Rewriting the Script (edit title)

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Liked It Rated 4 stars “Sometimes she ate. Sometimes she slept but rarely alone. Sometimes she was beaten for no apparent reason... and sometimes she even felt a little loved. In Arlether Wilson's memoir, Rewriting the Script, she allows you to travel back to times when her life was barely livable. Back to when she was...” see full review » see other reviews »

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  • Rated 4 stars

  “Sometimes she ate. Sometimes she slept but rarely alone. Sometimes she was beaten for no apparent reason... and sometimes she even felt a little loved. In Arlether Wilson's memoir, Rewriting the Script, she allows you to travel back to times when her life was barely livable. Back to when she was a five year-old who understood survival.
  
  Arlether endured all types of abuse; verbal, physical, mental, and sexual at an age when most children were starting kindergarten and at the hands of people who were suppose to love and protect her. When calls were made to social services regarding her mother's, Maggie, neglect, Arlether and her brother, Paul, were placed into foster care. The vicious cycle began again when they were returned to Maggie, only to eventually be surrendered back to the system and endure the same mistreatment from others.
  
  Through it all, Arlether maintained hope. She wanted to overcome her past and seemed to find the key when she immersed herself in high school studies and extracurricular activities. She was smart, pretty, popular, and eventually pregnant. Arlether knew that motherhood could not be a part of her equation and had a decision to make. If she kept the baby, how would she care for it? Was it not hard enough fending for herself? How much of a future could she have being a teenage mother with no support and a past like hers?
  
  Rewriting the Script is a story that shows the true meaning of motivation and faith. Wilson takes you deep into her world in a very detailed, very intimate way. It forced me to face the realities of victimized children. Oftentimes when reading memoirs, I get a general picture of what the author went through and I am left to my own feelings about the events. This memoir pushed the envelope and not only painted pictures, but evoked emotions. It is not an easy story to digest and it should not be. The only flaws in Rewriting the Script were the editing and pacing. The most significant editing issue was there were sentences written in multiple points of view. The pacing toward the end of the book seemed a little rushed. I would have loved to know more about her as an adult and mother but was disappointed to quickly find her children graduating from high school. Even so, I recommend Rewriting the Script to individuals who like emotional and empowering reads.
  
  Reviewed by Darnetta Frazier
  APOOO BookClub ”

  GENESIS wrote this review Tuesday, April 15 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No