En rent ut vidrig historia, kantad av vuxna vars jobb var att skydda denna lilla flicka och alla andra barn satta i mammans vård, men som istället gjorde det motsatta. Det var verkligen hemskt att läsa denna boken!

Jag tyckte dock att det ibland var skickligt skrivet att hoppa mellan olika tidsperspektiv men ibland var det bara förvirrande.

This was the most painful memoir I have ever read. I truly commend this woman for sharing her story. Some of the things she went through were beyond nightmares. It makes me grateful for my life.

Quite an amazing book, as there are very few first-hand accounts of Munchausen's By Proxy. Gregory unflinchingly relates the horrible abuse she suffered at the hands of her parents and the humiliations she endured. This is a page turner that reads like a novel, which makes the fact that this is a true account even more horrifying, illuminating, and moving.

read this for someone, didn’t like it

As someone who has suffered with Crohn's Disease since the age of 14, I could really identify with this book; as I too, spent many a day at the hospital with my mom. One difference, though-- Julie is not sick. Her mother, who is mentally unstable, offers up terrible lies about Julie's health in order to seek the attention of doctors. Once they catch on, and/or reveal that Julie is fine, her mother whisks her away to another clinic or hospital, and begins the process anew. This really gets going when Julie is only 3-7 years old and unable to speak up for herself. At her mom's insistence, the poor girl had a catheter inserted, a heart surgery, a broken nose to fix a deviated septum, and may medications she probably did not need at all. Besides this, her mom and dad stockpile guns in the house, barely feed their kids, and her mother is constantly threatening suicide, sitting on little Julie's bed with a gun in her mouth until her child can calm her down.

Once in college, Julie learns about 'Manchausen by Proxy'- A form of child abuse where a caretaker will make up illnesses and demand treatment for their wards. The sufferer is usually a child, the perpetrator usually the mother. Julie realizes this is what her childhood was filled with, and begins to distance herself from her mom.

The latter half of the book is much more uneven than the first, as Julie skips entire years of her life and begins to unravel mentally. The first half was much more coherent. Still, this is a very harrowing and unsettling story- all the more so because it is true. --Jen from Quebec

This details a truly devastating childhood, almost unbelievable and certainly unbearable. It was a very good read, especially for those interested in psychology and child/family abuse, wellness, and advocacy. A memoir of Julie Gregory's life of Munchausen by Proxy, wherein a parent or caregiver exaggerates or fabricates illness in a child. Not for the faint of heart and much of this story is very disturbing. But if you can make it through the details, Gregory has a raw and important story to tell and she does it very well.

I couldn't finish this book but not for the reason you might think. You might think the subject matter would the problem but no, the problem was the writing. I didn't feel anything for the author or her life. Her writing is flat, unorganized and detached. I found it hard to pay attention and had to keep re-reading what I had already just read. Very poorly written. I didn't want to, but I had to give up. I couldn't get through it. blah.

It is my second encounter with cases on Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome. The first time I heard about it, was from the TV show " The Act" (which I still haven't watched for some reason I don't even know) where I was quite fascinated of the way this illness acts. I wanted to know more about it. One day while I went to my local library to study for a Math test, I saw this book standing in the shelves. I took a picture of it so that one day I would pick it up. Nine months later I finally did. And I am happy I did it. I was telling my sister the other day of how bad was Julie Roberts treated as a kid and a teen; of how hopeless she was. We both had tears welled up in our eyes.
Honestly, it hurts knowing that there are so many ways you can insert abuse on a vulnerable child. I did not grow around abuse, and wasn't a witness of it. To be truly sincere, before this book, I wasn't totally aware of how terrible and traumatic it might become. Even so, that you'd be sickened by everything around you. Worse than that, the abuse that has been upon you, is forced by your schizophrenic father and your MBP mother.
It feels terrible witnessing yourself growing in hospitals, doctor after doctor, running away and coming back to the mother that loved you, but also put you through hell. And when you grow up like that, you image yourself in the same way; sickly and unwanted. You have to work on yourself to fix all the holes inside of you. You have to fight your own mentality for the better good.
And this requires strength. It is necessary to be strong when you look back to all the hellish childhood you went through. to everything you saw in front of your eyes, and losing faith in the goodness of others.
I fathom the case of Julie and I sincerely hope for better days. To survive all that, is nobility in itself.



P.S. From now on I will not be rating any sort of non fiction book, because I do not believe I am compatible enough to criticize anyone's years of studies on a certain case in which I could show people if this book is worth reading only based on five single stars.

When I read stuff like this, I am truly horrified at how parents can be so brutal and cruel to their own children or to any other human being. Sometimes, I wonder at the irony of people requiring permits to keep specific breeds of dogs, yet people who are obviously unsuitable to be parents don't need a licence to reproduce when the responsibility is so much greater. Not that I'm saying this is something that should be regulated but it is painfully heart-breaking to read about child abuse, especially at the hands of their own parents. Julie Gregory's story is amazing; she not only survived a beast of a childhood but has put together the broken pieces of her life and moved forward. While it was a long, painful and arduous process, she has emerged stronger and wiser, with the courage to face up to her mother and prevent her from hurting other children, as well as spreading awareness of Munchausen by proxy. As a reader, I would have liked proper closure and to know more about what Julie did to stop her mother. Did she get prosecuted in the end? Did she get psychiatric help? It's a bit uncertain what actually happened in the end, although I would like to think that Julie was successful. Apparently, updates were previously available on her website but there's not much information on there at the moment. Regardless, I applaud Julie Gregory for courageously sharing her difficult story with the world and using her experiences to help others in MBP cases. I wish her all the best.

Wow this book was so hard to read. It is difficult just to grasp how that mother (and the dad) treated there children.

I had to stop the first time but this morning I picked it up and could not stop reading.
At the end you are left with questions. What happened to the other kids.
If you want to know more you can visit Julie Gregory’s wesbite.
http://www.juliegregory.com/
4.5 stars

Great account of munchausen by proxy, which isn't something you come across too often. Terrible that it takes something like this to raise awareness, though. Worth a read if you work in mental health. Of course now I have this on my mind and I am thinking everyone I meet has MBP...

Så fruktansvärt tung och nattsvart. Det var en kamp att tvinga sig in i berättelsen efter varje uppehåll för jag mådde fysiskt illa av skeendet. Jag kan förstå det terapeutiska behovet, att skriva ner det så som det var, händelse efter händelse efter händelse. Men för mig som läsare blev det tillslut obehagligt att vara kvar som betraktare, lyssnare. Det upplevdes nästan exploaterande trots att det är en självbiografi. Eller exploaterande kanske är fel ord, men jag kan inte komma på ett bättre. Det är en bra bok, språket är fängslande och känslan närvarande. Men något i uppbyggnaden av den som bok skaver i läsupplevelsen.