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Gal: A True Life
Ruthie Mae Bolton was born January 6, 1961, in the Hungry Neck section of Charleston, South Carolina. At the time, her mother was thirteen; she has never known who her father was. Her mother was the wandering kind, so Ruthie Mae-nicknamed "Gal" by her stepgrandfather-was raised in her grandparents' home. One day Grandmama died as a result of a severe beating by her husband-it occured to no one to call this to the attention of the authorities-and Gal was left in the brutal hands of her granddaddy, who beat her unmercifully as well. Ruthie Mae began to steal things in school and she developed a stutter; she drank and smoked dope. But she stuck resolutely with her education and graduated from high school, which was likely her salvation, for today Ruthie Mae is happily married, with children and a fine job. At last she is at peace-with herself and even with the memory of her grandfather. It is nigh impossible to convey the astonishingly eloquent simplicity of Ruthie Mae's witnessing to her time. Here is an absolutely remarkable document, as touching as it is painful, as ageless as it is timely.
275 pages, Hardcover
First published May 23, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
February 23, 2009
I loved this one from the very first page. The writer described in such detail for me that I could see what I was reading...Very hard for me to put down. A must read for memoir readers. I felt for Gal, I fell in love with her..Even though I am much younger as I was reading just wanted to give her a hug and take her home with me...I guess that just the mommy in me...
July 12, 2009
I am conflicted about this book. I enjoyed that it was written from the author's spoken word and can say that she told the story well.
I just didn't like the story.
I wanted her to triumph over her grandfather, over her aunts who treated her badly, over poverty.... and she just didn't. I guess the lesson to learn from this book, if there is one, is to endure to the end. Because that is what she does. She doesn't try to change the world around her and she doesn't try to overcome her adversities, she just endures them. I was left thinking, "that's it? She remains under the control of this 'family' that treats her this badly?" And the answer is, yes. Yes she does. And I didn't like that. But not all life stories have a happy ending... so, I am conflicted.
I just didn't like the story.
I wanted her to triumph over her grandfather, over her aunts who treated her badly, over poverty.... and she just didn't. I guess the lesson to learn from this book, if there is one, is to endure to the end. Because that is what she does. She doesn't try to change the world around her and she doesn't try to overcome her adversities, she just endures them. I was left thinking, "that's it? She remains under the control of this 'family' that treats her this badly?" And the answer is, yes. Yes she does. And I didn't like that. But not all life stories have a happy ending... so, I am conflicted.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 14, 2019
An interesting memoir that will captive you from the very first page to the last page.
October 10, 2011
Ruthie had a rough life. Her story is sad and unimaginable. Memoirs are one of my favorite reading subjects because these people have come forward and told their story even though it may have been one of the hardest things they've ever done. The abuse she suffered at the hands of her Grandfather was awful and she carried those problems with her into adulthood. She then met a wonderful man and because of him and his loving family she made it through to tell her story. You will come away from this book thinking about how people can do the things they do, and why they do them, especially to their own flesh and blood.
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August 15, 2010
This was a decent read. I had heard this was an excellent book by lots of people so I guess I expected much more. Overall, it was just ok for me. It took me awhile to get used to the language in the book, but I would recommend this book to others. It was a change of pace from the other types of books I normally read.
May 13, 2016
This book is so well written that it felt as though I was having a one-on-one conversation with the author. It is a heartwrenching tale of a loveless childhood filled with nothing but abuse, and things don't improve for a long time after the author enters adulthood.
This book will make you furious ... it will also make you shed tons of tears.
Keep the tissues handy.
This book will make you furious ... it will also make you shed tons of tears.
Keep the tissues handy.
September 16, 2012
You become part of this intriguing tale as you read it.
June 2, 2013
I was literally in tears reading this book. Excellent writing, but it will leave you emotionally drained.
November 17, 2015
A sad memoir, but also a tale of redemption. It is horrible that her early childhood was very rough and you can see that there was no intervention. Her step-grandfather and father to her nieces was able to basically torture them and denied them resources. Yet, was able to heal with her husband's family. You can see poverty has its place, but also the role of mental illness.
December 14, 2016
All I have to say is this book caused many emotions to erupt from within me.And I am so proud of Ruthie and how she overcame the trials and tribulations that she went through,through her childhood.Thank you for sharing your life story, you incredible woman ❤️
October 25, 2022
I don’t know why I waited to read this book. Once I started I figured it out. This is the story of a woman who suffered as a child by the hands of another family member. She survived, found real love, had her own family and found the true meaning of living. A short biography about life, growing up unwanted.
