Certainly not every childhood is happy, but Mikel and Tony’s seems especially sad and dysfunctional. It’s hard to imagine any parent being willing to give up a child at the age of six months for someone else to raise and then not having much contact with the child. From the short excerpt included here from later in the book, where Mikel’s depressed mother is raising the children, it appears she is not doing the best job with Tony who has many problems and needs professional help from what I’ve read so far. If Paul didn’t have a drinking problem, it seems like he would be a steady, positive influence in the family. I feel sad for all the members of this family and what they have had to endure and would love to read more about them.