Surrounded by violence, prostitution and alcoholic abuse, the family's options were very limited. The author explains their experiences with a philosophical view. How he and his brothers faced their circumstances and their efforts in finding ways to get by. With occasional concerns of others and the 'One' upstairs, they managed to survive and avoid becoming victims of the unfavorable influences that were all around them. You will often hear of individual hardship situations. Poverty and hunger, mistreatment and abuse are evident in all walks of life. The author makes the experiences of his family vivid to even the most unbelieving reader. Battered by continual family hostilities, from a father guilty of rampant sexual appetites and alcoholic abuse, to a mother who sought any means to provide for the family in the early years, they were ultimately abandoned by their parents.