January 24, 2011
This book is the story of Ruthie Bolton's life. It talks about her childhood and everything she went through. She lived with her grandparents, because her mother was never around and she didn't know her father. Ruthie's grandfather chased away her mother and later killed her grandmother. After her grandmother's death, she and her five sisters were sent with their aunt. Her aunt was the best guardian she had. The aunt was dying slowly, so Ruthie and her sisters moved back with their grandfather. The aunt had gotten older and she drank a lot, which contributed to her death.
Ruthie's grandfather became more abusive and treated them like slaves when they moved back with him. He would beat them for no reason, he would get mad and scrape the whole fingernail off if they painted their nails. That was very cruel of him. He would make them plant and harvest his marijuana. One night while they were harvesting the marijuana, the police came and took him to jail. While he was in jail, the girls were sent to live with another aunt who was just as mean to them as he was.
Ruthie finally grew up and started a life of her own. She met someone who finally treated her with respect.
I thought that this book had different emotions along the way. At one point it was happy, sad, and angry. The book shows how people can be mistreated and still over come it all. Overall, it was a good read.
Ruthie's grandfather became more abusive and treated them like slaves when they moved back with him. He would beat them for no reason, he would get mad and scrape the whole fingernail off if they painted their nails. That was very cruel of him. He would make them plant and harvest his marijuana. One night while they were harvesting the marijuana, the police came and took him to jail. While he was in jail, the girls were sent to live with another aunt who was just as mean to them as he was.
Ruthie finally grew up and started a life of her own. She met someone who finally treated her with respect.
I thought that this book had different emotions along the way. At one point it was happy, sad, and angry. The book shows how people can be mistreated and still over come it all. Overall, it was a good read.
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November 9, 2012After reading Gal by Ruthie Bolton, I became over whelmed of all kinds of emotions. This book showed me what kind of struggles young girls in the African-American community struggled. At times I was sad while reading, but as I read farther in the book I started to get a sense of happiness. At the beginning of the story Ruth describes her childhood how she was born to a 13-year old girl in 1961, didn’t know her father, and was beaten by her step-grandfather. After reading about how Ruthie struggled at the beginning of the story made me feel very sad and then to read about her later on in the story of how she found happiness, peace, forgiveness and the “dirty” word: love as she became older. The author’s mood was most important, because she was the main character. The mood of the author is sincerity. In the book, Ruthie says "I never had anyone touch me except to beat me" (Bolton, 21). That quote really helped me understand the mood, because she was sincere about her not having the best childhood. Ruthie Bolton supported the mood through her speech and actions.
July 31, 2019
I have to sort my feelings as I write this review...I'm left stunned by the torment and desperately sought joys Ruthie had in her life.
It doesn't seem just that a woman could be made to suffer with blood and pain and when she's grown, pour out her time and labor on the source of that pain, getting virtually nothing in return. In fact, it's hard and cruel. But for Ruthie Bolton, she didn't let it pound her down into nothing. She kept reaching for joy. Kept striving. Kept moving towards the sunlight.
Ruthie started out life in a little piece of the country dubbed Hungry Neck by the locals. It's a town actually called Mount Pleasant in South Carolina. Looking up Mount Pleasant/Hungry Neck, the first images that I see are genteel looking estates and serene waterfronts. But the Hungry Neck of Ruthie's childhood had little peace or gentility, but a whole lot of roughness, ugliness and hate. She had a tough start to begin with. Her mother was no more than a naive thirteen year old kid, looking for love in all the wrong places, Ruthie's father unknown. Ruthie had a connection to the Navy through the family member who is the central character of her nightmare, her grandfather, a combination of all things violent and hate-filled, and a man I'm still trying to comprehend. The book was powerful and intruiging in more ways than one--little details of the military life she described for instance, is something I found interesting being a former Navy brat. But the life she led shocked and horrified me in more ways than one, as well. Her grandfather was a cook on the ships, and in Ruthie's words, leading a whole double life. One part publicly "respectable", the other part ruthless child beater.
