He turned out well in spite of the Picketts, and this is certainly something to admire. While the system abandoned him, he never quite abandoned himself, and this is also something to admire. He conquered homelessness, the lack of a known family, and poverty to become a successful player in Hollywood. These are items that I can relate to because his book makes it so very clear how he suffered and how thankful he is for his new, "magical" life with a family and a successful career. Everyone has problems and difficulties, and it is much more helpful to relate to someone who can conquer them. Fisher gives the reader hope, but more than that, he shows how he also took his success into his own hands and changed his life. His life changed when he joined the Navy. He did something concrete that made his life better, and just about everyone has the ability to do that if they...

The book is a valuable look at one person's ability to overcome adversity and become successful, but it is also a telling look at social services and the entire foster child program. Certainly ever foster child is not placed in the same awful environment as Fisher was, but seeing how the system ignored his problems for so long, and allowed them to continue is quite distressing and sad. The "human" side of human services failed Antwone Fisher and they are lucky that he turned out as good as he did.
References

Fisher, Antwone Quenton, with Mim Eichler Rivas. Finding Fish: A Memoir. New York: William Morrow, 2001.