UGLY! by Constance Briscoe “A true story of a loveless childhood.” I gave my school photo to my mother. She looked at me from the photo. “Lord, sweet Lord, how come she is so ugly. UGLY. UGLY.'Constance Briscoe faced emotional and physical abuse day and night throughout her teenage life. This incredibly impressive true story of the horrible life the writer had to endure truly shows the strength of the human spirit. This story is extremely sad and one can't help but feel angry at the torture Constance has to endure and follows her through her school years and her goal of becoming a lawyer. As a teenager, it makes us realize how lucky we are and makes us think about the millions of children who face this problem every day. “UGLY” is an inspirational story that makes you appreciate your life and sends the message that no matter who you are, you can do anything, never let yourself be told that you are not good enough. Constance's family life is a major focus. of interest in the book and that's really what the story revolves around. Coming from a broken family, her father left Constance, otherwise known as Clare, with 5 other siblings and her mother. The father was hardly there except to bring Christmas presents and food. Clare was abused by her mother every day, terrible physical abuse was inflicted on Clare's growing body, benign breast cancer caused by her mother's constant punching and squeezing. Emotionally excluded and neglected by her mother, taunted and teased all the time by her mother and her new husband, she frequently called her UGLY and told her she was unwelcome and unwanted. Life at home was so bad that Clare went to social services and asked to be placed in a home but was refused, feeling helpless and life was not alive, she attempted suicide by downing a bottle of bleach. "I felt sick and happy and sad. I was happy because tonight if the bleach worked I would die. No more tomorrows. Hip, Hip hooray." This quote shows the extent of the abuse her mother inflicted on Constance, her family life was unbearable. It is very sad to think that many children and adolescents are stuck in violent families with no way out. The only thing that kept Constance sane and probably from death was school, Constance was very intelligent, she was told she had excellent potential but she didn't apply. se.