Review of Freak Like Me
- Maduabuchi Okwiya N Eze
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Review of Freak Like Me
It was a life punctuated with rejection, neglect, molestation, pain, and the quest for acceptance. There was no motivation at the moment, and the future was bleak. Several mistakes and unfortunate incidents happened unhindered. The tempo continued until a new dawn came. But then the old and new selves will have to test their strengths. That was the story of Donna Johnson, as recorded in her autobiography, Freak Like Me.
The book is divided into six chapters, and each chapter is further divided into various subtitles, which highlight what brought about what, what event or line of action brought about a paradigm shift, self-recollection, and prayers. These aided my appreciation of the various incidents that happened in the author's life.
I was most impressed and motivated by Donna's evolving levels of awareness and enlightenment, specifically how she applied philosophical and religious principles to navigate through various turbulent phases in her life, find her voice, earmark her preferences, and build an atmosphere conducive to her personality. It was such a wonderful moment of inspiration and self-discovery for me.
This book is not just about Donna's story. It is also a book of conscience, speaking into the consciousness of parents, guardians, carers, bullies, sexual predators, and the like on the tortuous consequences of their actions and inactions in the lives of their victims, some of which linger for a lifetime. This sermon of global significance got me thinking about the current and eventual fate of these victims distributed across different age groups, genders, and geographical locations.
The word choices made in this book were appropriate. They captured the various emotions that popped up with each account, incident, and development. Also, I appreciate Donna for allowing readers into her private life and revealing incidents that are ordinarily hard to even share with relatives or close friends. Her story reflects the condition of many souls out there in society, and her eventual line of action should inspire such people to hold on to victory.
But then, there were details omitted in this book that I would have liked to know, like what exactly brought about Donna's parents' cold attitude and neglect towards her. Was the same treatment given to her siblings, or was it just her? Again, I came across some grammatical errors in this book. Even though they didn't disturb my reading, I wished more careful editing was carried out to eliminate them.
I rate this book four out of five stars because of the invaluable lessons in it and the author's fluency. A point was removed due to the above negative concerns. I recommend this book to those passing through hurt, sexual abuse, parental neglect, low self-esteem, and identity crises, among other challenges. I hope they draw inspiration and strength from Donna's story.
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Freak Like Me
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