Unraveling Charlie

By Donald McLean

In 1967 Donald McLean was 12 years old when he's targeted by a pedophile named Charlie Schoeler. Over the next three years his life becomes split between the normal world of any young boy and the secret world Charlie draws him towards. A deceptively plausible one he falls further and further into until it becomes his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IndieReader
• Release date: Apr 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483972862

Book preview

Reviews for Unraveling Charlie

[jurai2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is marketed as a "fictional memoir," which I took to mean it was a fictional book written in memoir style. I was surprised to learn that it is a fictionalized version of the author's own experiences. This was a very well-written, detailed story about Donnie, a young boy who was molested by a trusted elementary school teacher, and it follows him from the time the molestation begins to when he begins standing up to Charlie, how being molested affected him in the teenage and young adult years, and finally, him finding forgiveness for himself and Charlie.

[australwind · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unraveling Charlie doesn't pretend to be a nice book. It doesn't ask for your sympathy, your outrage or your support. It is one person's response to the childhood experience of sexual assault. It wasn't hard the "hear" Donnie's voice - it was sometimes hard to remember that this story was being recounted many years after the event and that time could well have coloured the perspective of the writer. This is by no means a criticism, more an acknowledgement of just how compelling the story is as it unfolds.Captivating, sad, enlightening and funnily enough, joyful. There is a rich fulfilling life after Charlie.