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My Lobotomy

3.61 of 5 stars 3.61 · rating details · 5,400 ratings · 941 reviews

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 fami...more 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.(less)

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published September 4th 2007 by Crown

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Jan 11, 2008 Osho rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008, psychology

Like countless others, I heard Howard Dully's My Lobotomy on NPR in November, 2005. This was the second time I've ever stayed in the car when I got home or pulled to the side of the road to finish listening to a program. (Notably, the other piece, Remorse: The 14 Stories of Eric Morse was also produced by David Isay and aired on NPR.) In only 22 minutes, Dully described his complex and difficult childhood relationship with his stepmother and father, his stepmother's decision to have him lobotomi...more Like countless others, I heard Howard Dully's My Lobotomy on NPR in November, 2005. This was the second time I've ever stayed in the car when I got home or pulled to the side of the road to finish listening to a program. (Notably, the other piece, Remorse: The 14 Stories of Eric Morse was also produced by David Isay and aired on NPR.) In only 22 minutes, Dully described his complex and difficult childhood relationship with his stepmother and father, his stepmother's decision to have him lobotomized by Walter Freeman, the pioneer and zealous advocate the "icepick lobotomy," and his attempt to understand what had happened to him from the vantage of about 40 years later. While the producers did a masterful job, much of the emotional impact of the piece derives from Howard's narration.

I am a psychologist, and teach in a department that trains interventionists and therapists from the bachelor's to doctoral level. I have my students listen to Dully's NPR piece every year. In the lesson I ask, "What current practices in your profession will cause you shame and anguish 20 years from now? What will you be referring to when you have to say, 'I don't know what we were thinking'?" My students are always moved and horrified by Howard's experiences and determined to ask questions and raise concerns about professional acts that may be more dubious or dangerous than they appear.

Dully has now published a fuller account of his experiences. I will be sharing an excerpt with students this term and will add it to the books I assign in future classes. Dully's narration is simple and calm. At times there is repetition, and at times it is a straignhtforward accounting of events--I did this, this happened, this happened. Since the tone is conversational, I did not think this detracted from the overall experience of the book. I suggest listening to the NPR piece first so you can hear the book in Dully's voice.

Dully's account of his childhood and post-lobotomy adolescence and early adulthood is fascinating and raises the complexity of his story considerably. What was he really like as a child? Were there good reasons to think he was schizophrenic, or was he badly misdiagnosed? What would he have been like in a different family constellation? How would a similar child be treated today? Are any radical psychiatric interventions justifiable with children? It's impossible to answer these questions, of course, but it is interesting to compare Dully's origins and outcomes to Noah Levine's as recounted in Dharma Punx, or Jeanette Walls's in The Glass Castle.

I'm very grateful to Howard Dully for telling his story of a chapter of U.S. psychiatric history that is often downplayed, not fully explored, or simply missing in contemporary psychology education. I hope this book brings him even greater recognition and regard for his willingness to describe such a difficult life.(less)

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May 19, 2011 Petra X rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-true-story, medicine-science

I read this book carefully as my grandfather had bi-polar disease (or manic-depression as it was called then) and regular electric shock treatments and was recommended a lobotomy.

I could not for the life of me see what difference a lobotomy made to the author. He suffered not a single one of the complications of the operation and it was only his shame at having been lobotomized that affected his life. He made it the centre of his life when it was really not the issue at all.

The issue was the ex...more I read this book carefully as my grandfather had bi-polar disease (or manic-depression as it was called then) and regular electric shock treatments and was recommended a lobotomy.

I could not for the life of me see what difference a lobotomy made to the author. He suffered not a single one of the complications of the operation and it was only his shame at having been lobotomized that affected his life. He made it the centre of his life when it was really not the issue at all.

The issue was the extreme child abuse, of which the lobotomy was part, handed out by his stepmother, a classic wicked stepmother for true. The stereotype of Snow White's murderous stepmother, the abusive stepmothers of Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, even Imogen's stepmother in Shakespeare's Cymbeline are all brought to life in the person of the second Mrs. Dully and her hateful, enabling husband, Dully's (un)natural father.

