Ostatnio, jak widać, trochę bardziej ciągnie mnie w stronę reportaży. Przynajmniej częściej niż zwykle.
Muszę przyznać, że ta książka była całkowicie powalająca. Czytało się ją ekspresowo, przez to, że nie sposób było oderwać się od tej przerażającej historii. To co zostało tu opisane, jest wprost niewyobrażalne. Trudno mi pojąć jak rodzice mogą wyrządzić tak olbrzymią krzywdę swoim dzieciom - katując je psychicznie i fizycznie. I choć nie powinno się życzyć komuś źle, mam nadzieję, że życie rodziców bohaterki zmieniło się w piekło.

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.

I haven’t thought about a book more than this one in a long time. Creepy and haunting, and the story really messes with your mind. Side note: For folks in the comments suggesting that this story couldn’t be true - I’m a psych nurse with a lot of pediatric experience, and experiences like the ones told in the story absolutely do happen, and the story absolutely rings true.

Library Biography #37

So, recently I watched the documentary, "Mommy Dead and Dearest" about Munchausen by proxy, which sparked me to want to know more about the disease.

Julie Gregory's memoir was the only book that my local library had - which sort of shocked me to be honest. I picked it up, hoping to learn more about the disease, but this book was really more about Gregory's life as a whole, not specifically about the disease per se.

Gregory's parents both had mental problems, reflected by the inconsistencies and abuse of her childhood. Most of this memoir is a string of bad memories with highlights of Julie's trips to the doctors (the ones she can remember). As Julie begins to find her freedom and realize all the things her parents did to her, especially her mother, she begins to write with an increased type of prose. I found this prose confusing at times and distracting from her story.

I thought the book was interesting and appreciated the novelty of having bits of her medical records printed in the book... although, it almost made me feel that Gregory thought she had to print these to prove to everyone that these crazy things did happen (only because she says that so many people did not believe her).

Julie Gregory grew up in an abusive household. Her mother had Munchausen by Proxy, a mental disorder that causes someone to seek attention by inflicting medical symptoms on a dependent. Throughout her childhood, Julie was told that she was sick. She was starved, beaten, and taken out of school for doctor's visits and hospital stays. Her mother insisted that every possible test be done (including invasive ones), in order to "get to the bottom of this". Julie was punished if she didn't go along with the symptoms her mother told the doctors she had. This is Julie's story of her childhood and how she finally broke free.

Readalike suggestions: For more memoirs of child abuse or mental illness, suggest "A Child Called It" by Dave Pelzer, "Wasted" by Marya Hornbacher, or even "Prozac Nation" by Elizabeth Wurtzel. For books with a similar literary tone, try "Autobiography of a Face" by Lucy Grealy or "Truth and Beauty: A Friendship" by Ann Patchett.

I studied the fascinating psychiatric disorder Münchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy for over thirty years, a condition where parents (most often mothers) sicken their children in order to receive attention and sympathy for themselves. I had seen Julie Gregory interviewed on 20/20 or Dateline when SICKENED was initially published.

As sorry as I was for the medical abuse she endured, I didn’t feel as if SICKENED added anything to the literature available on Münchausen’s or that her perspective added to my understanding of the impact of the disorder. What Gregory endured was horrendous, as is all child abuse. Because offenders doctor shop, Münchausen’s is difficult to prove and indict. Gregory’s writing was bogged down with voluminous adjectives and adverb making reading arduous rather than pleasurable.

I was interested in how Gregory recovered from her childhood, but she spent more time detailing the abuse which had less interest to me. I hope she avails herself of whatever psychiatric help she needs to be free from the impact of her childhood.

This remarkable story is told in swift, seductive detail by a true survivor. Julie Gregory is a brave warrior and a wonderful writer, right up there in class with the much-beloved Jeannette Walls of "Glass Castle" fame. That her tale sheds light on a complex disorder known as Munchausen by Proxy (perpetrated on her by both her grandmother and mother) makes it all the more important and worthwhile.

There are monsters everywhere in the world. They come in all shapes and sizes, all races and religions. Some are trusted, admired and respected. Some are called friend, colleague, neighbour.

Monsters should never, ever be called "Mum" or "Dad".

I really don't want to go into this too deeply because I found it to be a distressing read. The fact that Julie not only survived, but was able to tell her story is testament to her bravery.

Julie is a victim of Munchhausen By Proxy. A condition where a caregiver or spouse fabricates, exaggerates, or induces mental or physical health problems in those who are in their care, with the primary motive of gaining attention or sympathy from others. It is an extreme form of child abuse and many children do not survive.

As horrific as that is, there was also physical, verbal, and emotional abuse. Julie was beaten, starved, and subjected to situations no child should ever bear witness to. All because her mother wanted the attention.

I'm sorry, I have to cut this short. This book really distressed me. I'm glad I read it though, as horrific as it is, because I want to wing my mental love to Julie and tell her what a remarkable human being she is.

Rewritten to protect the guilty and me from embarrassment. I wouldn't want anyone to think it was about them, especially if it was.

I think a friend of a friend I know quite well has this. She prides herself on being able to talk to doctors in medical terms.

