The Boy Who Lived with Ghosts: A Memoir Paperback – July 1, 2013

I value this book highly and find within it's pages great wisdom born of intense suffering. I was eagerly awaiting its arrival, having discovered John on twitter. I am unashamed to say I am thankful John didn't have the luxury of an orange night light glowing in his bedroom. Had he possessed such a luxury we may have been denied the opportunity to look at his life written in the light and voice of an innocent but terror struck child who grows in stature and understanding at each stage of the book. I particularly appreciate his skill in conveying his urgent searching and questioning as he racks his brain for solutions to dire situations - all the while bearing the burden of inheriting the role of 'the man of the house'. The style with which he paces events and conversations draws the reader into the breathlessness of it all and the vividness of the characters - and then sometimes one is just left hanging in the sheer dread - longing for him to escape. To my mind it seems that John's father who goes 'to see a man about a dog' has left one hell of a 'blackdog' already in residence.It is very much a 'Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man' tale that unfolds at a pace. This memoir is heart heartbreakingly painful and side splittingly funny, in equal measure. I don't believe this is a tale of fantasy or a work artfully constructed to deceive in order to gain fame and fortune. I completely trust I have just read a truthful account of a child brought up in dire poverty in a family whose lives are blighted - Blighted by the prevailing ignorance and indifference to their complex addiction and mental health issues and the cycle of abuse. I was drawn to the brave struggles of a child longing to ease a crazy household's pain and terror whilst the writer was himself experiencing this pain and terror at the deepest levels of abandonment in body mind and spirit. The way in which he recounts his efforts to ease his mother's and others distress are often mind blowingly hilarious. I love the way he explodes with explanations concerning all the 'incidents and accidents'. I think I woke the whole neighbourhood with my laughter when it came to the laying of the designer floor! John may be interested to know that making those f.....g orange fibreglass curtains he describes didn't work out too well for me although they did boost my Mum's spirits and hid us from the neighbours! I was stabbed with fibres and ended up with an ugly all over rash for a month whilst my school mates mocked me as Spotty Scotty! Not sure which was worse Potty Scotty or Spotty!Does the child's spiritual pain take him beyond reason? This may be a large question in readers minds. The gift in this book is Yes it does. It doesn't stop there - the child questions all the received wisdom and the voices, songs and prayers buzz around like flies is his head. All this while trying to hang on in there in a hopeful faith that is forming. The points at which grief and shame and anger overwhelm him are agonisingly portrayed and the descent into fear and chaos is paralysing. I won't be the only reader to empathise but John offers more than this he gives the abused permission to enter into their own chaos and emerge with a measure of spiritual freedom. I love the way he falls out of love with the hard hearted and finds the power to name and shame. I will not be content until every seminary and theological college puts this book on their required reading lists. It also needs to be read by those who are constructing policies for the safeguarding of children, the children who are lining up with their free lunch tickets right now - the children who are caring for and covering up for their mentally sick loved ones. This is a book of raw experience allowing us to see what raging anger and frustration does to a broken heart - not cold indifferent social statistics. I don't think for one minute that the bizarre misfortunes that befell John are a figment of his imagination. No -I've been there too and stuff happens around crazy households like some kind of extra terrestrial magnet draws it. I remember one night dragging my poor demented abusive Dad out of a burning bedroom - don't ask me how I as was a skinny, awkward teenager! After he had been despatched in the ambulance Mum was making a cup of tea singing 'Count Your Blessings Count Them One by One' at which point the ceiling fell in with the weight of water and Mum carried on singing! So within half an hour of fighting the death that stalked our house I was crying with laughter along with the fantastic fire fighters who fell about as well. Just saying - so's you don't dismiss this bookI am a 68 year old priest who suffered a similar childhood. I will be quoting from this book for many a year - if I'm spared! It will nestle in my favourites bookshelf right between Dostoevsky and Elie Wiesel and some other greats. That is when I have finished re-reading it straight away. There is an extra-ordinary quality of a 'wounded healer' in John Mitchell and this book is very timely. I for one am not fooled into thinking that suffering hauntings do not take place in our present age. The institutional psychopathy that surrounds abuse and silencing has to be fought with grit and determination. We are in a depression not a recession and all of us need to take a closer look at the children on our streets and in our schools and shops in the light of this book and the daily media coverage concerning abuse. None of this will come as a surprise to John. He is a prophet with a penetrating and healing gaze.Are the writer's 'ghostly' experiences real or imagined - night terrors or a dark spiritual reality? There are more questions than answers in this life and a heart broken by Love is the overriding powerful force behind this pen from which much will be revealed. It's a tough read but I wasn't left with a sense of undue force - rather the stealthy wisdom caught up on me until I felt my psyche had been blown by a gentle breeze. This writer has already been assaulted by every force known and that's a tough call. He lives to sing redemption's song and no doubt this is heard beyond the constraints of time and circumstance. Love always triumphs over evil and injustice and has the last laugh and I rejoice in this book. It has a greater orbit within its pages than we can possibly fully imagine but we may hope and take heart and carry on working within the threads that bind. It's holy ground - don't tread on it and be aware. We might just be 'entertaining angels'!