I understand Mr. Dully. At 14 I was taken to Wales' only 3-star Michelin restaurant for my first dinner alone with my father. I was grown-up! This was wonderful. Not. Although he was still quite young my father had had several heart attacks - it ran through the men in the family and would eventually kill him - and he told me over dinner that my behaviour towards my mother was causing his heart attacks and that if he died, it would be my fault. He said that my mother was his wife, the woman he had chosen to marry and I was only the daughter born to them and if he had to choose, he would choose her. So, in the same way that my father enabled my mother to abuse me in every which way and even joined in when requested, so did Dully approve of his wife's awful treatment of his son. He took scarcely 48 hours to approve a pre-frontal lobotomy performed through his son's eye socket with an ice pick. It wasn't the ice pick that did the damage it was Dully and his chosen bride.

Howard Dully acknowledges that his stepmother was the author of his problems, that without her he would probably have been a normal kid, teenager and adult, but he doesn't blame her for all his shortcomings, he blames the lobotomy instead. His reconciliation with his weak father is that of a little boy wanting to be kissed and hugged and made to feel loved and wanted, but the father, that cold and unnatural man, cannot bring himself to even give his son that, not even a simple hug and kiss and 'I've always loved you my son', he's still with his evil bride in the spirit if not in the flesh.

Howard had no confidence in himself, he felt himself to be the lowest of the low and acted this out for most of his life. It is only when he is valued for his first-hand knowledge of lobotomy, his articulate intelligence and beautiful speaking voice that he recovers and, at last, begins to live the life of a successful man, successful in all ways.

You can't recover from a lobotomy, but you can recover from the damage of abuse and he did recover and I'm glad of that, I like my stories, fairy tales or anything else, to have happy endings. Good luck for the future, Mr. Dully.(less)

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Feb 15, 2008 Julene rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 07, 2008 Modern Hermeneut rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Memoir junkies

It's appropriate that one of this book's most salient elements is what it lacks: any discussion of the neurophysiology of behavior. This absence is refreshing but also surprising. With the recent flood of neuro-literature on the shelves today, one expects a book about lobotomy to review (and presumably critique) the current research on brain function. But Dully eschews this scientific (or scientistic) territory, favoring the more engaging human interest elements of his story (the malevolent step...more

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Nov 07, 2008 Madison Sterling-Zalk rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2007

I was terribly intrigued by what a lobotomy was and... once I found that out, I was horrified that our society would ALLOW it to be done to anyone, much less a twelve-year old little boy.

But this book wasn't as entrancing for me as I'd hoped it would be. A big fan of memoirs, I love reading about others, discovering what makes them tick. As sad as Howard Dully's story was, the writing style wasn't tight enough to satisfy. A LOT of repetition throughout--the same facts presented to the reader ove...more I was terribly intrigued by what a lobotomy was and... once I found that out, I was horrified that our society would ALLOW it to be done to anyone, much less a twelve-year old little boy.

But this book wasn't as entrancing for me as I'd hoped it would be. A big fan of memoirs, I love reading about others, discovering what makes them tick. As sad as Howard Dully's story was, the writing style wasn't tight enough to satisfy. A LOT of repetition throughout--the same facts presented to the reader over and over--in an attempt to convince that his stepmother truly did have it out for him from the beginning. Yes, I can tell she's a nasty bitch pretty early on. But it seems, throughout the book, that the author can't get past her ill intentions and must CONSTANTLY revisit (and revisit) the specific things she said and did on particular dates in a tiring effort to prove to the reader that it was all very unfair and unloving, and that he is entitled to feel pissed off about it all. Yes, I READ what the author said she did on pages X, Y, and Z! I remember it, know it was lousy, and need him to get on with what happened NEXT!

After moving past the sad details and recalling of childhood events, Dully grows up and, predictably, pretty much becomes a slacker, living a government "funded" flop-house lifestyle and boring me with predictable accounts of promiscuity, theft, jail, homelessness, and so-on. It could have meant so much more had Dully fought the odds earlier on and done something constructive with his life decisions to come out on top. But that takes about forty year's more worth of pages or so to happen.

