Let me just say that I love messy books. I love dysfunction. I love reading about how people rise from the ashes. This book is that. Cupcake Brown tells her story of how she ended up in the foster care system and ends up in really dark places of sexual abuse, drugs, and gangs.
If it were believable, I'd love the book, minus the poor writing. But, it's just not believable. The first thing that is questionable is that after a long hard custody fight between her birth father and the man who raised her, the birth father gets custody. However, he just puts her in the foster care system. I find it hard to believe that while there is a kin who wants her and has proven he can take care of her and love her well, she would still end up in the foster care system.
The second red flag is how the system let her down, again and again. She told a judge that she was being abused and that judge still sent her back to the foster home. Whaaa? I know social services was lacking in the 70s, but really? A child says they are being hurt and there's no real investigation?
The thing that made me put the book down without finishing is that the writing is poor. Spoiler alert - Cupcake ends up being a lawyer. The redundancy and lack of flow to her story makes it hard to read.
Overall, when I was reading it, I just couldn't stop thinking of A Million Little Pieces and I'm not convinced this book won't have the same ending as James Frey.
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