking up for him - why? The whole school knew he was severely abused yet they didn't protect him until years later. Why?

And now David, prides himself on being a "self-help communicator". Call me queer, I've been called worse, but what exactly does severe child abuse have to do with "self-help". Except if he's "helpin'" himself to our money by sensationalizing his childhood. I just didn't get the reason behind this book.

This ain't exactly AA here. The kid had problems. Sure he did. Or at least some odd part of me hopes he did. Why? Because for somebody to make up such a hellacious story about his own parents is disgusting.

There are two types of people who have read this book. Those of you that are truly disgusted and moved by it and those of us who say "Hey, what are you writing this book for anyway?"

Is it true? Is it a fake? Is it somewhere inbetween? I'll never know for sure. All I can say is that it's worth the two hours it took me to read it.

Just don't plan on walking away from it with more answers than questions.

Recommended: Yes