Ruthie had a long road ahead of her and it seemed very little hope for what can be called "normalcy". Her grandfather, actually her grandmother's second husband and not her blood relation, was a man caught up in power plays and domination. He was a man that I'd view as someone who went out in the world and dragged back all of the frustrations, furies and lack of any REAL power he had back to the heads of the helpless children in his household. He was a punk, a bully and a coward, presenting a facade of civility to men who'd have probably crushed his freedom and career into the ground if they'd known the torture he was inflicting on women and children. As you turn the pages, you WISH that someone had checked him, pulled his fists off of the innocent victims in his grasp, and threw him in the deepest, darkest prison in all of the Carolinas.
Ruthie was a member of a family where love was in such short supply that she grew into a woman who had a monumentally hard time recognizing love when it turned and embraced her. Her second husband's family, a beautiful group of people from Florida, eventually became the family of her heart. Before she met him and these kind souls, she floated around sometimes taking money for sex, trysts that ultimately only left her feeling empty, and working minimum-wage jobs. Behind the pain, her heart yearned for something much greater, something that was unjustly denied to her. She just barely made it out of the vicious clutches of her step-grandfather, trying to find her way throughout a winding path.
I shed tears multiple times through the reading of this woman's journey. It is not fair to be treated as if your humanity is invisible. And that's what this evil man who should never have been allowed within one foot of a child, let alone been granted the privilege of raising one, did to her. He made her feel as if she wasn't worthy of the basic things that make our life worth living. That she was just a thing to be kicked and tossed, an inanimate object, instead of a girl with a mind and a soul. This did things to her emotionally, as it would for anyone. While having the strength to keep moving through life without imploding, it caused her to look for relief in the wrong places at times and with the wrong people. She was lucky in the fact that she was able to go forward and find love and some measure of peace, but even that was disrupted by the presence of her step-grandpa. Even a few of the family members that she grew up with and felt accepted by, turned on her. Later on during her adult years, she actually had the kindness and compassion, not to mention, enormous fortitude, to move from her husband's family home and return to her grandfather's house of torment, caring for his weak, sickly body. She threw herself into nearly the complete renovation of his house, laying down tile, painting, buying furniture and other objects, just to at his passing, be cruelly told by a relative, her own aunt, that she was "not family" and nothing to them. She was forbidden from even sitting with her extended family to hear the details of her grandfather's will, the shock and betrayal of it all sending her reeling and sobbing into the street.
Damn, how much cruelty can one human being endure? After years of abuse, intimidation and hate from this man, many adults would've liked to have danced a little jig on the old man's grave. But Ruthie, a person with a soft heart, took care of this wretched human being who caused such sadness in her life, and instead of being hugged, respected and praised, she was in my opinion, figuratively spat in the face. Was not left by him the house she put so much sweat and labor into, treated with the utmost of contempt from the grave by the same man whose failing body she cared for when so many other abused granddaughters would have flung him into the nearest and worst nursing home.
But again, Ruthie's inner strength kicked in and she did not relinquish hope for her future. She stayed on in the house paying rent (even though she asked for an opportunity to purchase, a perfectly reasonable request, but one that was immediately shot down), she continued raising her beloved family, got a good job in a healing environment that she enjoyed, and simply refused to be defeated!
It's not a fairy tale ending by any means. And of course, everything that she was forced to endure isn't even close to fair. But unfortunately, life can be like that sometimes. Bitter with the sweet. Darkness and patches of light. Sometimes, a person doesn't get what they rightfully deserve and what they should've always had. But maybe heroism can be found with the people who take what they have and determine to build MORE.
That's what Ruthie did. That's why she's such an important human being, and that's why love, the most precious form of all--self-love--can be the refuge a soul can find.
It doesn't seem just that a woman could be made to suffer with blood and pain and when she's grown, pour out her time and labor on the source of that pain, getting virtually nothing in return. In fact, it's hard and cruel. But for Ruthie Bolton, she didn't let it pound her down into nothing. She kept reaching for joy. Kept striving. Kept moving towards the sunlight.
Ruthie started out life in a little piece of the country dubbed Hungry Neck by the locals. It's a town actually called Mount Pleasant in South Carolina. Looking up Mount Pleasant/Hungry Neck, the first images that I see are genteel looking estates and serene waterfronts. But the Hungry Neck of Ruthie's childhood had little peace or gentility, but a whole lot of roughness, ugliness and hate. She had a tough start to begin with. Her mother was no more than a naive thirteen year old kid, looking for love in all the wrong places, Ruthie's father unknown. Ruthie had a connection to the Navy through the family member who is the central character of her nightmare, her grandfather, a combination of all things violent and hate-filled, and a man I'm still trying to comprehend. The book was powerful and intruiging in more ways than one--little details of the military life she described for instance, is something I found interesting being a former Navy brat. But the life she led shocked and horrified me in more ways than one, as well. Her grandfather was a cook on the ships, and in Ruthie's words, leading a whole double life. One part publicly "respectable", the other part ruthless child beater.
