They cage the animals at night was nothing of what I expected when choosing this book. I thought it would be a journey of over coming abuse and abandonment, what it turned into was the journey of finding the meaning of love, acceptance and confidence. However, to find that Jennings had to endure some of the worst experiences an adult, let alone a little boy, should ever have to experience.
From the beginning you learn that Jennings life is one of difficulty when his mom leaves him at his first orphanage. The back story of Jennings mother isn't fully disclosed which I found annoying, besides the accident that removes her from his life at the end of the book, her story is never explained or explored. Why did she need to "rest" so many times? Which just brings up many back stories left for exploration in Jennings story.
His brothers, father, and many of those who walked through his life had stories that played out to why things where happening and yet they where never explained, leaving the reader with a million questions on why did this happen, why didn't they care, etc. Thankfully he put an epilogue in to give a small detail into the lives of what happened to many of those main characters in Jennings life.
With all the abandonment and discourage put in front of Jennings I found that this was a page turner, always wanting to learn where he would end up. The raw emotions of a boy learning the rules of the homes and the abuse he suffers throughout his life really brings you into the mind set of a inquisitive little boy.
His story has a happy ending as he learns what it's like to be loved, accepted and seen for who he really is, just a little boy trying to understand life, love and the roles he has been given. The abuse he suffers is deplorable and still seen everyday within our country, where many people turn a blind eye to it everyday. However, stories like Jennings help pull this part of society out from under the rug in a sense. Exposing the abuse many suffer through "the system."
Overall this was a good book, while it left me with many questions in the end I would still recommend. If anything to open your eyes into the workings of the system. While this took place in the 50's many things still say the same, I'm not saying abuse is found in orphanages, but I'm not withholding the idea either.
These children live with the idea that they are not worth anything, in which many will take advantage of the vulnerability of the innocent. Just as they did to the children in many of the homes Jennings experienced.
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