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charlietheninth 's review for:
One for the Murphys
by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
I enjoyed most of this book - although the writing clearly isn't as clean or sophisticated as what Hunt pulls of later in Fish In A Tree, the emotional work is there. However, the end. Oh, the end. It flat-out ruined the entire book for me. Spoilers!
Before the book begins, Carley's mother has married Dennis, an abusive man. Carley believes that she knows how to get rid of Dennis - although he hits her mother, he hasn't ever hit her. Carley thinks that if she can provoke him into doing so, her mother will wake up to how awful he is, dump his butt, and the two of them will live happily ever after. Except when Carley does provoke him, and Dennis does lunge for her, Carley's mother does something god-awful: she holds Carley down so that she can't get away from Dennis, who proceeds to beat them both.
For the bulk of the book, Carley is adjusting to living with a wonderful foster family. But toward the end, she's forced to reconcile with her mother, for the following reason: after holding Carley down so that her husband could beat her, her mother changed her mind and shoved Dennis away. So... byegones! Literally, this is how the events are presented in the book. It is presented that her mother's behavior is somehow okay, because in the end she did stop Dennis. Carley is then sent to Vegas to live with her mom again, who is almost certain to welcome Dennis back with open arms, because that's how abuse works.
I am not a person who very often says things like "Think of the message you're sending the children!" because, well, I was a child, and I always thought that was dumb. But think for a second. If you're a child in abusive situation, how is it going to feel to see that everyone, even Carley's wonderful new foster mother, wants her to go back to her mom? What is this book saying about the forgiveness children owe their parents? Parents who literally hold them down to curry their abusive partner's favor?
I think Fish In A Tree was great and for that reason I'll keep reading Hunt's work, but this is going in the do-not-recommend pile.
Before the book begins, Carley's mother has married Dennis, an abusive man. Carley believes that she knows how to get rid of Dennis - although he hits her mother, he hasn't ever hit her. Carley thinks that if she can provoke him into doing so, her mother will wake up to how awful he is, dump his butt, and the two of them will live happily ever after. Except when Carley does provoke him, and Dennis does lunge for her, Carley's mother does something god-awful: she holds Carley down so that she can't get away from Dennis, who proceeds to beat them both.
For the bulk of the book, Carley is adjusting to living with a wonderful foster family. But toward the end, she's forced to reconcile with her mother, for the following reason: after holding Carley down so that her husband could beat her, her mother changed her mind and shoved Dennis away. So... byegones! Literally, this is how the events are presented in the book. It is presented that her mother's behavior is somehow okay, because in the end she did stop Dennis. Carley is then sent to Vegas to live with her mom again, who is almost certain to welcome Dennis back with open arms, because that's how abuse works.
I am not a person who very often says things like "Think of the message you're sending the children!" because, well, I was a child, and I always thought that was dumb. But think for a second. If you're a child in abusive situation, how is it going to feel to see that everyone, even Carley's wonderful new foster mother, wants her to go back to her mom? What is this book saying about the forgiveness children owe their parents? Parents who literally hold them down to curry their abusive partner's favor?
I think Fish In A Tree was great and for that reason I'll keep reading Hunt's work, but this is going in the do-not-recommend pile.