Ruthie had a long road ahead of her and it seemed very little hope for what can be called "normalcy". Her grandfather, actually her grandmother's second husband and not her blood relation, was a man caught up in power plays and domination. He was a man that I'd view as someone who went out in the world and dragged back all of the frustrations, furies and lack of any REAL power he had back to the heads of the helpless children in his household. He was a punk, a bully and a coward, presenting a facade of civility to men who'd have probably crushed his freedom and career into the ground if they'd known the torture he was inflicting on women and children. As you turn the pages, you WISH that someone had checked him, pulled his fists off of the innocent victims in his grasp, and threw him in the deepest, darkest prison in all of the Carolinas.
Ruthie was a member of a family where love was in such short supply that she grew into a woman who had a monumentally hard time recognizing love when it turned and embraced her. Her second husband's family, a beautiful group of people from Florida, eventually became the family of her heart. Before she met him and these kind souls, she floated around sometimes taking money for sex, trysts that ultimately only left her feeling empty, and working minimum-wage jobs. Behind the pain, her heart yearned for something much greater, something that was unjustly denied to her. She just barely made it out of the vicious clutches of her step-grandfather, trying to find her way throughout a winding path.
I shed tears multiple times through the reading of this woman's journey. It is not fair to be treated as if your humanity is invisible. And that's what this evil man who should never have been allowed within one foot of a child, let alone been granted the privilege of raising one, did to her. He made her feel as if she wasn't worthy of the basic things that make our life worth living. That she was just a thing to be kicked and tossed, an inanimate object, instead of a girl with a mind and a soul. This did things to her emotionally, as it would for anyone. While having the strength to keep moving through life without imploding, it caused her to look for relief in the wrong places at times and with the wrong people. She was lucky in the fact that she was able to go forward and find love and some measure of peace, but even that was disrupted by the presence of her step-grandpa. Even a few of the family members that she grew up with and felt accepted by, turned on her. Later on during her adult years, she actually had the kindness and compassion, not to mention, enormous fortitude, to move from her husband's family home and return to her grandfather's house of torment, caring for his weak, sickly body. She threw herself into nearly the complete renovation of his house, laying down tile, painting, buying furniture and other objects, just to at his passing, be cruelly told by a relative, her own aunt, that she was "not family" and nothing to them. She was forbidden from even sitting with her extended family to hear the details of her grandfather's will, the shock and betrayal of it all sending her reeling and sobbing into the street.
Damn, how much cruelty can one human being endure? After years of abuse, intimidation and hate from this man, many adults would've liked to have danced a little jig on the old man's grave. But Ruthie, a person with a soft heart, took care of this wretched human being who caused such sadness in her life, and instead of being hugged, respected and praised, she was in my opinion, figuratively spat in the face. Was not left by him the house she put so much sweat and labor into, treated with the utmost of contempt from the grave by the same man whose failing body she cared for when so many other abused granddaughters would have flung him into the nearest and worst nursing home.
But again, Ruthie's inner strength kicked in and she did not relinquish hope for her future. She stayed on in the house paying rent (even though she asked for an opportunity to purchase, a perfectly reasonable request, but one that was immediately shot down), she continued raising her beloved family, got a good job in a healing environment that she enjoyed, and simply refused to be defeated!
It's not a fairy tale ending by any means. And of course, everything that she was forced to endure isn't even close to fair. But unfortunately, life can be like that sometimes. Bitter with the sweet. Darkness and patches of light. Sometimes, a person doesn't get what they rightfully deserve and what they should've always had. But maybe heroism can be found with the people who take what they have and determine to build MORE.
That's what Ruthie did. That's why she's such an important human being, and that's why love, the most precious form of all--self-love--can be the refuge a soul can find.
