My Lobotomy: Library Edition
My Lobotomy: Library Edition Books
Product Description
At twelve, Howard Dully was guilty of the same crimes as other boys his age: he was temperamental and messy, rambunctious with his brothers, contrary just to prove a top, and perpetually at odds with his parents. Yet in some way, this normal boy became one of the youngest people on whom Dr. Walter Freeman performed his barbaric transorbital—or ice pick—lobotomy.
Abandoned by his family within a year of the surgery, Howard spent his teen years in mental institutions, his twenties in jail, and his thirties in a bottle. It wasn’t until he was in his forties that Howard started to pull his life together. But even as he started to live the “normal” life he had been denied, Howard struggled with one question: Why?
“October 8, 1960. I gather that Mrs. Dully is perpetually talking, admonishing, correcting, and getting worked up into a spasm, even as her spouse is impatient, explosive, rather brutal, won’t let the boy converse in for himself, and calls him numbskull, dimwit, and other uncomplimentary names.”
There were only three people who would know the truth: Freeman, the man who performed the course of action; Lou, his cold and demanding stepmother who brought Howard to the doctor’s attention; and his father, Rodney. Of the three, only Rodney, the man who hadn’t intervened on his son’s behalf, was still living. Time was running out. Established and pleased for the first time in decades, Howard started to search for answers.
“December 3, 1960. Mr. and Mrs. Dully have report has it that resolute to have Howard operated on. I suggested [they] not tell Howard anything about it.”
Through his research, Howard met other lobotomy patients and their families, talked with one of Freeman’s sons about his father’s controversial life’s work, and confronted Rodney about his complicity. And, in the archive where the doctor’s files are stored, he finally came face to face with the truth.
Revealing what happened to a child no one—not his father, not the medical community, not the state—was willing to protect, My Lobotomy exposes a shameful chapter in the history of the treatment of mental illness. Yet, ultimately, this is a powerful and tender chronicle of the life of one man. Without reticence, Howard Dully shares the tale of a painfully dysfunctional childhood, a misspent youth, his struggle to claim the life that was taken from him, and his redemption.
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I should have realized that a book written by someone who has undergone a lobotomy may possibly not have been exciting! But it was repetitive and long winded. Hardly a page turner.
Rating: 2 / 5
I found this to be an fascinating tale, but not for the same reasons as most other readers. The writing itself is very marginal and many of the assertions are poorly supported. Beyond that, I found the author to be in severe denial at best, perhaps disingenuous or even downright misleading at most terrible. Even as he ponders how such a horrific act such as a lobotomy may possibly have been performed on him, a misunderstood child who was merely “bored” and “full of energy”, he proceeds to chronicle his erratic behavior such as shoplifting, defiance both at home and school, smoking, cruelty to his playmates and brother, and other things that indicate severe emotional instability. With the exception of the incident he relates pertaining to his infant brother, whom the stepmother claims he injured when no one was looking, every accusation that Lou, the stepmother, makes hostile to him he really reaffirms in his own description of his childhood and his behavior growing up.
Mr. Dully tries to make the case that his post-lobotomy life, i.e., his life of crime, drugs, indolence, was a direct result of the operation. He does not support this proposition very well. In fact, his behavior post-lobotomy hardly changed at all. He was essentially the same person: getting into scrapes at home or school, committing crimes, and generally struggling to avoid distress on a daily basis.
His inability to acknowledge his own behavioral problems detracts from the credibility of the tale. Even as I do not condone the use of lobotomy below any circumstance, especially on a twelve year-ancient boy, Mr. Dully would have done well to acknowledge that he was a trying child that needed help and to explore what different treatment options his parents and doctors may possibly have taken, rather than the desperate one that they did. Instead, the authors bestow the underlying cause as an evil stepmother who tortured him for the sheer brutal pleasure of it.
Rating: 2 / 5
I know that the guy had a lobotomy, but the book makes me feel like a patient of the same course of action. I can’t presume what I would be capable of doing if I had had a lobotomy — and I guess it is the intent of the co-author to place the Dully’s words as his own — and writing a book after it is certainly an accomplishment in and of itself. But, I reckon this would make a better 60 minutes segment than a book. The writing is very rigid (like a young child – perhaps, again, the top) and two line paragraphs.
But, I did find the theme matter to be fascinating and touching. I judge that a book that explores the same theme and told by a psychologist or neurologist (or both) with the tale of a Howard Dully as the backdrop would be that much stronger and have a much greater impact.
Rating: 2 / 5
This book offers a unique insight to a first hand experience of a person whose life was greatly affected by the cruel lobotomy course of action. Although quite fascinating, the in rank is vague. Is this the top the author is attempting to convey–that the event of the lobotomy itself was based upon small in rank? During much of the book the author seems to have small memory of what is happening, and although various acquaintances are referenced for the material it seems that no one really has any thought what was going on during the events of the book. Again, this is trying to determine wether this is the author’s top or the author’s negligence.
I urge this memoir to those seeking a memoir, not to those seeking a clinical or psychological account from a first-person narrative. Entertaining and chillingly touching, a excellent read with excellent substance, My Lobotomy, is a provoking tale.
Rating: 3 / 5
I devoured this book. I was struck by the thought that the tale would be a first-person account of the experience of having a lobotomy: how did it feel, physically / mentally / emotionally? What just so happened? Was the healing trying, did he have headaches or other problems? Were there specific things he may possibly or may possibly not remember or feel after the course of action that may possibly have been called a direct result of the course of action? I realize that in rank on the course of action itself & its applications is murky, but I was looking for more in rank of this type, if any is indeed reportable. This is not really what you get with this book, but my disappointment in the in rank that is NOT there was made up for by what IS included.
This book reads like any other “tale of my life” theme, the only specification is that there is a lobotomy thrown in there with the rest of the abuses & sad situations this poor man suffered. Throughout the book, it is trying to choose if the choices the author makes in his life are the result of his abusive upbringing or if they are in some way connected to his compromised mental abilities, or a combination of everything. It isn’t even clear that the author HAS “compromised mental abilities” before or after the lobotomy. I wonder if the experience of reading this book mirrors, in a way, the author’s described experience of living his life — confusion about what happened to him and why, frustration at the apparent lack of resources available to help him, as well as feeling helpless to stop the author even as he makes choices that the reader knows will not help him overall. Its like watching someone purposefully row a boat directly into the flow of a river that leads to a giant cascade, and there’s not one thing you can do about it. And I reckon that’s how the reader is *supposed* to feel, in one sense. Those feelings are the ones that prompt a person to want to solve the cognitive dissonance of not having reasonable answers, & make you want to dig deeper.
Rating: 4 / 5