A Hole in the World: An American Boyhood [Paperback]

Richard Rhodes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2000

When he first published A Hole in the World in 1990, Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Rhodes helped launch and legitimate a decade-long publishing phenomenon-the memoir of abused childhood. In this tenth anniversary edition, Rhodes offers new reflections on the abuse he and his older brother endured at the hands of their terrorizing stepmother and negligent father. He also describes readers' powerful and moving responses to his book, considers his changing sentiments as the years have passed, and provides additional details on his brother Stanley, who remains the author's true hero in this moving memoir.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rhodes, whose mother committed suicide when he was a year old, recalls how he and his older brother were physically and emotionally devastated by an abusive stepmother and their father's complicity with her. "He explores the minefield of his boyhood with a convincing neutrality that precludes neither love nor hate and allows, in the end, redemption and an unforgettable view of a childhood," said PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Rhodes, author of the highly acclaimed Making of the Atomic Bomb ( LJ 3/1/87) and Farm ( LJ 10/1/89, "Best Books of 1989," p. 59), begins the story of his boyhood with his mother's suicide, which occurred when he was 13 months old. This act touched every aspect of his life from that day forward. After several itinerant years, his father finally landed Rhodes and his brother Stanley in the house of a ghastly woman who was to become Rhodes's stepmother. Living a tortured existence, Rhodes and his brother were systematically starved, sent out of the house for 12-hour stretches, and deprived of any kind of emotional warmth, except what they could provide for each other. Eventually they were rescued and sent to live on a farm, where they began to heal. This book is a testament to the incredible resiliency of the human spirit. Highly recommended.
- Randy Dykhuis, OCLC, Dublin, Ohio
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: University Press Of Kansas; Anniversary edition (April 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700610383
• ISBN-13: 978-0700610389
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #374,839 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Rhodes is a fine writer--but this exceeds writing, April 10, 2001

By 

J. C Clark "eanna" (Overland Park, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Hole in the World: An American Boyhood (Paperback)

Some books excite you; some bore you; some interest you. This book embraces and engulfs you. It is impossible to imagine anyone reading it without both raging and exhulting. A wonderful, beautiful, searing book. The first paragraph (which I read to my students as an example of 'The Event That Most Changed My Life') will suck you in so far you'll read it with fury, passion, and an intensity that makes both most autobiography seem limp and most writing seem pale. Richard Rhodes is a fine writer, but this book is more than written. It is bled.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I felt the pains of the children turn to trust and healing., September 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Hole in the World: An American Boyhood (Hardcover)

I did not read this myself, but heard it read on a local FM station by Dick Estell - the "RADIO READER". I could hardly wait for each day's half hour installment. As the heart-wrenching sorrow and confusion of abuse and abandonment of the author and his brother turned into rescue, trust and healing, this story kept me glued to the radio. Though out of print, it will be inspiring to anyone who loves to see the wonder of human helping human, and the spirit's ability to heal and overcome adversity.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brutal, honest, heart-breaking. It made me angry., June 30, 2000

By 

Mary C. Kilgour "Mary Cameron Kilgour" (Gainesville, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Hole in the World: An American Boyhood (Paperback)

I read Hole in the World while writing the story of my own dismal childhood. It made me realize that mine wasn't as bad as I had thought, even though it was pretty bad. This is a shocking book, one that causes tears to fall thinking about this boy suffering at the hands of a stepmother while his father did nothing, abandoning his responsibilities as a father. It is shocking that school officials and neighbors didn't intervene. Hurray for Stanley's courage in going to the police. Most shocking of all is to know, from volunteer work I do now as a retiree, that this kind of abuse continues and, if anything, society is even less able now to stop it or cope with the effects on its victims.