Siblings

Finished reading Fourteen: Growing up Alone in a Crowd by Stephen Zanichkowsky. Overall a good read. Zanichkowsky shares his life stories about being one of fourteen children who were all abused by their parents. He decided to write the story after his father died and then his mother died 11 months later. After his mother died and her will was read, the siblings find that they have been left with nothing from their parents. The reading of the will solidified for the author and some of his siblings what they had always thought, that their parents did not love them.

It is a sad and also hopeful story. The author is now a middle aged man looking back at his childhood and how it brought him and his siblings to their current places in life. In the current age of the Duggars and the Jon and Kate's I was drawn to this book because of the amount of siblings the author had. I think the situations are entirely different though as in this book the children were abused horribly throughout their childhoods.

I have no doubt that the Duggar kids are loved, but Zanichkowsky makes some excellent points about the effects of a larger family. Still not really my place to say how many children is too many, but it is something to think about.

Lastly, I was surprised in reading to learn that Zanichkowsky's family was Lithuanian. Thought by the last name they were Polish so it was surprise. I related to some of the Lithuanian information he shared, as my background on my mother's side is Lithuanian.

Current Read: Couplehood by Paul Reiser