Steve A. Mizera reveals what life in orphanages was like for him in the middle 1940s and 1950s Pennsylvania. After suffering physical, emotional and sexual abuse, he runs away and lives on the streets of Philadelphia. His survival techniques could serve as an operating manual for today's runaways.
A product of a dysfunctional family and not having any bonding in infancy, he predictably has little success with relationships in the USAF or in employment. Nevertheless with this handicap he starts a weekly newspaper in a small northern California town and vents his anger while taking on the establishment. Believing the pen is mightier than the sword, he conducts his battles while attending law school and working as a conductor on the railroad.
Steve reveals his deepest secrets for a very personal reason and discusses a despicable crime for which he has to learn survival once again in Folsom State prison, the most violent US prison in the 1980s.
In his final chapters of his life he does experience both solid relationships and love which turn his life around completely.
I couldn't finish this book. I expected it to be an interesting enough autobiography but it was written without any kind of flair. It felt like reading a list of facts, not a story.
I understand that in an autobiography you want to keep it accurate and factual but that does not mean you can't still tell it like a story rather than simply listing occurrences.
I'm sure Mizera has a fascinating tale to tell but I just could not get into it.
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