There Is An Urgency
by Gregrhi Arawn Love
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Book Summary Information
Author: Gregrhi Arawn LoveEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-01-17
ISBN: 0982307403
Number of pages: 382
Publisher: Cwn Annwn Publishing
Book Reviews of There Is An Urgency
Book Review: In my humble opinion
Summary: 2 Stars
As one reviewer wrote, "stunning!" I find it stunning that every single person who wrote a review for this book gave it 5 stars. Apparently I am the only one who didn't like it. And I didn't just kind of not like it - I really, really didn't like it. I don't think it has anything to offer except a very disturbing voyeristic look into someone's horribly sad childhood. When searching for true stories about foster care / foster children I was drawn to this book because of the perfect 5 star review of nearly 100 people. I thouht wow - this book must really have something to offer, but sadly, no, it doesn't.
The author alternates each chapter with one on his life as an abused child and one on his adult life as a teacher at an alternative school or his adult life as a part-time juvenile detention officer. I felt that the chapters dealing with his classroom experiences were lacking. They seemed to gloss over the details and be interesting enough to want me to really know the kids more, but yet those chapters also left me wondering why they were included in the book. Conversely, the chapters on his distrubing childhood situation were so incredibly detailed they were almost suffocating. It was almost a case of "too much information".
Ulitmately, I was left wondering what purpose this book served except as therapy for the author himself - to finally "admit" out loud the kinds of indescribable torture he experienced as a child. At one point he details a conversation that he had with his supervisor at the detention center and describes it as almost an ephinay, but yet he never tells us what he got out of that conversation. "He went home to reflect on the conversation" but he never shared that reflection with us.
Although I do get the connection between the work that he does as an adult and his childhood experiences, I think these should have been dealt with in 2 separate books. Mr Love certainly seems like a master teacher and I would be curious to hear more. Finally, he spends the entire book detaling the heart breaking details of his abuse, but yet ends the book merely glossing over his rescue from that situation and completely leaves out his years in foster care and how he came to overcome such a tragedy.
It should be noted that I am a foster parent and also a teacher.
Summary of There Is An Urgency
Born into a world of horror, madness and chaos in 1973 to Debbie, a 23-year-old drug addicted prostitute and Howard, a 24-year-old addict and convict, Gregrhi Love grew up quickly with the Department of Children's Services becoming an active part of his life in 1974. With Howard in prison, the only father he knew as a child was Bobby, his mother's pimp, drug dealer, and lover. In 1980, he was placed in his first foster home. While foster care was often horrifying, nothing compared to the daily near-death experiences he survived living in Father Panik Village with Bobby and Debbie. On May 23, 1980 his coerced testimony sent Debbie to prison. Now a grown man, Mr. Love uses his childhood traumas to change lives. Working as a teacher allows him to use the experiences of his life to help children who live in a similar world. His experiences give him a perspective most people do not have and knowledge that cannot be obtained from any textbook. There Is An Urgency explores these experiences in an effort to make others aware that people like him walk among us every day. There Is An Urgency is inimitable in that it juxtaposes Mr. Love's experiences as an adult, working with children in school and juvenile detention settings, with personal accounts of physical and sexual abuse from his childhood. There Is An Urgency to share this story of hard won hope and resilience after years of terrifying abuse by a real life monster.Memoirs Books
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