Dully is, even today in his 50s, still feeling very much a victim of his childhood, understandably so. He says that he is now able to accept that he is a person who likes himself, regardless of if others can or will give him the approval he has always wanted... but this is a sad statement that is not supported by his 288 pages of text. Part of me feels I should give the guy a break: the book was written by a 50-something bus-driver who had a lobotomy! But part of me feels what he delivered about his life, how it all happened, and how he responded was kind of predictable, despite the amazing circumstances. And I can't help but think there is at least something the tiniest bit valid in his father's attitude now: that it doesn't do one any good to go out and roll around in the manure (to keep bringing up bad things that happened to us in the past) ~ it only brings you down and there is nothing you can do to change what happened. Whether or not his father finally tells Dully of his love and regret (no spoiler here!), no one should actively seek out (or live in) negative energy.

This was an OK book, and I do want to hear the NPR radio show about Dully's experience. So, for me, it was a worthwhile read--chilling--but not a gripping, satisfying page-turner that I so enjoy.(less)

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Feb 29, 2008 misha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008, memoirs

Yet another book that makes you just want to find a kid to hug.

The most heartbreaking part of his story is how no one ever spoke to him, when what he really needed was someone to step in and take him out of a really shitty family situation.

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Feb 11, 2008 Johanna rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Melinda

Shelves: research

“He poked these knitting needles into my skull, through my eye sockets, and then swirled them around until he felt he had scrambled things up enough” (97).

December 15, 1960, at 12 years old, Howard Dully’s life changed forever.

On November 30, 1948, Howard was born to Rodney and June Dully. Two more brothers followed, Brian and Bruce. Bruce, the third child, was born brain-damaged. June had been ill and 12 days after Bruce’s birth, died, never leaving the hospital. Colon cancer, undiagnosed until...more “He poked these knitting needles into my skull, through my eye sockets, and then swirled them around until he felt he had scrambled things up enough” (97).

December 15, 1960, at 12 years old, Howard Dully’s life changed forever.

On November 30, 1948, Howard was born to Rodney and June Dully. Two more brothers followed, Brian and Bruce. Bruce, the third child, was born brain-damaged. June had been ill and 12 days after Bruce’s birth, died, never leaving the hospital. Colon cancer, undiagnosed until after death, had grown unchecked within her. Howard and Brian were without a mother. Bruce would never live with them. Four-year-old Howard Dully was told his mother would never come home again; she was gone.

Enter Lou in 1955 with her sons, Cleon and George. Howard writes, “All I knew is one day she wasn’t there, and the next day she was” (18). Known for her temper, Lou became the deciding factor leading up to the day Howard’s life changed. On December 15, 1960, psychiatrist Walter Freeman poked ice-picks into Howard’s eye sockets, performing a transorbital lobotomy.

Lou had issues with Howard; she made it quite clear she wanted him out of the picture. Lou shipped him off to stay with close friends, complained frequently to his father, Rodney, about Howard’s behavior, and finally took him to six psychiatrists to find out what was wrong and how to fix him. The psychiatrists said, “Howard’s behavior was normal” (59). Then Lou met Walter Freeman.

After the lobotomy, Howard was bounced around from psychiatric institutions to boarding schools, but never, permanently, to live with his brothers, father, and stepmother again. After the lobotomy, after being in the system, Howard wants to know why this happened to him. Why did he become one of Freeman’s youngest patients when six psychiatrists said that he was normal?

My Lobotomy is a careful step back for Howard on a subject that he has never discussed freely until now. He writes and researches to find out “why” he deserved such an operation as a transorbital lobotomy and what happened to Freeman’s other patients.

“I’ve always felt different — wondered if something’s missing from my soul.” — Howard Dully, NPR

I highly recommend My Lobotomy: a Memoir, a mentally painful book which made me question how Freeman was allowed to perform such an invasive, horrible, mind-altering procedure, the transorbital lobotomy, so long unchecked.

