My brothers insist to this day that our childhood was "OK" . that isn't that unusual.
1. Denial is powerful
2. Abuse can be gender-specific ( I am the only girl in the family and since my mother's issues were rooted in hatred of herself as a woman I experienced a great deal of cruelty my brothers were spared)
3. Its not uncommon in abusive families for one child to become the scapegoat and be treated much differently than the other children. My brother hit me over the head with a board, sliced my ear in half,and fractured my skull. Because I tried to stop him from burning my kitten's tail with a cigarette lighter. I was punished because I ruined towels by bleeding all over them. And sent to school the next day with a massive concussion so bad I failed a history test. My brother was "traumatized" according to my mom. He got pizza for dinner and extra allowance.

So you know, without hearing from your brother, it's impossible to know what is really going on.