I just read this book , "The Boy That Lived With Ghosts" by John Mitchell, and it is INCREDIBLE!!!! Spoiler alert, it is NOT really about Ghosts, it is about growing up with a sister that was a paranoid schizophrenic, in abject poverty in the 1960's in England. Parts of this book made me laugh until I was crying, other parts were like looking at a really bad car wreck, and others just made you want to weep for John, his twin sister, his older sister and his entire family!!! Mental Disorders are tough for the person that is experiencing them, but as we discover in this book, they are even tougher for those that have to live with the people that have them. If you have lived with someone with a mental disorder then you will definitely be able to relate to parts of this book, and if you haven't, it will give you a look into a world that can be and often time IS terrifying for family and friends. The world and the life that John describes is colorful and so descriptive that you feel at times that you are in it and reach out and touch things, although, there are a few times it is best to be on the outside looking in. I have to say this was one of my first forays outside of my normal genre of Historical Romance, or fantasy, BUT, I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!! I consider it a MUST READ!!!! THANK YOU John for sharing such an intimate view of your life.

Not that it was always an easy read. The boy, who's life we follow from age 5 to 13 has less than a stellar family, and the mental illness of his sister dominates family life. Of course, the boy is too young to know what is wrong with his sister. He only knows that she abuses him horribly, locking him in a cold dark basement whenever their mother is not home. The father is an alcoholic, who finally leaves the family for good, leaving the mother to raise three children on her own with little income.The boy's desperation to help his mother, who is also starting to go mad, is a poignant thread running through the story, that is told simply and directly.What I like most about the book was the stellar writing. The voice of the boy was so clear and so age-appropriate as the story progressed through the years from age 5 to 13.I don't give five stars to a book often, but this deserves every one.

It's always wonderful to see the perspective of others and how they process things. This book grasped me from the beginning, and the writer does a wonderful job of making us feel what's going on. There were some points where I was completely lost, however that doesn't take away from it's wonder. Great job!

What I like most about this book is its ambition. Rather than giving us a dry memoir from the safe precincts of hindsight, John Mitchell renders his story in the terrifying present tense. It’s stream-of-consciousness technique makes us privy to a young boy’s thoughts and emotions as he goes through the horror movie of his childhood.

I just finished The Boy Who Lived With Ghosts....I think it is a wonderful book!! As a survivor myself, It is very hard to writeyour pain. For those of you that think it is a disappointment, Unless you have been through abuse and survived it.....YOU HAVENO CLUE!!!! I am 42 yrs old and my Biological "SPERM DONOR" the tormentor of most of my abuse has passed on, My"EGG DONOR" is still alive and well and blames everyone but herself for the things she allowed to happen to me.I remember quite clear the abuse I suffered and have NO PROBLEM distinguishing memories from what really happened, I WAS THERE!! Unless you've walked A MILE in a survivors shoes....DON't JUDGE!! John Mitchell....You ARE MY HERO!!! thank you so much for having the courage to do something I still to this day cannot do....BRAVO!!

The seriousness of the story was softened by being told through the eyes of a child. This story is simply heart breaking but told in such a way that you have laugh put loud moments. I found myself turning away from it many times due to the sheer sadness of some of things that happened. It always came back. Amazing how times change. Fab book, thank you for writing it

I was intrigued by this book. Couldn't put it down! would now love to read another of John's books. it's incredible what happens within families and how each person in the family experiences the same situation differently.

Misleading title

Excellent read

I've been waiting for this book to be published since seeing John Mitchell's Facebook page. It's a very emotional book, written from a child's point of view, it's John Mitchell's childhood laid bare - that must have taken so much courage to write. All through reading I looked at my own children and knew they would never know this pain - no child should. I admire John so much - his book should be on the UK High School curriculum, future parents need to read this! In fact there are so many people who need to read this. John Mitchell is eloquent, it's so well written. He's inspirational, he shows that anyone can overcome their past and not only overcome it but be so brave - read this book!