For more information about the book and Howard Dully’s journey into his past, visit National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” for “My Lobotomy : Howard Dully’s Journey” at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...(less)

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Feb 07, 2008 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was an interesting read and one that kept my attention well, but the recurrent theme in my mind while I was reading it was...someone just let this happen? It was not so much that he was given a lobotomy, or even given a lobotomy at an early age (12), but it was that so many times the people that should have cared enough about him, well, didn't. Take it a little further and it's not so much they didn't care about him and neglected his well being in life, but that they were too worried about...more

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Sep 22, 2008 Ilene rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an incredible memoir. This is a story of a man who received an "ice pick" lobotomy at age 12, and how it affected the rest of his life. It taught me a lot about the resiliency of the human spirit and forgiveness. All I can say is this is an amazing story about an tremendous human being. The physician, Dr. Freeman, who performed thousands of these lobotomies should have a special place in hell for the lives he devastated. Amazingly, the author, Howard Dully, holds no grudges and is even u...more

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Oct 22, 2007 Clare rated it 3 of 5 stars

Howard Dully' memoir recounts in great detail and candor his struggle to discover why he was lobotomized at age 12. Although I certainly felt for him and appreciated the enormity of his struggle to find truth and closure, I do wish I had come away from the book with a deeper understanding of the effect the actual procedure had on him. I understood that much of the trouble he had in his later life had to do with the fact of the awful betrayal his parents committed in allowing this to be done to h...more

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Aug 24, 2010 Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A memoir, although sadly ghost written, but never-the-less not a bad read. Howard Dullys Mother dies when he is 5 and he is never really told what has happened to her. His father then remarries which is where the real trouble begins. Howard's Father Rodney marries a woman called Lou, Lou for whatever reason, really does not take to Howard. He becomes the focus of her rage and anger, she singles him out for the worst treatment of all the children, his own brothers and her own two boys. She cannot...more A memoir, although sadly ghost written, but never-the-less not a bad read. Howard Dullys Mother dies when he is 5 and he is never really told what has happened to her. His father then remarries which is where the real trouble begins. Howard's Father Rodney marries a woman called Lou, Lou for whatever reason, really does not take to Howard. He becomes the focus of her rage and anger, she singles him out for the worst treatment of all the children, his own brothers and her own two boys. She cannot stand him and he is labeled difficult, dirty, useless, lazy and stupid. Rodney does nothing to protect his son, he avoids facing up to the problems of his life by working, he works full-time as a teacher and also has four other part-time jobs. It seems he will do anything to avoid being at home. When he does get involved it's to met out his own punishment and frustrations, beating Howard with wood planks, both parents seem to think the only way to straighten him out is to punish him viciously. Howard becomes the bad boy they want him to be, he finds school hard despite being a fairly bright student, he is terribly lonely and sad, he is burdened with unexpressed grief for the loss of his mother.

Lou takes Howard to psychiatrist after psychiatrist, but they will only confirm what she doesn't want to hear, the boy just needs to be loved and he is reacting to an unloving and unfair home life. Eventually Lou finds someone who will listen, his name is Dr Freeman, although Freeman seems to understand that Howard's home life is mostly to blame, he is keen to extend the use of his new technique for dealing with mental anguish, the lobotomy.

The lobotomy is a pretty random treatment, and it is shocking how Freeman was let loose to use this procedure which often killed the very people he was trying to help. Freeman seems to be a bit of a tortured soul himself and becomes so obsessed with the idea of being admired and famed for his discovery he is completely blind to the dangers and damage that he is causing. He develops a new technique called the transorbital lobotomy. Using an ice pick like instrument he stabs the patient repeatedly behind the eye sockets, targeting the frontal lobe region of the brain. He then twirls the instruments, litterally mushing up the brain, there doesn't seem to be any kind of precision or skill to this. Some patients improved but were not the same person, some hemorrhaged to death, some became like children, some vegetables, it was a game of Russian roulette.

