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My Lobotomy
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 617.481
EAN: 9780307381262
ISBN: 0307381269
Label: Crown
Manufacturer: Crown
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: September 04, 2007
Publisher: Crown
Release Date: September 04, 2007
Studio: Crown
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Editorial Review:
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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Moving, but what's with the penicillin?
The incredibly moving story of Howard Duffy and the ways in which his life was changed (much for the worse) at the hands of an inexplicably horrible stepmother, his mostly absent father and Dr. Walter Freeman, the American psychiatrist who championed the use of "ice pick" lobotomies to "cure" psychiatric problems.
Seeking to rid her home of Howard (whom she viewed as the "problem child") his stepmother shopped around for a psychiatrist who would support her opinions and "fix" the 12 ... Read More
Rating:  - Not a Whodunit
This is not a whodunit. We know whodunit. It was Lou Dully, Howard Dully's stepmother. She engineered a lobotomy for twelve-year-old Howard in 1960 because she hated him and found him irritating.
Howard's mother died of cancer when he was five. This death may well have contributed to Howard's less than stellar behavior as a child. Also likely impacting Howard's behavior was his father, Rod, who was a cold, sometimes cruel, man.
In the years before his lobotomy, Howard seems ... Read More
Rating: - Ice Pick Psychiatry
I, like thousands of other listeners, was spellbound by the November 14, 2005 broadcast of "My Lobotomy" on NPR's All Things Considered. Howard Dully's story about being mutilated by an unscrupulous lobotomist at the tender age of 12 was heart-wrenching and riveting. We were moved to tears by his story.
Unaware that he had expanded his story into a book-length treatment, I immediately snapped it up last weekend when I ran across a copy at a local bookstore. The book however tells a slightly ... Read More
Rating: - Poignant and Painful Must-Read Memoir
I've read practially nothing but memoir for the past twenty years and this one was exceptional. I suppose one shouldn't be admired for heroism that was beyond their control, but just the fact that Howard Dully survived his childhood is impressive enough. For him to grow up happy and have it together enough to write about his childhood ordeal is truly amazing. He is a survivor in every sense of the word. This is a very interesting book although it made me a little queasy in places, like in the descriptions ... Read More
Rating: - Emotional Read
I loved this book! I just cannot fathom that a young boy went through all of this. I am so happy Mr. Dully has a good life now.
I found this book fascinating in many ways. Just the fact that a "doctor" could even think of doing an ice pick lobotomy baffles me!
Go on Howard's journey through life to find out the answers on 'why' this happened. The reasons will shock you.
I loved this book so much I have written a more in depth article review on this fascinating book on another ... Read More
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