Call Me Cockroach by Leigh Byrne (CBR-V #44)

Cannonball Read V: Book #44/52
Published: 2013
Pages: 236

Genre: Memoir

This book is a follow-up of the excellent memoir, Call Me Tuesday by Leigh Byrne. She grew up in a very abusive home and her childhood was chronicled in her first book. The only thing I didn't like about Call Me Tuesday was the sort of abrupt ending. I wanted to know what happened to "Tuesday" (or Leigh)and how her childhood abuse effected her late teens and adult life. 

Call Me Cockroach follows her life after she leaves her home to live with her aunt. However, Tuesday ends up back in an abusive relationship by marrying a guy she barely knows at a very young age. She's also still dealing with her mother, who seems to brush all of the past abuse behind her. Her mother also only abused Tuesday and not her brothers and she never did really get answers as to why. I was also heartbroken to learn that she has little to no relationships with any of her brothers. I can't imagine how painful it would be to have your entire family basically refuse to acknowledge what she went through as a child nor offer any explanation. 

This follow-up book is basically her struggle to understand her childhood abuse. This book stands out to me because of how self-aware Leigh is. She reflects on her past with such brutal honesty. She was a victim, but she never plays the victim. She takes full responsibility for the decisions she made as an adult. Such rawness is hard to come by.


I hope that writing these two books was therapeutic to Leigh Byrne. She's a gifted writer and I truly commend her for rising above her past and wish her nothing but the best for the future.

Call Me Tuesday by Leigh Byrne (CBR-IV #50)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #50/52
Published: 2012
Pages: 328
Genre: Nonfiction

This book is supposedly a "fictionalized account of a true story", but is listed on Goodreads as nonfiction so I'm not sure EXACTLY what that means, but nonetheless, it's a compelling novel about child abuse. Tuesday (named after actress Tuesday Weld) endures horrific physical and psychological abuse at the hands of her mother after the death of her older sister. Her sister had polio and died after complications from the Hong Kong flu. 

Soon after her sister's death, Tuesday's mother receives a brain injury after a fall down the stairs. She's never the same after that and blames Tuesday for killing her other daughter. Tuesday has a few younger brothers who are treated normally, so she just assumes that her mother hates her. She is always being "punished", but never knows what she did to be in trouble. The physical abuse is horrific, but the mental abuse is awful as well. She is forced to stand facing the wall in the hallway whenever she is home. She is usually not fed dinner and if she is, her mother makes these disgusting concoctions to make her eat. She is not allowed to bathe and has to wear old, too small clothes to school so she gets made fun of. 

The most disgusting thing? Tuesday tells her friend in Jr. High and ends up running away. Social services makes a house call and completely believes her parents when they say everything is okay. No follow-up calls, just a few months with a counselor who apparently doesn't do any good. Her father is a spineless coward to tries to sneak Tuesday food and sends her to his mother's house every summer to get away, but ultimately he defends his wife. 

I did like the closure at the end with Tuesday's mom and dad, but I would have liked to see what her adult brothers thought of the abuse she endured as a child. They were treated normally while their sister was abused. Did they never try and intervene? Were they scared? Did they think it was normal because they were younger and grew up like that? 

This book was horrible and hard to read at times, but very interesting. I just wish I knew how much was actually based on the true story. I'd be pretty disappointed to find out that a bunch of things were sensationalized for the sake of a good story.