He seemed to jump at the chance to perform this operation on Howard, Howard Dully was only 12 years old when this took place. No one stopped this, no one stood up for Howard, not even his Father who obviously was not comfortable with it, but could not stand up to his own wife and protect his son. Howard survived, but the rest of his adolescences and adult life were difficult. It did not make him become the compliant vegetable that Lou wanted, he was still a problem, and was shifted through various institutions he did not belong in, special needs homes, juvenile hall, and finally an mental asylum. He was a problem that would not go away, he was not welcome home, Howard was lost. His adulthood was dominated by drug and alcohol abuse, he could not hold down a job or take responsibility for himself. It was a long time before Howard finally began to pull things together and try to go back and find out what had happened to him and why. Did he do something wrong? Was he that bad? Howard seemed to blame himself, what other conclusion could he come to. Part of the healing process for him was the making of a radio programme. A radio producer made him the centre of an entire documentary programme about the lobotomy. It was through this programme that he met other victims and found out more about his circumstances, he got to read his files and see actual photographs of him during his lobotomy. The saddest part of this journey was at the end, he had to interview his own father, Howard is so honest and at the age of 50, he still desperately wants his fathers love, it is heartbreaking. Rodney cannot show his feelings to anyone and certainly not his own son. When asked direct questions about why he allowed this to happen, why he consented, he avoids and diverts off the subject and blames Lou completely. Even when Howard tells him that he loves him, he seems self conscious and unable to just say, I love you too son, he cannot even hug his son although he claims that he does not hold Howard's past against him now. Howard is magnanimous in his acceptance of his fathers limits and even Lou's because of their own trouble childhoods, he wanted them to love him but they could not. It is hard to tell what caused Howard's difficulties as an adult trying to live, was it the lobotomy? Or was it the terrible abuse he suffered at the hands of a vicious stepmother and an unloving father.
(less)

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Mar 06, 2008 Susie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a fascinating book about Howard Dully, who had a lobotomy performed on him when he was 12 years old. The lobotomy was a procedure that was performed by Dr. Walter Freeman in the 50s and 60s in which he would take a metal instrument (sometimes an "ice pick") and stick it into the prefrontal cortex of someone's brain and swirl it around. He claimed that the procedure would relieve people of depression, anxiety, and all sorts of mental disorders.

However, most people who had this procedure...more This was a fascinating book about Howard Dully, who had a lobotomy performed on him when he was 12 years old. The lobotomy was a procedure that was performed by Dr. Walter Freeman in the 50s and 60s in which he would take a metal instrument (sometimes an "ice pick") and stick it into the prefrontal cortex of someone's brain and swirl it around. He claimed that the procedure would relieve people of depression, anxiety, and all sorts of mental disorders.

However, most people who had this procedure done either ended up in a worse condition than before, not much changed, or they died on the operating table. However, Dr. Freeman kept performing the procedure on zillions of patients because he claimed it would help them.

In Howard's case, he was just a normal kid who had a stepmother who had some sort of vendetta against him. She insisted he have this procedure done, and Dr. Freeman, upon evaluating Howard, concluded that he was "a schizophrenic" and that he should have a lobotomy. However, the only evidence that Howard had any problems whatsoever was that he liked to fool around with his brothers and he had trouble complying with his stepmother's insanely strict rules (for which he was repeatedly spanked by his stepmother and beaten by his father, almost always without cause).

It was saddening to read the majority of this book because Howard, as a kid, unfortunately had no control over what happened to him. It was decided that he would have this procedure and he wasn't even TOLD about it until afterwards. Luckily, he emerged alright after the procedure, but his stepmother still couldn't stand him (seemingly because of mental problems of her own), and on her insistence he was kicked out of the house, made a ward of the court, and had to spend many years living in a mental institution as well as a school for kids with special needs even though there was nothing wrong with him.

It's hard for me to read about people whose lives were made worse by others, and they had no control over it. But when Howard got older, he sought to understand and to make something of his life, and that's what he did.

I would have liked to learn more about exactly what the physical effects of a lobotomy on the brain were, but this isn't really discussed in scientific detail in the book.