November 9, 2009
Unfortunately this book was exactly what I thought it was going to be. Based on the synopsis, I was hoping I would walk away with a stronger foundation and understanding for what this woman experienced and how she grew, but she really just told her life's story in a matter-of-fact way. She was severely beaten by her father who also ran off her mother and killed her grandmother, but he never faced any repercussions. Nor was there much passion on her part about the pain and embarrassment she endured. I suppose the lesson learned was that she had to be hard, unemotional, and closed off to the world, but it didn't make the story any better. I guess it was "okay" because I finished it, but there weren't any hidden messages in the end, and that left me unsatisfied.
July 22, 2012
READ THIS BOOK. There is so much to say about it. The book is the story of Ruthie Bolton or 'Gal'. I can;t say much without spoiling, but this book instantly draws you in and you just must keep reading.
Gal is abused, abandoned, forsaken, and overall this chronicles this woman's unbelievable life. It is an insane childhood, yet Gal comes out of it as a wonderful person who we get to know throughout the book.
Bolton's writing style is simple in a way that it feels like she is telling you the story, and although the style is easy to follow, the actual story is horrifying. This is an absolute must read for anyone. I mean it. Go read it!
Gal is abused, abandoned, forsaken, and overall this chronicles this woman's unbelievable life. It is an insane childhood, yet Gal comes out of it as a wonderful person who we get to know throughout the book.
Bolton's writing style is simple in a way that it feels like she is telling you the story, and although the style is easy to follow, the actual story is horrifying. This is an absolute must read for anyone. I mean it. Go read it!
October 4, 2009
This was a very intense book, there were times I had to put it aside and come back to it later due to the subject matter. I enjoy true life stories and this book was an in depth look into this young girl's life and how her childhood impacted her young adult life. I wish the ending had been better, but like Kimberly said, "Life isn't always about happy endings." True. It would've been nice for her to have had some closure. After finishing the book I wondered if now, with the success of her book, how her life had changed or if it even had.
September 1, 2011
Oh boy - this was a read I couldn't put down. I can't say it was a great story because it's actually very sad and true. However, I truly felt connected and quite sympathetic with the author of this autobiography. It made me cry, it made me think, it made me realize how lucky I am and it made me have compassion for people, as you never know what they are going through at the time.
It was very well written, and in her native tonque which made it funny and made me wanting more. I actually read this all in one sitting.
It was very well written, and in her native tonque which made it funny and made me wanting more. I actually read this all in one sitting.
September 28, 2013
For me, this book was one that made me take a step further away from judgments of people. I read this book on the subway and from time to time I'd look up at the people getting on the train or getting off and realized that the story could be anyone's. You never know what memories and history that a person is holding inside of them that causes them to behave the way they do. Gal went thru a lot in her life but still she would wake up each morning and keep on going. Don't know if I'd be able to do the same if I'd had her upbringing.
August 23, 2016
I had received mixed reviews about this title. I was told that it did not have a happy ending. I found quite the opposite. Though the ending was not filled with glitter and gold, it was fitting for the life she had lived. Gal had a tough childhood filled with abuse, she survived the emotional baggage her childhood upbringing caused, and she persevered when the people she called family turned on her. At the end, she forgave them and learned to live in peace and love.
April 28, 2009
hoping to finish this weekend...looks like a quick interesting read....picked up at the library book sale!
January 1, 2019
I gave the book 2 stars because I finished it and found the very end to be more appealing than the rest of the book.
My first problem with this book is that it reads as unrealistic to me - the premise is that this is a "true" story with names changed so as not to embarrass certain people. I'm not sure if that is true or a gimmick because the author gives a lot of street names, store names, etc. that would certainly identify the author if she is real. And, anyway, why hide - the only one she would embarrass is her dead grandfather or herself. Along with that is that the language is not consistent. If you grew up in rural South or been around people from there, you'll note that their grammar is consistent - always using "can't go nowhere" not "can't go anywhere" or "wasn't nobody there" not "there wasn't anybody there." This author is inconsistent with her grammar - lending doubt to the truth of the story. As for the character of Gal, she is poorly represented. There was no introspection, no working out of her abuse, no tantrums over the treatment she got. Altho I supposed taking up smoking cigarettes and pot might justify as acting out.
