Very thoughtful and well written.covers both the emotional and practical elements involving homicide and those left to deal witht the aftermath.

I am Unable to express in words what this book means to me, but i will try. I was overwhelmed by the feelings poured into this book and I found myself crying off and on. I have never lost anyone that I love and i hope to never share any of those feelings that you had to experience, but I still can see the pain. I just wanted to let you know that your book was extremely touching and i thouroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Amanda

This is a truly amazing and heartbreaking account of Nancy Spungen's life. Deborah Spungen's narrative is both candid and gripping; this is the kind of book you won't want to put down. On one level, this is an accurate portrayal of one mother's struggle to raise an unexpectedly violent and difficult first child and keep that child from harming her other children, which is why I strongly recommend that EVERY mother read it. On another level, this book gives Nancy Spungen the voice she never got.

From the media's accounts, the infamous Nancy Spungen was a troublemaker who deserved nothing but bad press - in this book, you see the beautiful and troubled human being she really was. You also see what really happens to a family when one member gets negative notoriety; how the press are quick to air a family's dirty laundry and misrepresent facts to sell a story. One of the first lines in the book encapsulates it's purpose - when Debbie wants to scream to the world "Nancy didn't deserve to die this way, to be treated this way. You don't understand her. She was LOVED." Debbie Spungen is so thorough and honest in her telling of her daughter's story that the relationship Nancy had with Sid is given no excuses but clarity. Debbie reveals a now legendary poem Sid wrote for Nancy, unveiling his sensitivity and a devotion to Nancy that the media did not acknowledge. In a poignant confession, Debbie admits she herself could have written that poem, thus adding to her confusion about the man accused of killing her daughter.

The triumph in the story is that Debbie has devoted her life to speaking out on behalf of murder victims. Debbie acknowledges that the life she was given was one she never expected to have, but she embraces it as a tribute to Nancy, to victims without a voice and her own surviving spirit.

I know many people who identify with Nancy have read this book and found comfort in it but at the same time, it is also a very important book for ANY mother to read. For those of us who adore Nancy (those of us who never knew her but feel we did through this story), we are grateful to Deborah Spungen for allowing us this fair and haunting look at her beautiful daughter.

Okay, if you think you know all about the Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen then you may just be wrong.This book written by the mother of Nancy is a impossible to put down. No, it's not just a story of a couple of wasters who got into drugs and got what they deserved. It is not like that at all. It's a very sad, moving story about a little girl who lived a sad, lonely, frustrating life filled with violent behaviour and loss of control.It's about a girl who wanted to be normal and happy but was never able to find piece of mind as she was mentally ill as a result of an accident at birth.Help was never that easy to find for Nancy but her family tried every means possible to help the child they loved, only to see her disappear down the road of self destruction and death at the young age of 20. Nancy Spungen lived a lifetime in her short years and was never able to find happiness, maybe until she found Sid Vicious.Vicious, regardless of the name, was not as vicious as people would like to believe.I feel that he lived the same sort of life as Nancy and when they met, they were just two of a kind. But lets not forget the life that the rest of Nancys family had while she was busy attacking them, getting into drugs,running away,swinging from one mood to another and getting her brother and sister onto drugs.They too have suffered and we shouldn't forget that.This book is mainly written about Nancy but it IS the story of the whole family who lived life in fear of a young woman whose life spiralled way out of control.Very moving, very sad and very disturbing.

I was so impressed with the painful honesty Deborah Spungen shared concerning the tragic life of her daughter Nancy. I think many people can relate to the impossibility of dealing with difficult children, and then being told that it must be their (the parents) fault.

Recent medical research has shown that some people do indeed suffer from bio-chemical mental problems which are now being truely recognized, and in some cases can be successfully treated with modern medicines. I believe had Nancy been born 20 years later she would have had a chance at treatment and quite possibly a much more peaceful and normal life.

Unfortunately though, ignorance still abounds in these matters, and many people still want to "blame the parents" of these destructive, strong-willed children without even trying to understand the situation.

This will always be one of my favorite books because besides the deeply moving account of the Spungens' life with Nancy, it also portray! s the good and evil sides of human nature in how various people reacted to the tragedy. I also applaud Deborah Spungen for her work in helping other parents who have gone through the horrific experience of having a child murdered. This book touched me deeply.