Jungle Rumble

O’Neill, Heather.  Lullabies for Little Criminals.  New York, HaperCollins, 2006.

Warning:Heather O’Neill’s novel is not for the faint of heart! This is a raw and grimy account of a girl, ironically named Baby, who grows up motherless with an uneducated, immature addict father, and an uncanny ability to survive even the most desperate of circumstances. Set in Montreal’s red-light district, readers delve into the underbelly of both a city and its culture through the eyes of twelve-year old Baby. 

O’Neill’s writing is beautifully sad and heartbreakingly honest making Baby’s character wiser, but not jaded beyond her  years.  One of my favorite descriptive passages:

 “My breath in the cold air was bleach that accidentally spilled on a black t-shirt”. 

Baby and her equally neglected and abused friends long for adulthood, anything must be better than this is their attitude. They look up to the only adult “role models” they have; lifelong druggies and sucessful thieves. Baby says,

“I don’t know why I was upset about not being an adult. It was right around the corner. Becoming a child again is what is impossible. That’s what you have a legitimate reason to be upset over.”

Ultimately, Baby’s story is compelling, and that’s what kept me reading, despite her miserable circumstances. Her appreciation for little kindnesses and glimpses into “normalcy” provide an insight into a world that few authors are able to describe without sounding like a Lifetime movie.  But maybe that is because O’Neill based the book on her own childhood.

Other inspirational (and tragic) coming of age books:

Walls, Jannette.  The Glass Castle.  New York, Scribner, 2005.

Walls’ childhood was filled will heartbreak, despair, poverty and chaos.  She was raised with her brother and sister by a loving, alcoholic dreamer father and neglectful, mentally unstable mother.  The family often moved from one state to another and from  pitiful house to slum apartment. 

For me two scenes from the book standout.  In the first, Walls burns herself at the age of three while attempting to make herself dinner.  When reading the passage you can feel the spunk and sadness of her three year old self.  

The other scene was heartbreaking because I could imagine how horrible it would have been for myself to experience.  Walls, now an adult living in NYC, sees a homeless woman sifting through trash looking for food or other valuables.  The woman she realizes is her mother. 

All in all, Walls was able to rise above the chaos of her childhood to become a journalist and writer who has a very low-key, happy home life.

Pelzer, David.  A Child Called “It”.  Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 1995.

This book is an account of one of California’s worst child abuse cases in that state’s history.  Pelzer was raised (and I use the term very loosely) by an alcoholic, mentally disturbed mother.  Pelzer wasn’t loved.  He was clothed in rags, forced to eat scraps the dog did not and endured unspeakable brutality.  The fact he survived his childhood, found love with a foster family and lives a “normal” life is nothing short of a miracle.

After A Child Called It, Pelzer went on to write about his foster family in Lost Boy and becoming an adult in A Man Named Dave.  These books continue his inspirational journey.