Second problem - this author does not paint any sort of picture to me of the setting or her circumstances. Just facts, Gal did this and her grandfather "beat me." Gal was screaming and crying, etc. That is just flat to me. What was the aftermath? There is one description in the book of her standing naked on a coffee table while she is whipped with an extension cord. Then she moves on. Sometimes her grandfather beat her head until she bled. You have to hit someone pretty hard to make them bleed - wouldn't she have some brain damage? Or need medical care ever? The Gal and her aunts knew grandpa murdered his wife, was a drunk, stole from his job, neglected and abused them and they just danced around trying to avoid him. No description of depression or anxiety - except the smoking dope early on.
Third problem - the book is badly structured - the author occasionally describes things in reverse - years after something happened, she relates an event that came up prior and then describes it. And she doesn't mention the year as the book moves along so you can't keep track of Gal's age. There is no flow to what is happening - no thread of plot.
But the worst problem for me that overrode any other was that after the alcoholic thieving murdering grandfather abused and debased Gal until the day he died, the author (as Gal) writes a tribute to him for his funeral about what he wanted to teach his children about hard work and morality. And this is printed as a sort of epilogue. This really put the book into the trash bin for me. Have Gal go to the funeral, help arrange and pay for it - okay - but to write (in perfect grammar, by the way) what a pillar of the community the grandfather was just rings terribly false.
My first problem with this book is that it reads as unrealistic to me - the premise is that this is a "true" story with names changed so as not to embarrass certain people. I'm not sure if that is true or a gimmick because the author gives a lot of street names, store names, etc. that would certainly identify the author if she is real. And, anyway, why hide - the only one she would embarrass is her dead grandfather or herself. Along with that is that the language is not consistent. If you grew up in rural South or been around people from there, you'll note that their grammar is consistent - always using "can't go nowhere" not "can't go anywhere" or "wasn't nobody there" not "there wasn't anybody there." This author is inconsistent with her grammar - lending doubt to the truth of the story. As for the character of Gal, she is poorly represented. There was no introspection, no working out of her abuse, no tantrums over the treatment she got. Altho I supposed taking up smoking cigarettes and pot might justify as acting out.
Second problem - this author does not paint any sort of picture to me of the setting or her circumstances. Just facts, Gal did this and her grandfather "beat me." Gal was screaming and crying, etc. That is just flat to me. What was the aftermath? There is one description in the book of her standing naked on a coffee table while she is whipped with an extension cord. Then she moves on. Sometimes her grandfather beat her head until she bled. You have to hit someone pretty hard to make them bleed - wouldn't she have some brain damage? Or need medical care ever? The Gal and her aunts knew grandpa murdered his wife, was a drunk, stole from his job, neglected and abused them and they just danced around trying to avoid him. No description of depression or anxiety - except the smoking dope early on.
Third problem - the book is badly structured - the author occasionally describes things in reverse - years after something happened, she relates an event that came up prior and then describes it. And she doesn't mention the year as the book moves along so you can't keep track of Gal's age. There is no flow to what is happening - no thread of plot.
But the worst problem for me that overrode any other was that after the alcoholic thieving murdering grandfather abused and debased Gal until the day he died, the author (as Gal) writes a tribute to him for his funeral about what he wanted to teach his children about hard work and morality. And this is printed as a sort of epilogue. This really put the book into the trash bin for me. Have Gal go to the funeral, help arrange and pay for it - okay - but to write (in perfect grammar, by the way) what a pillar of the community the grandfather was just rings terribly false.
October 30, 2019
Not ghost-written but ghost-presented by Humphreys. The titular author wished to remain anonymous. Unless this is another literary hoax. I wondered. It's somewhat of a modern captivity narrative about growing up a victim of abuse in the American South. The book takes a few surprising turns once squalor and horror are left in the dust. That is to say, the young woman narrating this auto-bio does find her way in the world and even finds happiness. I found the book worth the time because its take on healing was a different one. The raw confessions about how difficult Gal found it to accept love after a life of abuse made for interesting reading. She had to fail at being loved quite a few times before it stuck. The book has a naked honesty that makes you admire it, despite the feeling that it might be a tracing of a pattern available in many other "adversity overcome" narratives. Gal's voice, her cynicism and her prickly hope, lead you on through the twists of a soul coming into its own. There is a dignity pushing the words into place and you feel that.
November 18, 2023
In the 50s many intellectually disabled people who had been held in institutions were integrated into the community by offering them to homes of community leaders by the clergy. My grandparents’ home was one.
My Aunt Ethel was the only black person in town and it was clear she was not incapable of reading or writing but had never been taught in her home🍸She was separated from a twin she would never forget. This is the context through which I read this 📕
“Gal” is a testimony to the experience of agency. Agency amidst circumstances accepted as a baseline. And the agency of children to persevere.