Overall it was a sad but fascinating story, and in the end it's uplifting because Howard is able to make sense of his story in order to understand himself as well as help others.(less)

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Jun 02, 2008 Needleroozer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: life-stories

The author tells how he was lobotomized when he was 12 years old.

The story is really heart wrenching. As a kid, the author was beaten by his dad and stepmother as a means of punishment. His dad worked two (and sometimes three or four) jobs and was seldom around. When he was around, he was distant and abusive. The author was just five when his mother died and still a little kid when his dad remarried. His stepmother also beat him and belittled and berated him. He could literally do nothing right....more

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Feb 04, 2008 Darla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Happened to watch WXXI a show on Dr. Freeman, THE doctor of lobotomies. A small segment featured Howard Dully, one of Dr. Freeman's youngest subjects. The next day at the library I spotted this book and knew I had to read it. I was struck by a system that allowed Howard to float from asylums, detention centers and prison, with no real plan. He was told more than once that he didn't belong where he was being detained. And yet he stayed where he was. Worse than a prison sentence in a sense because...more

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Jun 23, 2008 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a fascinating book. There are brilliantly researched passages in around the procedure itself, combining Dully's memory with Freeman's notes. (Freeman performed Dully's lobotomy, and is the "father" of the American lobotomy... not a noble thing to have been.) These sections are wonderfully done.

The book wanders a little into places I didn't necessarily want to go. Dully's career as a petty criminal was a little more fleshed out than I was comfortable with, as were his teenage sexual expl...more

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Oct 08, 2007 Robotjane rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone interested in the darker side of the medical arts

This is the true story of Howard Dully, an adolescent boy like most any other, but with one small problem: his stepmother is out to get him. With most stepmothers, that might mean a firm grounding, extra spankings, etc. For young Howard, it means playing guinea pig to the super-experimental and terribly controversial ice pick lobotomy, as invented by Dr. Walter Freeman. Freeman's most notorious operation was on the ill-fated Rosemary Kennedy, who was permanently incapacitated by a lobotomy at ag...more

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Jan 10, 2008 Bethany rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, psych

When Howard Dully was 12, he underwent an “ice pick” lobotomy. He wondered why until recently, when at the age of 56, he decided to research the procedure he was given. NPR contacted him to narrate an oral autobiography on "All Things Considered"; the radio program grew into this book, My Lobotomy. Dully locates his medical records and puts them in context with what he remembers from the time, as well as interviews key people in his life.

My Lobotomy is by no means a light read. Dully survived so...more

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Sep 26, 2007 Tara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow. I am so addicted to memoir right now! This story is incredible... documenting a very confused time in American psychiatry. Howard Dully isn't a brilliant writer by any means, but he tells a story that inspires and amazes... he was one of the youngest people to be given a lobotomy by the famous/infamous Dr. Walter Freeman, basically because his stepmother didn't like him. His story of survival is pretty harrowing and incredible. Also, I learned a lot about American history in the 50's and 60...more

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Dec 30, 2008 Frances rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was one that everyone should read. The author was given a icepick lobotomy when he was a rambunctious teenaged boy because his new stepmother could not deal with him. It is really an eye opener on child abuse and 1 doctor who is looking for fame and fortune by perfroming icepick lobotomies on teenagers and mentally ill patients. The author really is a hapless victim who tells an honest account of what happened to him and how he dealt with the pain and isolation of being a frontal lobto...more

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Sep 19, 2007 Lori Wilson rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone

This book interested me because I am into medicine as a career and I like reading about it, especially it's history. In this book, this man had a frontal lobotomy in 1960 when he was 12 years old, and lived to tell about it! I'd always believed lobotomies rended you essentially a walking/eating vegetable, apparently not!
The author goes into detail about his living environment at the time and what made his "evil" step-mother push for the procedure. The doctor who performed the procedure used an...more

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Dec 13, 2007 Samir rated it 4 of 5 stars

