Review of Betrayed By A Mother
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Rashad Deniro Price
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Review of Betrayed By A Mother
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Betrayed By A Mother" by Jill Sicinski-Vella.]
Betrayed by a Mother: A Quest to Find My True Identity by Jill Sicinski-Vella is a personal account of lost childhood, emotional neglect, betrayal, organized gaslighting, rejection, physical inconveniences, psychological breakdowns, and struggles for answers and healing. Jill receives the worst shock of her life on 13 December 2019, when her mother, Jackie, tells her that the man she has grown up to call dad may not be her biological father. What's more devastating is Jackie's refusal to disclose to her daughter who this biological father is. Following this development, Jill is left with no other option than to find out the truth about her identity herself. But this journey comes with lots of opposition and sacrifices.
This is a sensitive but heartfelt account. I recommend every adult should read it. As upsetting as some of the contents were, I found this book very informative and liberating. It's way too much already for Jill to realize at age 52 that she had been lied to about her identity and that most of the things she was meant to believe as truth were lies. But even at this, she still has to deal with the troubles from a mother who has now turned her back on her, the triggers from relatives like Cousin Jennifer and a foster father who could not protect her interest, the indifference from her half-sister Joyce (mother's side), and the cold attitudes from her half-brothers Kyle and Kevin (biological father's side). Her facing all these and more and the attendant psychological breakdowns and still finding the strength and courage to pursue her cause to a satisfactory and comforting end was incredible and inspirational.
Two things impressed me the most: the book has the potential of emboldening those burdened by uncertainties about their identity to start asking the right questions and taking the right actions and giving one that extra lift they need to reinvent themselves. Just like Jill, victims of paternity fraud often have some internal doubts, curiosities, and worries about certain things while growing up and in their adult lives, but some never pay much attention to them. Maybe those in such a situation will now, from the incidents that played out in this book, see the need to revisit the past and do the needful. Or do you think it's better if one pretends they never noticed or felt anything? What if the truth about those denials comes out at a later stage of life, or when the people needed to ascertain the truth may have passed away? I admire the steps Jill has taken and still takes to reinvent herself, protect her heart, preserve her sanity, and redirect her life to one filled with new hopes, new joys, and new aspirations.
However, there are some concerns I would like to point out for the author's consideration in a future edition of this book. I believe Jill has every right to be furious, and, having experienced some of the psychological breakdowns she did go through, I understand her outbursts. But then, I think, for the sake of a wider appeal of this book, the author should consider editing off some of the extreme words used in this book, especially the ones she used on her mother. I think the author should concentrate on telling her story, as so many people need those revelations and awareness to redeem themselves and should not be scared away by those profanities.
I am not a Catholic, and I understand the impact of the author's childhood experiences of being forced to church every Saturday and being made to confess sins she was hardly aware of, but then, it is my opinion that some of the comments about the Catholic church—like the one about its attitude toward money—are better off removed. This is clearly not a religious book, and such comments should not, even unintentionally, make it one. I found the repetitions on the first few pages of chapter six unnecessary; reading about the same incidents again not only slowed my reading but also bored me. Because of these concerns, I have to remove one star, so my rating for Betrayed by a Mother: A Quest to Find My True Identity by Jill Sicinski-Vella is 4 out of 5 stars.
Overall, this was a great read. Jill's story bears the message that everyone deserves certain inalienable truths and that with courage, support, and professional help, one can actually reinvent one's self. I look forward to reading Betrayed 2.
******
Betrayed By A Mother
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Betrayed by a Mother: A Quest to Find My True Identity by Jill Sicinski-Vella is a personal account of lost childhood, emotional neglect, betrayal, organized gaslighting, rejection, physical inconveniences, psychological breakdowns, and struggles for answers and healing. Jill receives the worst shock of her life on 13 December 2019, when her mother, Jackie, tells her that the man she has grown up to call dad may not be her biological father. What's more devastating is Jackie's refusal to disclose to her daughter who this biological father is. Following this development, Jill is left with no other option than to find out the truth about her identity herself. But this journey comes with lots of opposition and sacrifices.
This is a sensitive but heartfelt account. I recommend every adult should read it. As upsetting as some of the contents were, I found this book very informative and liberating. It's way too much already for Jill to realize at age 52 that she had been lied to about her identity and that most of the things she was meant to believe as truth were lies. But even at this, she still has to deal with the troubles from a mother who has now turned her back on her, the triggers from relatives like Cousin Jennifer and a foster father who could not protect her interest, the indifference from her half-sister Joyce (mother's side), and the cold attitudes from her half-brothers Kyle and Kevin (biological father's side). Her facing all these and more and the attendant psychological breakdowns and still finding the strength and courage to pursue her cause to a satisfactory and comforting end was incredible and inspirational.
Two things impressed me the most: the book has the potential of emboldening those burdened by uncertainties about their identity to start asking the right questions and taking the right actions and giving one that extra lift they need to reinvent themselves. Just like Jill, victims of paternity fraud often have some internal doubts, curiosities, and worries about certain things while growing up and in their adult lives, but some never pay much attention to them. Maybe those in such a situation will now, from the incidents that played out in this book, see the need to revisit the past and do the needful. Or do you think it's better if one pretends they never noticed or felt anything? What if the truth about those denials comes out at a later stage of life, or when the people needed to ascertain the truth may have passed away? I admire the steps Jill has taken and still takes to reinvent herself, protect her heart, preserve her sanity, and redirect her life to one filled with new hopes, new joys, and new aspirations.
However, there are some concerns I would like to point out for the author's consideration in a future edition of this book. I believe Jill has every right to be furious, and, having experienced some of the psychological breakdowns she did go through, I understand her outbursts. But then, I think, for the sake of a wider appeal of this book, the author should consider editing off some of the extreme words used in this book, especially the ones she used on her mother. I think the author should concentrate on telling her story, as so many people need those revelations and awareness to redeem themselves and should not be scared away by those profanities.
I am not a Catholic, and I understand the impact of the author's childhood experiences of being forced to church every Saturday and being made to confess sins she was hardly aware of, but then, it is my opinion that some of the comments about the Catholic church—like the one about its attitude toward money—are better off removed. This is clearly not a religious book, and such comments should not, even unintentionally, make it one. I found the repetitions on the first few pages of chapter six unnecessary; reading about the same incidents again not only slowed my reading but also bored me. Because of these concerns, I have to remove one star, so my rating for Betrayed by a Mother: A Quest to Find My True Identity by Jill Sicinski-Vella is 4 out of 5 stars.
Overall, this was a great read. Jill's story bears the message that everyone deserves certain inalienable truths and that with courage, support, and professional help, one can actually reinvent one's self. I look forward to reading Betrayed 2.
******
Betrayed By A Mother
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Fixing American Elementary Education by Patrick Dallabetta
