The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin



This book was interesting. It was very sad and parts were hard to read. Overall, I liked it. Something I have a hard time with in stories is when they are written simply to elicit an emotion, sadness, fear, anger, and for no other apparent reason. I don't think that this book was entirely like that but at points throughout the book that is how I felt. I liked where it ended up and how it was written. It was very interesting and I think a good book to raise awareness about child abuse and to teach about fear, family, and rising to the occasion. The story was basically a letter, written two years after the abuse had been stopped, to the youngest child in the family, Emmy, from the oldest, Matthew. Matthew had lived with their insane mother and learned to deal with her since birth. Matthews father, Ben, was kicked out and was too afraid of the mother, Nikki, to fight for Matthew and Callie. Emmy was born of another father. Matthew spent his entire life up to 13 protecting his baby sisters, and being partner with Callie in protecting little Emmy. At 13, Matthew and Callie meet Murdoch. This event happens at the beginning of the story but is really the changing point in their lives. It takes Matthew and Callie a long time to find him and when they do, Nikki ruins their plans of meeting him, but Murdoch (and Ben and Aunt Bobbie)eventually helps them out of their terrible situation. This is very much a coming of age story for Matthew. He learns about himself, who he is, what he is capable of, and what he deserves. Matthew starts out writing down all of the things that happened to him and his sisters "at the hands of thier mother" so that Emmy can understand their family and understand the world better, but he ends up writing it just for himself, to sort things out in his head and make sense of all that he went through. This book has 260 pages.

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