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Scarred: A Memoir
Book by Molho, George
393 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 10, 2010
An Empowering True Story
We are most vulnerable to those we love the most. Love is not only blind but it can also blind our defences, leaving us at the mercy of those we hold dearest. Such is the case of the little George, a seven-year-old boy who is taken prisoner by his own father and is forced to survive mental and physical abuse for an entire year until he finally breaks free.
Being a memoir, this is the true story of the author. Now a grownup, he armed himself with courage and tackled his trauma (and his triumph) by sharing the story of his dreadful days in captivity. This beautifully written story is inspiring and powerful and can help others like him cope with similarly painful experiences. Just as he dared to confront his father later as a young adult, now with “Scarred”, he dared to confront himself and broke free of the shackles of repressed feelings and memories.
As much as one can imagine what being at the complete mercy of someone several times your size, several times your weight, and several times stronger, one can never truly relate to what this poor boy must have felt when his own father, his role model, the man he loved the most, had him tied up and hung from the ceiling in a dark basement, with little food and plenty of beatings, because he supposedly “loved him”. But even though it may be next to impossible for a reader who never experienced a remotely similar experience to imagine what George’s ordeal must have been like, Molho’s memoir leaves little room for imagination. The story is written with luxury of details, but with a prose that is rich in romanticism and metaphors that gives the reader a clear picture of what is happening but without the gory details no sane person would like to read.
At all times, we follow the little George as he is trying to make sense out of why he’s being subjected to such punishment and how his father could cause so much harm “out of love”. He is weak, torn, beaten, hungry, and cold, but it’s not his physical strength that is being drained out because he’s a tough little kid; what’s being drained is his sanity. So much, that he even considers the possibility that perhaps he deserves what’s happening to him and that it may even be necessary to “straighten him up” as his father wanted. Maybe, he thinks sometimes, his father’s motivation is really love and he should just give up his struggle and accept his fate.
George’s loving relatives are in the other side of the world, so he has no option but to fend for himself. Nevertheless, the memory of his mother’s love and the teachings of his grandmother, a holocaust survivor, give him the strength to hang onto life and to never forget the beautiful world that awaits him outside his prison.
“Scarred” is a heartwarming story about not just love, suffering, survival and triumph, but about the author’s journey of reflection and healing. It will fill your heart with love.
We are most vulnerable to those we love the most. Love is not only blind but it can also blind our defences, leaving us at the mercy of those we hold dearest. Such is the case of the little George, a seven-year-old boy who is taken prisoner by his own father and is forced to survive mental and physical abuse for an entire year until he finally breaks free.
Being a memoir, this is the true story of the author. Now a grownup, he armed himself with courage and tackled his trauma (and his triumph) by sharing the story of his dreadful days in captivity. This beautifully written story is inspiring and powerful and can help others like him cope with similarly painful experiences. Just as he dared to confront his father later as a young adult, now with “Scarred”, he dared to confront himself and broke free of the shackles of repressed feelings and memories.
As much as one can imagine what being at the complete mercy of someone several times your size, several times your weight, and several times stronger, one can never truly relate to what this poor boy must have felt when his own father, his role model, the man he loved the most, had him tied up and hung from the ceiling in a dark basement, with little food and plenty of beatings, because he supposedly “loved him”. But even though it may be next to impossible for a reader who never experienced a remotely similar experience to imagine what George’s ordeal must have been like, Molho’s memoir leaves little room for imagination. The story is written with luxury of details, but with a prose that is rich in romanticism and metaphors that gives the reader a clear picture of what is happening but without the gory details no sane person would like to read.
At all times, we follow the little George as he is trying to make sense out of why he’s being subjected to such punishment and how his father could cause so much harm “out of love”. He is weak, torn, beaten, hungry, and cold, but it’s not his physical strength that is being drained out because he’s a tough little kid; what’s being drained is his sanity. So much, that he even considers the possibility that perhaps he deserves what’s happening to him and that it may even be necessary to “straighten him up” as his father wanted. Maybe, he thinks sometimes, his father’s motivation is really love and he should just give up his struggle and accept his fate.
George’s loving relatives are in the other side of the world, so he has no option but to fend for himself. Nevertheless, the memory of his mother’s love and the teachings of his grandmother, a holocaust survivor, give him the strength to hang onto life and to never forget the beautiful world that awaits him outside his prison.
“Scarred” is a heartwarming story about not just love, suffering, survival and triumph, but about the author’s journey of reflection and healing. It will fill your heart with love.
October 23, 2012
A very poignant and touching story about a boy kidnapped by his own father, taken to a remote village in Greece near the Bulgarian border where he was subjected to physical and emotional abuse for a year until his mother's family was finally able to track him down and rescue him. Despite the opening of the book, which chronicles the physical and mental anguish that young George endured, the remainder of the book highlights the cultural nuances and complexities of a Greek-American Jewish-Christian family in Houston, TX. There are countless lines filled with humour that evoke memories from the old country (Greece), and overall, the story will warm a person's heart, not only to George, but his family as a whole.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews