My Lobotomy
by Howard Dully, Charles Fleming
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Book Summary Information
Author: Charles Fleming, Howard DullyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-26
ISBN: 0307381277
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Broadway
Book Reviews of My Lobotomy
Book Review: Bad Luck
Summary: 5 Stars
Every night millions of children all over the world go to the bed , close their eyes and hope
they have a great dream. However, sometimes the little boy or girl has a nightmare
whose content is frightening, sad and uncomfortable. If during sleep somebody bores cruelly the
holes with a drill in the brain, that kind of dream is very painful. But, happily this is still only a
bad dream. Unfortunately, the lobotomy of twelve year old Howard Dully wasn't only a bad
nightmare. The unfeeling doctor Walter Freeman in consultation with Howard Dully's family
drilled two holes in the healthy boy's brain. My Lobotomy by Howard Dully terrifies readers with
suffering before and after lobotomy he received. Also, Dully in his book accomplishes the
catharsis of his soul and life. The abused boy tries find out all his life why the family harm him
so much. Dully's lobotomy and all his life was a nightmare which occurred in real life, not
during the sleep. The brain surgery affected his life irreparably forever. The book My Lobotomy
is a brave summary of Howard Dully's painful past and a window on his better and more
peaceful future. His memoir divides as a border answered questions of the past from unanswered
desires of tomorrow. It is his first step toward future without bitterness. Lack of love in the
family can very easily destroy a child's life and emotions. . Dully's childhood wasn't a tale, even
a painful tale. His childhood was just a series of injustice and unpleasantness founded by his
family to him. The reality of the world of My Lobotomy presents horrifying atrophy of positive
emotions such as happiness, carefreeness or confidence.
Lobotomy by itself harmed Dully a lot physically and emotionally. It is a miracle that he
didn't turn into a zombie or a plant. He writes that he feels sometimes like a Frankenstein
monster. The readers feel abomination when insolent lies arrange into ominous pattern , a web
which coils round boy's life.
Dully grew up. After years in insane asylums, jails, foster homes turned out that he did not
know how to do anything. Dully did not have family or friends; nobody was willing to teach and
show him how to survive into modern society. My Lobotomy shows that nobody cares what
happened to Howard Dully's life. Other painful facts appear, damages in his self-esteem. He
feels a loss. All his life moves into different directions. He was behind his peers. That sad
thought drilled the holes into his soul and dignity.
Dully's solitude was terrible. The readers can ask questions , why Dully deserves so much
isolation from other people and even himself? Did he do something wrong?
Finally, one day, Howard Dully, that big, almost fifty year old man decided to try find out
what had been done to him and why. After years of solitude, happily married with a woman he
really loves, he delves into his past. His first book, My Lobotomy is the result of his recovery. In
addition, this book is his legacy and purgatory. Amazing is fact, that even though he was harmed
by his family and society , he is a good father for his two sons and good husband. Dully never
leaves his children in their needs. He did not learn how to love, he just knew it . He survived.
Howard Dully had the courage to stay face to face with his demons, without a fear. He found
home and solace.
The book is written with cooperation with Charles Fleming. It is very constructive and
divided into chapters with separate memoir titles. The language is comprehensible and the
description of events are very vivid and detailed. There are a lot of dialogue and original notes
from Freeman's archive or NPR interviews.
The memoir My Lobotomy terrifies readers with the enormity of suffering. The addressees
can't understand how Howard Dully hold himself in one emotional piece after years without
love, lobotomy, problems with his self-esteem, and solitude? His brain reconstructed damage
parts in some way. His life begins to be normal. He is the bus driver from San Jose in California.
His wishes come true. My Lobotomy opens readers' eyes for the most important thing in human's
life: love.
I highly recommend to read the book My Lobotomy as a warning and example, how deeply
degenerate parents can hurt their innocent children!
Summary of My Lobotomy
At twelve, Howard Dully was guilty of the same crimes as other boys his age: he was moody and messy, rambunctious with his brothers, contrary just to prove a point, and perpetually at odds with his parents. Yet somehow, 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 began to pull his life together. But even as he began 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, whereas her husband is impatient, explosive, rather brutal, won?t let the boy speak 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 procedure; 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. Stable and happy for the first time in decades, Howard began to search for answers.
?December 3, 1960. Mr. and Mrs. Dully have apparently decided 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 moving chronicle of the life of one man. Without reticence, Howard Dully shares the story of a painfully dysfunctional childhood, a misspent youth, his struggle to claim the life that was taken from him, and his redemption.
From the Hardcover edition.
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