The Disillusioned: A Story of Our Times

Fraser Books, 2004.

The Disillusioned is a ruthlessly honest memoir of a young man who writes both searingly and disarmingly about the highs and lows, the perils and promise of our times. The Disillusioned documents the struggle all too common for recent generations: yearning to find a sense of worth and a purpose to their lives against the backdrop of abuses rife in modern society and the duplicity of political systems which favour the rich and powerful despite the hollow rhetoric that promises something else. The Disillusioned encompasses three decades, beginning with the impressionable child indoctrinated with the propaganda of Thatcher's Britain and suffering sexual abuse, a lack of role models and any sense of belonging. It is a gripping story of obsessive ambition, discrimination, sex, scams, suicidal impulses, alcoholism, the search for love, loss and the quest for redemption in New Zealand.
It is David Scott's story, but also the story of a disillusioned silent majority; the story of young people bogged down with debt and disillusionment; the story, too, of the increasing dangers facing our children in a materialistic world where family bonds and values are sacrificed for high incomes and status.