Book #42

Book #42 (and the first book of 2014) - A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown - Cupcake Brown's life completely unraveled at the age of 11 when she discovered her mother dead.  She experiences abandonment as well as sexual, physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. She descends into prostitution, gang activity, criminal behaviour, and severe drug and alcohol abuse.  She perseveres and overcomes.  This is her story.

I liked the book; I like memoirs.  I have tremendous respect for the author's dedication to drag herself out of the gutter (literally and figuratively).  With the painful experiences early in life, it is no surprise the path her life took.  The only thing that bothered me is she never seems to totally express remorse for her criminal behaviour and gang banging activity.  She tells you what happens (mostly), and seems to take responsibility (somewhat), but I didn't feel any remorse or empathy.  I believe we all have lessons to learn and room to grow.  Without a doubt, she has learned SO much, but I think there's still room to grow.  In my extremely humble opinion, she had poor excuses for adult role models in her life for a significant amount of time.  She never experienced her tormentors (biological father, foster parents, foster sister and other siblings, ex-husband, etc.) taking responsibility for the harm, damage, and abuse towards her.  Therefore, she hasn't quite grasped that lesson of showing remorse or empathy.  Just my take, my opinion.

I think this book is a great example of one person taking responsibility for their own life (with the help of a support system) and overcoming adversity that no one person should experience.