A SAD BUT GREAT BOOK BUT I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN

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	• They Cage the Animals at Night (Signet) Jennings Michael Burch Signet, 1985 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 180 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A SAD BUT GREAT BOOK BUT I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN

This was such a sad book but it was well written and made you think about the system. This poor kid was placed in several orphanages because his mom was too sick to care for him and he was waiting for her to come back. The fact that this happened to the author made this such an inspiring book. I read this till the wee hours of the night because I was so inspired by it with the lights on. I couldn't put it down. I felt sorry for the poor kid. Another great read is a child called it. Both are fantastic.

Left a major impact on me...

I read this book when I was in grammar school many years ago and I still remember the emotions I felt back then. This is a sad, but powerful book about one boy's trials and tribulations in the orphanage system. Riveting.

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Surviving in life.

This story of a little boy's surviving hardships is so sad; yet he keeps going by letting go of hatered for those who hurt him, and looking forward to a better future.

Great book

This is my favorite book. I have read this book over the years no less than eight times......that is why I had to get a new one :-)
I highly recommend this book especially if you are like me and only like to read non-fiction.

Half-truths?

I liked the book, but I have internal warning lights going off as to the complete veracity of the story.

While I don't doubt that many of the abusive and neglectful things that happened to Burch did, in fact, happen to him, I can't help but have this feeling that there is some embellishment going on when it comes to some of the abuse. Sometimes the stories of cruelty seem so far-fetched, that they border on implausible (given all the characters involved in any one incident). There are also stories of being rescued from abuse that seem a little fishy.

Even more implausible however, is the philosophical wisdom of some of the children involved...like Burch's sickly brother, Jerome, or his Institution friend, Mark. These pre-teens seem to be able to impart wisdom and knowledge an a scale that most adults have a hard time embracing, even after a lifetime of existence, let alone when they were children.

I'd be willing to bet that the Author had to embellish a little in order to create some of the dialog (dialog dominates much of this book). He would have to! Who amongst us at middle-age can recall, IN DETAIL, lengthy conversations that they had when they were eight years old? But what concerns me more than needing to embellish the dialog, is this feeling I had that there are times when "fact" goes more in to the "fantasy" realm, for the sake of dramatic license. It often seems like certain scenarios have all the timing and drama of a Hollywood screenplay, as opposed to "ringing true to life".

I don't doubt that what Mr. Burch experienced as a child was indeed traumatizing and terrifying. And for that alone, it's a worthwhile read. I just have my doubts as to how much is "autobiographical" and how much is "novel" writing. How can much of what was supposedly said between Mark , Jerome and Jennings be proven anyway? Mark dies in his youth, and Jerome not very long after him (relatively speaking).

This is only an impression I'm making about this book however, as I have no proof one way or the other that there is embellishment going on. I'm just stating a gut-feeling I personally have which is born solely out of life-experience, and that's all.

But if there was embellishment for dramatic effect, I would have preferred that the Author was honest about it. And if there was none, my sincerest apologies for doubting him.

You read it and you decide. :-)

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

One rainy day in Brooklyn, Jennings Michael Burch's mother, too sick to care for him, left him at an orphanage, saying only, "I'll be right back." She never returned. Shuttled through a series of bleak foster homes and institutions, he never remained in any of them long enough to make a friend. Instead, Jennings clung to a tattered stuffed animal, his sole source of warmth in a frightening world. This is the poignant story of his lost childhood. But it is also the triumphant tale of a little boy who finally gained the courage to reach out for love-and found it waiting for him.

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