She herself has had all sorts of things removed and is on various handfuls of pills and gets disability payments. She is small and pretty and probably anorexic. She can't work because of her back or do much housework. However a full day's shopping at the mall, visiting Zara, John Lewis and other upmarket places is not beyond her. She had been divorced for years but didn't want to remarry for fear of losing various benefits. Eventually she did remarry to someone who was close to me and although his mother disapproved saying, "She's tried all the men in the community but no-one wants to take her on with all her sick children, so why you?"

Her eldest son has several neurological disorders, Crone's disease, ADHD and Tourettes. He is chronically lazy, apparently a symptom of his various diseases. I think it's more a symptom of getting benefits if you don't work. He's very nice, good company, very bright and spends all day playing games online and fantasising about his future. If he got his act together he could go to university, but that would mean work. He has a very strange relationship with his mother. Almost like he is in love with her and demands all her attention. She pretends to hate this and closes doors in his face to emphasise it but all the time enables this behaviour by treating him like a recalcitrant child rather than the adult he is.

Her second son had treatment for Crones and other illnesses and disorders as a kid. However, possibly because the emphasis was on his genuinely-sick older brother (there is only a year between them) he escaped the full brunt of his mother's malign attention and he is a high-achieving young man. His mother says he has to watch his diet and worries about the ill-effects of certain foods and various minor ailments she sees in him. There's nothing wrong with him at all and he doesn't watch his diet or anything else.

Her daughter was a big fat lazy cow. Pretty and pretty dislikeable. She, like her mother feels entitled to the best, just because she exists. At 17 she sat most of the time on the sofa consuming family size bars of Cadbury's Fruit and Nut. Taking the dog for a walk meant opening the door to the garden, when she could be bothered. Once, three of us went to visit and expected a meal. She was on the sofa of course so we poked around. There were three breaded chicken breasts in the oven along with oven chips, more than enough for four and a whole baguette of cheesy garlic bread. Great! But no she said that was for her, that was her dinner and she hadn't made us anything, we should get a pizza!

Her mother insisted she was fat because she had polycystic disease (along with Crones, a joint disorder, a back problem and I forget what else). I thought she was fat because she was unbelievably greedy and lazy. She wouldn't even go out to help with the shopping unless bribed with a Big Mac or several family-size bars of chocolate. She only went to college on days she got a ride, walking to the bus stop was just too much for her.

This lot enabled the mother to spend a lot of time taking the kids to the doctors and hospital and needing a whole kitchen cabinet full of pills. When the family doctor changed to a very handsome and charming man, home visits were needed too. Her new husband is on all sorts of pills now for all the things that are (not) wrong with him. This lady likes people to recognise the illnesses she diagnoses herself and have them confirmed by doctors (really) and medicated. Her husband even had to have a minor operation for something or other.

When her daughter turned 18 she got her a gastric bypass, persuaded the doctor it was the only possible thing that would help the girl. Diets had failed (she hadn't actually tried any in reality, in fact it was the mother that stuffed her to get her fat enough to qualify for the operation). A gastric band was too temporary, nope it had to be the whole nine yards. The poor girl was seriously ill with various illnesses related to the gastric bypass operation, in and out of hospital for months. I was sorry but did wonder if the mother was gleeful at yet another illness and a real one at that to be able to involve herself constantly with technical medical talk with doctors. Now if I challenged this lady about all these illnesses and chronic disabilities her family suffer from, she would turn on me, she is only doing her best... That's another thing she's good at. Turning on people. It keeps everyone, including her husband from actually saying anything. Good defence!

If you are wondering if I like her, well she is more a friend of a friend that I have known forever, I don't particularly but she can be good company. She talks about health problems of all her family (parents included) a lot. She is looking for admiration for her knowledge and sympathy for her plight as she has to care for them despite her own physical limitations.

I am just astounded that someone could manipulate the system and their children as she has and that no one, doctors and hospitals included, although I used to tell my mother and she didn't believe it but she was a hard old biddy at times, even seemed to suspect it. Until I read this book. Then I saw what she'd been up to.

Read the book, it's the literary version x 100 of this lady.

If she ever reads this she will never speak to me again. Oh wait, she's not speaking to me now...

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.

I generally steer away from child abuse memoirs - they're not my idea of an entertaining read. But I read all of my holiday books & there were slim pickings on offer in the hotel lobby. Besides, I am mildly intrigued by MBP.
However, this account didn't really address MBP syndrome, more than it did reflect on a terrible emotionally and physically abusive childhood. The writing style was amateurish, disorganised & focused on to many irrelevant details. Sure it was appalling & illustrated why I don't usually read such accounts, but there was not enough detail on the Munchausen angle.
Most importantly, it ended just as it was about to get interesting. Was the mother ever formally diagnosed with MBP? Did Julie confront her? Press charges? And what of the secrets shrouding her grandmother, were they ever revealed?
I hope Julie found it cathartic to write this memoir & that she can overcome some of her resulting issues. But being subjected to such horror does not make you an author.

Wstrząsająca historia, co tu dużo mówić. Ilość i rodzaj krzywdy, którą wyrządziła matka autorce niewyobrażalna. Ciężko się ocenia takie książki.