Author: Pie Dumas

ISBN: 0976560801

The following review was contributed by: NORM GOLDMAN:  Editor of Bookpleasures &CLICK TO VIEW  Norm Goldman's Reviews

To read Norm's Interview with Pie Dumas CLICK HERE

 There is something about shocking and raw autobiographical experiences that capture particularly well. Perhaps, it is their candidness, as authors peel away each layer of their appalling life experiences that, in some instances, delve into such little understood hot button topics as incest, rape, addictions, suicide, child molestation, and wife battering. Although, for some, these exposés may be repugnant, they nonetheless stir the troubled child in others.  

 Pie Dumas, author of Pieces of Pie: Surviving Love, was born in Columbus Ohio in 1948, where at a very tender age, she had been condemned to a constant barrage of put-downs and sexual abuse at the hands of her alcoholic and tyrannical father.

The latter, of Armenian heritage, had suffered during his childhood a horrific event, when he witnessed the mutilation and killing of his father by the Turks. No doubt, leaving him with many psychological scars, that manifested itself in his dysfunctional behavior towards others and his abuse of Pie.

In Dumas’ own words, her father possessed her mind, body, emotions and much of her spirit. To boot, her mother seemed to be oblivious to the goings on between her brutish husband and her daughter.

As the author mentions, the rules of her dysfunctional family were to speak about your feelings at your own peril; never trust anyone, and above all, do not reveal family secrets to anyone, including other family members.

 The whole mix of events of Dumas’s life divides itself into five sections- her early years, world travels, men and sex, reconciliations and appreciation, all of which are poignantly described. In the main, her story revolves around the abuse she endured at the hands of her father and other men, as well as her internal questioning, her doubts and speculations.

Quite noteworthy and paradoxically, she was also able to experience world travel, as she accompanied her father on his business trips to exotic lands, not without, however, a terrible price to pay- incest, that very often transpired during these trips.

Demeaning relationships with men, as is this case with many abused children, were for the most part based on a desperate desire for attention and love from anyone, particularly men.

As for Dumas’ suicide episodes, these began at the inconceivable age of four and she discloses that some can be attributed to her cries for help and attention, while others were more genuine.

 The real value of this well-written book is that it illustrates, that even for those individuals, who have difficulty grasping the notion that they are victims and not the depraved seducers, it is still within reach to go forward and view events from a different perspective, and leaving go of an abusive past.  

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