A Chance In the World:
An Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past, and How He Found a Place Called Home
by Steve Pemberton
Yeah, I understand that this is his life story and he deserves a chance to tell it. And he tells it well! But the last ten or so chapters could have used a lot of editing. I can't give examples without revealing details of the story that aren't mine to reveal, but there were several parts of his life that I didn't need to read in such excruciating detail. Listening to the audio book, it was hard to skip, but if I'd been reading a paper copy, I'd have skimmed severely.
My minor criticism doesn't apply to the first 85% of the book. It needs to be read (or listened) in complete. But yes, it is so very very sad. Almost unbearably so.
The moral of the story, if there needs to be any, is that there aren't enough decent foster parents out there. Especially for older kids. And the second moral is that we, as a people, need to quit outsourcing our responsibility to our children to government agents. Community groups, religious or not, could be a part of the solution. Kids are too important to let idiots screw them up.
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