Silent Battle is a powerful memoir.
Written in first-person view, the readers are brought into terrifying stories
that, unfortunately, happen everywhere in the world, even in modern times.
The book is hard to read. It makes me angry, not necessarily about how dismissive the mother was in a situation that was obviously not healthy to raise a child, but for the society that failed them, too. It’s probably harder to digest how helpless the situation was in the current world, because we are very connected now. Back then, we didn’t have mobile service, it was not easy to find a public phone, and domestic violence was sometimes brushed aside and considered an internal problem only.
I wish the year could be made aware earlier. It’d make the story more powerful if readers understood the setting from the beginning.
Fortunately, this is an uplifting tale. The main character prevailed; there was a strong support system before it was way too late, and awareness of the need to fight for survival. I admire anyone who can pull their life together after starting from such a difficult, disadvantaged, and horrifying situation. This is definitely an inspiring tale about resilience and survival.
