Book Review by Melissa

My Lobotomy
(A Memoir)
By Howard Dully & Charles Fleming
The decision was made on November 30, 1960, Howard Dully’s twelfth birthday. Aside from being extremely tall for his age, Howard seemed the average twelve year old boy-curious, mischievous, rambunctious and at times aloof. His birth mother passed when he was almost five years old, his father remarried Lou, a woman that loathed Howard from the very beginning. What would posses his stepmother to seek out such drastic measures as a lobotomy and convince his father to agree? Howard Dully spent 40 years asking this question, amongst others. He then sought out answers from not only his father, but previous patients, patients family members, the physician's sons, as well reading his own medical records.

This memoir will take you on a roller coaster ride of emotions-from horror at what has been done to this child, to heartache over his quest for understanding why he felt different and why he was so unloved. When he was not left in a vegetative state from the lobotomy, his stepmother saw to it that young Howard was in the hands of the state-either being in foster care, mental health facilities and even juvenile hall.

Howard shares with us the pieces of the puzzle that are his life-once scattered about making very little sense, we get to witness the pieces slowly put into place and share with him the life that once was and enjoy with him the life that now is.