3 out of 4 stars
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Beaten and Battered by Richard Dickstein is an autobiography story that takes us through a time when the nation was in its greatest turmoil, the Great Depression. While everyone else was trying to survive in a time when there were no jobs available, Richard found a way to make some money. What makes this so amazing is the fact that he was only 9 years old at the time. Richard quickly realized that he would always be able to make money is some way.
He decided to leave home after a particularly bad beating from his father. He traveled to Chicago and lasted there for two years before things went awry. He was able to learn a couple of new skills from trial and error. His stint as a short order cook, in particular, was a pretty funny tale. He goes back home to see that there has been a change of residence for his family. He also realizes that he is going to have to work for his father to earn any money.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was interesting to see his determination to make something of himself and did not let failure stop him. People that are not scared to try new things inspire me. When most people would have curled into a ball and given up, Richard stay true to himself and made it work. He even found a way to get along with his father. The author was able to make me really feel for each of the characters that he introduced into the story. His aunt was always there when he needed her. His mom was too fragile to take care of anything for a while.
I give this book 3 out of 4 stars because there are a lot of grammatical errors. This book does not appear to be professionally edited and the errors take a little bit away from the story. If there were little to no errors, I would absolutely give this book 4 stars. I would still recommend this book even with its errors because it was a great read.
I think the whole moral of this book is to never give up. No matter what life throws at you, you can find a way to overcome it and even find a way to make the situation better than it was in the beginning. Determination should always be working with our motivation to make good things happen in life. Nothing in this world should be handed to us on a silver platter. If we work for what we have, we tend to appreciate it all the more.
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Beaten and Battered
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