Book: Burning the Vines - A Memoir by Michelle Mazal
categories: Book, Child Abuse, Abuse and Neglect, Domestic Violence, Child Witness, Substance Abuse, Alcoholism, Physical Abuse, Partner Violence, Cycle of Violence, Dysfunctional Relationships, Emotional Abuse, Memoir
Michelle Mazal
about this book: Burning the Vines is an evocative memoir of an adult reflecting on her childhood in the 1960's and 1970's growing up in Australia. This was a time when family and domestic violence was not spoken about and the Police did not get involved. Rarely does family violence occur in isolation, generally there are other key factors that add further dysfunction to the family unit. Child abuse, neglect and substance abuse are some of the other factors that children experience as well as witnessing family violence. In the 1970's my parents bought an old vineyard in the Swan Valley and the clearing of the vines were necessary to make way for a house and stables. Sick with chickenpox the children were ordered to go and help to drag the vines into piles to be burnt. At other times the children would go and hide in the grape vines at night to escape their violent and abusive father. The title came about because the vines featured in the children's lives all those years ago and those individual strands represent the other key issues that were rampant at that time. However at some point we must try to shed those strands and rid ourselves of those vines and begin to heal. Finally breaking free and burning them to prevent regrowth and further harm to the individual.
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about this book: Burning the Vines is an evocative memoir of an adult reflecting on her childhood in the 1960's and 1970's growing up in Australia. This was a time when family and domestic violence was not spoken about and the Police did not get involved. Rarely does family violence occur in isolation, generally there are other key factors that add further dysfunction to the family unit. Child abuse, neglect and substance abuse are some of the other factors that children experience as well as witnessing family violence. In the 1970's my parents bought an old vineyard in the Swan Valley and the clearing of the vines were necessary to make way for a house and stables. Sick with chickenpox the children were ordered to go and help to drag the vines into piles to be burnt. At other times the children would go and hide in the grape vines at night to escape their violent and abusive father. The title came about because the vines featured in the children's lives all those years ago and those individual strands represent the other key issues that were rampant at that time. However at some point we must try to shed those strands and rid ourselves of those vines and begin to heal. Finally breaking free and burning them to prevent regrowth and further harm to the individual.
