The most controversial book on family violence published this year,
BREAKING SILENCE was initially banned from major book chains after
a 50,000 strong Facebook boycott campaign ripped across New
Zealand, Australia, the United States and the UK protesting its
publication.The boycott campaign had been based on false
information, however, and designed to deliberately whip up public
hysteria during a Coroner's Court hearing into the deaths of two
twins. Now that the book has been published the critics are
praising it.Breaking Silence uses the life story of mother Macsyna
King as the narrative to explore the problem of intergenerational
child abuse and its impact on modern society. Herself the victim of
terrible abuse and abandonment as a child, King's life falls apart
when her premature identical twin sons are murdered and the father
is charged with the crime.Although we frequently hear "about" such
cases, it is rare to hear "from" one of the key participants in her
own words. Breaking Silence is the story of a mother's journey to
hell and back, and the search for justice for her twins in the face
of a backlash from a society that turned its back on her. It
explores and sheds light not just on child abuse and violence in
the home, but analyses society's attitude to women in child abuse
cases.The latest forensic debates about child abuse injuries are
explored, as are the social choices many of us face every day that
can lead to disaster.REVIEWS: "This mammoth book is a top
achievement & should be a school text.." - Rachael Ford,
psychiatric nurse*****"The book so many maligned before it came out
reveals a mother we haven't met. When I last wrote about Macsyna
King, I said I didn't think I'd like her. I've changed my mind. I
certainly think she outclasses the Wellington radio announcer who
posted on Facebook that after receiving her advance copy of
"Breaking Silence," she had "spat on it, wiped my ass on it, and
ripped it up.""Imagine your life reduced to sound bites of
everything you've ever done wrong -and many things you haven't."Oh,
how we've loved to hate her. But the woman who emerges from the
book is a far more complex human being. There isn't the space here
to list the ways in which she's been unfairly maligned. Yes, she
made incredibly dumb choices. But she's smart, hard-working, big on
cleanliness and loved her kids." - Tapu Misa, NZ HERALD*****"I feel
sad that we seem to have entered a time in society where for many
it is acceptable to attempt to ban the sale of a book before
knowing its contents and I wonder at the motives of those who have
joined efforts to stop bookstores stocking it. Could it be we have
reached a point where to make ourselves feel better we have to find
someone to hate, to direct our fear and uncertainty about the
future of our world towards, and that for now, at least, Macsyna
King is that person? Could it be that underlying the public
discussions about the need to stop the book being read is a
deep-seated fear that reading it will in some way leave us all with
the question of what part we as members of society played in the
death of these babies? Not in the sense of "Who was in the room?"
but in "Have we really reached this level of disconnection in our
communities?""Ian Wishart's Breaking Silence: The Kahui Case...is
not a book to ban, but one to read for whatever it can add to our
understanding of child abuse." - Celia Lashlie, NZ LISTENER
MAGAZINE *****"We are very glad to have read it and thankful that
Wishart (and King) have written it. Wishart has done the entire
body politic a great deal of good. We would, accordingly, encourage
everyone to read it...Breaking Silence will likely enhance
Wishart's reputation considerably." - CONTRA CELSUM
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
