THAT MEAN OLD YESTERDAY is a griping memoir by Stacey Patton which was first published in 2007. As soon as you open the book and begin to read the prologue, you immediately realize that this is not going to be a pretty story. The author immediately peaks the reader's curiosity about why she is walking in the rain without shoes carrying a nine-millimeter. And soon, the jaw-dropping revelation -- this brilliant young college student is battling demons resulting from traumatic years of physical and emotional abuse. She intends to kill her adoptive parents!

After Stacey was adopted and left her foster home at the age of five, the pain and cruelty of physical and emotional abuse was a constant companion for the next eight years. Not only does the author share the conditions where she lived through years of chilling abuse with her adoptive parents, but she weaves a historical perspective comparing slave conditions on a plantation to her life.

The depth of Ms. Patton's pain is poetically captured in these words: "My scars are the fleshy braille that narrates the story of my battered childhood and how I escaped it".

The book is divided into three segments -- Slavery, Freedom, and Redemption. In the first two segments, the author blends her story with the historical narrative on the cruelty and brutality of slavery. She vividly tells the story of a rigid and tortuous life which eventually became too nuch to endure. After eight years of living with her adoptive parents, the Division of Youth and Family Services enters Stacey's life once again when she runs away from home. At the age of twelve, she finds herself right back where she started as a ward of the State.

In the final segment on Redemption when Stacey realizes that it is up to her to take control of her life, she sweeps the reader along on her riveting, life changing journey. She is no longer focusing on the historical perspective as a prologue to each chapter. Redemption is all about Stacey Patton! It is all about the strong, determined, tenacious and deserving young lady who has a desire to not only survive but to achieve.

This type of book is good for reading assignments for Social Work, Sociology, Psychology, Criminal Justice and other related courses. Parents who read it might gain some insight on how spankings affect some children. It is also a good book for general reading.

I liked the attention the author paid to details and her writing style in general.

Ms. Patton's book left me wanting to know more about her, to connect with her, to give her a hug and to try to help her erase all those nightmarish memories.

THAT MEAN OLD YESTERDAY took me through many emotions. The story made me feel the pain, the hurt, the disappointment, the anguish and other emotions resulting from the cruelty of her adoption which never should have been. It also made me feel that our society has a responsibility to better protect our children from abusive situations.

Stacey Patton fluidly demonstrates her mastery of literary skills as she deftly blends her story, which reads like a novel, into the historical narrative on the cruelty and brutality of slavery in the first two book segments. It is as if she wrote a thesis on the degradation, dehumanization, brutality and abusive conditions of slavery and then went on to braid them into her memoir. The result is an extremely effective argument against corporal punishment (or child abuse in any form) and an irrefutable connection between our past and our present.

I recommend the book because the author shares personal experiences with abuse which provide a window into the life of an abused child. In addition, I believe THAT MEAN OLD YESTERDAY is one more valuable resource which might prove instructive in shedding light on the problem of child abuse.

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Created Jun 26, 2010 at 1:58am • Submit your own review...