Book Review: A Place Called Home: A Memoir by David Ambroz

Hello dear Readers,

Below is my book review of A Place Called Home: A Memoir by David Ambroz.

Title: A Place Called Home: A Memoir

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Memoir

Author: David Ambroz

Publisher: Legacy Lit
Publication Date: September 13, 2022

Language: English

Hardcover: 384 pages
Meet the Author: David Ambroz
Buy Me: Amazon

Book Description

PORCHLIGHT BESTSELLER

Zibby Owens 2022 Book of the Year

A galvanizing, stirring memoir about growing up homeless and in foster care and rising to become a leading advocate for child welfare, recognized by President Obama as an American Champion of Change.  “You will fall in love with David Ambroz, his beautifully-told, gut-wrenching story, and his great big heart.” (Jeanette Walls, author of The Glass Castle)

“It's impossible to read A Place Called Home and not want to redouble your efforts to fight the systems of poverty that have plagued America for far too long. In this book, David shares his deeply personal story and issues a rousing call to make this a more humane and compassionate nation.”—HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

There are millions of homeless children in America today and in A Place Called Home, award-winning child welfare advocate David Ambroz writes about growing up homeless in New York for eleven years and his subsequent years in foster care, offering a window into what so many kids living in poverty experience every day.

           

When David and his siblings should be in elementary school, they are instead walking the streets seeking shelter while their mother is battling mental illness. They rest in train stations, 24-hour diners, and anywhere that’s warm and dry; they bathe in public restrooms and steal food to quell their hunger. When David is placed in foster care, at first it feels like salvation but it soon proves to be just as unsafe. He’s moved from home to home and, in all but one placement, he’s abused. His burgeoning homosexuality makes him an easy target for others’ cruelty.      

          

David finds hope and opportunities in libraries, schools, and the occasional kind-hearted adult; he harnesses an inner grit to escape the all-too-familiar outcome for a kid like him. Through hard work and unwavering resolve, he is able to get a scholarship to Vassar College, his first significant step out of poverty. He later graduates from UCLA Law with a vision of using his degree to change the laws that affect children in poverty. 

Told with lyricism and sparkling with warmth, A Place Called Home depicts childhood poverty and homelessness as it is experienced by many young people who have been systematically overlooked and unprotected.  It’s a gripping personal account of deprivation—how one boy survived it and ultimately thrived—and a resounding call for readers to move from empathy to action.

My Thoughts

Went to the Library I few weeks ago. Saw this book, and the description caught my attention. I checked it out and read it. I am so glad I did. 

First, keep in mind, some trigger warnings for sexual, physical, verbal, and psychological abuse. Mental Health, Homosexuality, Alcoholism, and Smoking, are present in the contents of this book. Also, Homelessness, Poverty, Stealing, as well as Body Shaming, and Food deprivation.

I love reading Memoirs. I read at least once every month, however, it was the first time I read a Memoir on this topic. A Place Called Home is about the story of David, her mom, and two brothers, leaving in homelessness along with her mom suffering from mental health issues and how they lived between the streets, assisted homes, food stamps, and eventually him and his brothers going in the foster care system. 

The whole time I was reading, I kept thinking about how is it possible that in a country like the United States, there are people living in conditions as such and how the institutions that are supposed to protect the children and help the parents fail them so much. If some are lucky like David plus all the conviction he had, they get out of that environment. Unfortunately, a big handful of them ends up not being able to leave and being trapped in a circle of abuse, poverty, substance abuse, and illness. 

I truly admire David for sharing his story. It is never easy to share our deepest secrets, fears, pain, and circumstances, much less with the whole world, in a book. At the same time, it is always good to see books like these, out there, that can somehow help, and bring hope to others going through the same. Also, I thank David for bringing awareness and providing ways for others to help and be involved in the fight of improving a system that has failed so many for so long. 

I highly recommend this book. I am still thinking about it and definitely worth the time.

Wendy