A Man Named Dave

A Man Named Dave by Dave Peltzer
Memoir

This is the third in a series of books about Dave Peltzer's life. Dave was from the age of 4-12 abused in the most horrific ways by his mother while his father passively did nothing. This last book takes place after he is grown and on his own.

Dave goes through a exhausting and rigorous ordeal of paperwork to apply to the US Air Force. After many many rounds of this he is finally accepted and although he wants to be a fireman, he ends up as a mid-flight re-fueler via a stint of cooking. First of all, how he made it through the psychological evaluations is astonishing. Dave works hard and it is to forget all he has been through and to prove to himself he is worthy. The second thing is how inept at paperwork the Air Force is. They misplace his paperwork for the fireman placement and then also misplace his paperwork for the re-fueler position. Is the Air Force that inept??

While in the Air Force Dave works other jobs in order to support his wife, Patsy and their son. Dave is a workaholic and replaces work for emotions but all the while seems to be very much in touch of his emotions around his son. He also starts to help other abused children.

One has to admire the resiliency and persistence of Dave. He tries and tries to get some sort of approval from his mother and father. Dave's self-esteem and feeling of worthiness is almost non-existent. Surprise!! Dave has trouble in trusting other people. This book details how he starts on the road to his full mental health.

First Line: "I'm scared."

Rating:
(4.0/5)