A fascinating first person look at a time when frontal lobotomy was seen as an acceptable, even revolutionary medical treatment for behavioral problems. The story is told by an individual who was subjected, at 12 years old, to a lobotomy by his family for being "difficult." From the stepmother who ordered it to the father who let it happen to the doctor who performed it, and ending in the present day, the book introduces many figures who feature prominently in his life. Overall an inspirational...more

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Dec 07, 2007 Eva rated it 5 of 5 stars

Crazy story. I can't believe this dad allowed his son to receive a lobotomy--at 12 years old!!! I really wish the father could give his side of the story too. My mom and dad thought I was a tough kid, but they didn't do anything crazy like this. It just reminds me that some people should never ever become parents. What a bad chapter of medical history, too. I can't believe that anyone in the medical establishment allowed lobotomies to happen. I know hindsight is 20/20, but come on! Especially wh...more

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May 06, 2008 Kyllei rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Kyllei by: my sister, Karla, who saw the title and thought it'd be interest

Shelves: biography

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Mar 31, 2008 Leah rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm really glad that this book was written; I think that it is important as a piece of a larger medical history. It was interesting to read because, while patient memoirs have really taken off in recent years, there really isn't much out there to document the histories and lives of people who have had lobotomies, or were institutionalized, for that matter. (I would love to learn more about conditions in state hospitals leading up to deinstitutionalization) The book also gives you a lot to think...more

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Sep 26, 2008 Cynthia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Okay with a title like this, how could I not read it? A 12 year old given a lobotomy in 1960. He was made a ward of the state, instutionalized, jailed, etc. All of this because his stepmother basically didn't like him. Mr. Dully should be a bitter, hateful man but he isn't. He realizes there is nothing he could have done to change matters - he was only 12. Sadly, it wasn't him that needed the lobotomy but his stepmother. This is a true life story and has, not a happy ending, but an ending with s...more

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Oct 26, 2007 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a quick read for me....simple writing, but it was also very interesting, so I caught myself wanting to read it all the time. I gave this book 5 stars because not only did I really like it, but I thought it deserved 5 stars for the courage that Howard Dully had in writing it. It made me angry at the parents (esp. the step mother)....you can't figure out why she was so evil. I'm glad that Dully was able to overcome all the adversity and craziness that he dealt with in his life to write th...more

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Nov 13, 2007 Carrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

WOW, if you liked reading the books, A Child Called It, The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave by Dave Pelzer you will like this book as well. It amazed me the power one person has over another person. Why would a father allow a stepmother to treat his son like this? It is truly amazing and very sad. Then I also thought, where were the social service workers or someone who looks after the best interest of a child? I just hope that kids are being looked after better now then they did back then.

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Dec 24, 2007 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, adult, family-history

Most of this book doesn't flow really nicely - it seems a little disjointed but I heard this program on NPR so when the author got to the part when he was recording the program, I really teared up (again). It is a very moving story and could be recommended to someone who liked the Dave Pelzer books. Howard Dully was given an lobotomy when he was 12 years old and this is the story of his life, leading up to the hugely popular NPR show that was aired a few years ago.

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Oct 08, 2007 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: greatreads

This book was a difficult, but amazing read. The final paragraph just blew me away. This man overcame one of the most awful of childhoods and realized that we are all victims of what has been done to us...but we cannot dwell on being permanent victims. We must learn to overcome the past and make a future for ourselves, if we ever want to be truely happy. Howard Dully is an amazing person and his story is both shocking and truely inspiring. A definite great read!

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Sep 23, 2008 Alyssa rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was hard to read in the beginning, not because of how it was written but because I was horrified at what was happening in his life. About the middle of the book I was totally pulled in and couldn't put it down. If you do read this make sure you get the paperback edition. It has a chapter/afterword that is not in the hardback edition that is very interesting and I think a must for the completion of this story.

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Quotes from My Lobotomy

“We are all victims of what is done to us. We can either use that as an excuse for failure, knowing that if we fail it isn't really our fault, or we can say, 'I want something better than that, I deserve something better than that, and i'm going to try to make myself a life worth living.” — 20 people liked it

“Is this every kid's worst fear - that his mother and father don't love him? It was mine. (239)” — 3 people liked it

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