Trying to Get Some Dignity: Stories of Triumph over Childhood Abuse

by Ginger Rhodes, Richard Rhodes

Trying to Get Some Stories of Triumph Over Childhood Abuse evolved from Richard Rhodes's memoir, A Hole in the An American Boyhood , in which he told of the abuse he endured at the hands of his stepmother. Here is an oral history of child abuse--physical, mental, and sexual--and how its survivors dealt with it. While talking with victims of abuse, the authors found that "each strategy [for survival] was original, imaginative, off the books, a tribute to the canny resilience of the human spirit. Collectively, like breathtaking third-act reversals, they promised to lift the narrative from one of pain to one of triumph." Trying to Get Some Dignity will reaffirm readers' faith in their ability to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their own lives.

Genres: Abuse

368 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 1996

Reviews

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being an adult survivor of child abuse, this book really touched my heart and soul. It is filled with interviews of people who endured, survived, and in most cases overcame childhood abuse at the hands of parents and guardians.
The interviews are candid, raw, and often graphic, but the people who were interviewed courageously open up about the damage that came from their upbringing and share both hurts and healing that they experienced as they grew into adults.

[Deborah Cleaves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scattershot. Directionless. Disjointed. A poor production put together by Ginger Rhodes based on 20 responses to Richard Rhodes’, her husband’s brilliant memoir A Hole in the World. Not helped at all by the multiple type fonts or the over-abundant italics. The subject matter eluded the author’s ‘expertise.’

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book started out to be interesting, but then a third of the way through it began to wane. I lost patience with it and decided to forget about finishing it to the end as I could not bring myself to trudge through the rest of the book that was so boring.

[Nancy Dyer]

It is truly amazing how Mr. Rhodes survived, and pulled his way out of that kind of a Hell. Thank God for brothers.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually read his memoir, but it is not listed here. It was a very interesting book about the abuse he suffered, and his healing from it. I promptly loaned it to a friend who is going through the same process. There is less choice in books about males being abused than women, so I was glad to find a good resource for my clients.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this years ago and I was touched by the courage and openess of each survivor interviewed.