It’s contribution to the wider conversation of what is ‘right’ and ‘just’ will expand your horizons and melt your heart. There’s no better read to confront white entitlement even if you don’t believe it exists.
Please read Gal’s life story and her 5 children’s mother’s story. It answers the question “what levels the playing field?” In America. Do it especially if you have a parent about to die or having died recently.
My Aunt Ethel was the only black person in town and it was clear she was not incapable of reading or writing but had never been taught in her home🍸She was separated from a twin she would never forget. This is the context through which I read this 📕
“Gal” is a testimony to the experience of agency. Agency amidst circumstances accepted as a baseline. And the agency of children to persevere.
It’s contribution to the wider conversation of what is ‘right’ and ‘just’ will expand your horizons and melt your heart. There’s no better read to confront white entitlement even if you don’t believe it exists.
Please read Gal’s life story and her 5 children’s mother’s story. It answers the question “what levels the playing field?” In America. Do it especially if you have a parent about to die or having died recently.
September 16, 2018
I wanted to love this book, I just didn’t.
I enjoyed the way it was written, exactly like it was told, grammar errors and all; it gave the book a more authentic feel.
I just didn’t care for the story itself. I hoped Gal would have overcome something, anything. She didn’t overcome her grandfather (even after death), her aunts treating her like a second-class citizen, poverty, nothing.
The one thing she found was happiness, acceptance. And I was glad to see that she was giving her family a better life than she she had. I just wish she would have risen above the circumstances of her life.
I guess that’s how real life is though. Sometimes you go out holding the same cards you started with.
I enjoyed the way it was written, exactly like it was told, grammar errors and all; it gave the book a more authentic feel.
I just didn’t care for the story itself. I hoped Gal would have overcome something, anything. She didn’t overcome her grandfather (even after death), her aunts treating her like a second-class citizen, poverty, nothing.
The one thing she found was happiness, acceptance. And I was glad to see that she was giving her family a better life than she she had. I just wish she would have risen above the circumstances of her life.
I guess that’s how real life is though. Sometimes you go out holding the same cards you started with.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2022
The story of a young woman who was badly abused in her childhood. The misery just went on and one. Luckily she met a man from a very loving family who loved her until she could love herself. It wasn't easy. I like that she was honest about resentment and jealousy to see what she had missed out on as a girl.
She narrated this story and I like hearing her "voice" - all the turns of phrase and grammar that is different than mine. She has a lot of inner strength and has found some peace with it all. Given that she has only a high school education, it's remarkable that she got this book published. I'm sorry she had to use a different name to protect those she loves.
She narrated this story and I like hearing her "voice" - all the turns of phrase and grammar that is different than mine. She has a lot of inner strength and has found some peace with it all. Given that she has only a high school education, it's remarkable that she got this book published. I'm sorry she had to use a different name to protect those she loves.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2018
I loved this book! It was very well written. I felt like I was hearing the story directly from Gal. I felt a personal connection to the autobiography because I have recently moved to Charleston and I feel like this piece of history has created a greater connection between me and the city. I love hearing the true stories of African American's, as it increases the strength of my own identity. The history of African Americans is of great importance to me because of my own heritage. I enjoyed the writing style because it reflects the type of dialect that was likely to be used by Gal.
July 16, 2018
Wow. The scary thing about this memoir is how many Black children have lived this life of abuse and neglect while people looked the other way. It's scary to be able to relate to this in any kind of way.
Ritchie Bolton writes like she is speaking directly to you and her story held my attention from the first page. She is honest and full of reflection and doesn't apologize for her actions... it is very straight forward and even a little shocking at times.
Ritchie Bolton writes like she is speaking directly to you and her story held my attention from the first page. She is honest and full of reflection and doesn't apologize for her actions... it is very straight forward and even a little shocking at times.
October 14, 2024
I rediscovered this book after reading it in middle school. I am now 37. I am so happy to have the opportunity to read this from my adult perspective. I had no business reading as a child. I loved Ruthie’s recollection and I wished she was loved better. She was also too forgiving of those that treated her poorly. I hope she is living well.
August 15, 2018
The book was very heartbreaking. It's so sad to see what some people have to go through in life. I know they wanted to stay authentic to her language but at times I think it took away from the story a bit.
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