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Amelia's Story (2011)

by D.G. Torrens(Favorite Author)

3.54 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1466369841 (ISBN13: 9781466369849)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Createspace

series

Amelia Series

review 1: As I've said before: memoirs are hard to rate because you're evaluating someone's presentation of their own life.Let me start by saying that Ms. Torrens had an unfortunate childhood. I acknowledge what she lived through was both terrible and sad on a multitude of levels. The fact that she's determined to break the cycle is admirable and I cheer her for recognizing the need to be mindful. Why then did I only give her memoir (part one) two stars instead of the five so many other reviewers gushingly did? A big part is because in spite of her supposed proficiency with language, Ms. Torrens writes badly. Really badly, like a middle-schooler. This could be forgiven if she didn't twice point out how high her grades/test results were. Another part is that her modesty rings fa... morelse and she doesn't seem to take responsibility for her own actions, negating my desire to cheer her on. The fact that this memoir is a two-parter doesn't help. I won't be reading the next book.**I noticed that Ms. Torrens has nine books to her writing credit. Surprised, I looked a little further: they appear to be self-published. That explains a lot. I read some of her website; she complains that spending 700 pounds (less than $900) on editing (perhaps she only meant proofreading?) should net better results. That's, what, about two weeks work at minimum wage? She may be surprised to learn what real editing costs.
review 2: Amelia's Story is an autobiographical account of a childhood of abuse and time in care. What should be an emotive story is unfortunately marred by bad writing. The book came across as being freshly written, which is fine for a written account to one's child (which is what the author introduces the book as being), but any author worth their salt knows that a book should be edited, proofread, checked and re-edited until it is as polished as can be. Indeed I found my reading of the book slowed down simply because I was constantly revising the sentences; editing them in my head.A good editor could do this book wonders, and allow the story the poignancy it deserves. less

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