Day One Hundred and Eight

7/19

The Book: My Lobotomy by Howard Dully

ISBN: 978-0-307-38127-9

Suggested By: Sissy Vaughn

Where: Home

When:6:30-715P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 199-283 (84)

The Lead In: Got to the end of the days reading today and just decided it was time to push through. Finished it.

The 411 on the 55: Howard finally gets his life together with the help of his new wife, Barb. She offers him stability he hadn’t had before in his life. With her help, he mellows out on the drugs and drinking, settling into the role of father and husband.

Eventually he is contacted by an NPR rep wanting to do a story on lobotomies and Dr. Freeman. After meeting Howard, they decide to do the story on him. His story is premiered in NYC to great acclaim. Eventually, Howard writes this book to help out in the pay department because he is broke.

He believes that this experience, the book, the show, etc, brought closure to his life.

The 20/20: I fluctuated today when considering what I thought of this book. The positives: information about lobotomies, good story of a troubled man, interesting characters. The negatives: is Howard blaming his lobotomy for every bad decision he made? The epilogue negated that. He admits that he let it control his life and by facing it (through the book) he was free of it. So the one negative becomes a positive. Really interesting book, I would recommend it.

Line of the Day: “I wasn’t doing much of anything. But now, or the first time in my life, I was ashamed of that.” pg 203

Fact on the Fiction: This book, along with the closure it brought, would not have been possible without this radio show. Follow the link and hear his story. NPR