Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid Review by Liz Hill

Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid

Tanya Nicole Kach and Lawrence Fisher

****

Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid is about a girl, Tanya Kach. She is a strong fighter and this book tells her haunting true story. When Tanya was in grade school she was kid napped by her school's security guard, Tom. She thought Tom was her hero and she was brain washed into believing he was there to help. Tanya was held in Tom's house for over ten years. He abused her sexually and mentally. Tom never let her out of his very small room. Tanya didn't try to get away because she was to scared. Tom told her he would kill everyone she loves and then her if she left. Did Tanya get away? Where is she today? Read more and find out what truly happen in Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid.

Chance Norton's Book Review

Testimony

By Anita Shreve

**** Stars

This book was one that will make you think more about your personal morals than any book I have ever read. The themes of betrayal or guilt or even the classic good and bad choices are stretched to the limits in the plot of this novel. I have never found my hardened Republican style beliefs to be even tested much less changed by a book until I read this one by Anita Shreve.
I am the type of person who believes in the death penalty, and specifically the Texas version where there is an express lane. I am the type of person who believes that rape ought to be included in the list of crimes that is eligible for capital punishment (and it is not at this point). I am the type who believes in a harsher more judgmental view of crime and punishment similar to the view of the Old West, they did the crime, they do the time or if the crime is bad enough then you hang them or shoot them in the street if they somehow pass the courts without due punishment. I am NOT a lenient person.

And yet, after reading this book where several young men are accused of committing statutory rape and where they all gave written confessions, I find myself wondering if the consequences are quite necessary or even if they are just. In fact I do more than wonder about this, I have changed my beliefs on several issues in today’s society. I no longer believe in blanket rules over things like statutory rape and if I read a review that said this before I read the book I would most likely become angry with the ignorant foolish person who believed that rape could be anything but rape. Well I still believe in the death penalty and I still think rapists (especially child rapists) should be punished to the most horrible and painful degree possible, but I don’t think I will throw a rule out there and anyone who toes that line gets the axe. Now, I recognize that there are sometimes extenuating circumstances that change the situation. But if the incident doesn’t fall into those circumstances THEN the person gets the axe. Literally, in my opinion. This is not a large change in beliefs but it is a large step in accepting people and situations I am not familiar with.

There are several characters that the reader ends up identifying with and several that the reader will hate beyond any other in any book the reader has read. Personally, I identified mostly with Silas and Owen who are a father and son that both go through a tremendous amount of emotional trauma. How they handle it might not have been my reaction but I completely understand where their motives come from. That is probably why this book is so powerful for me as a seventeen year old in high school much like Silas is.