My Lobotomy

I'm not making this up, MY LOBOTOMY is really the title of a memoir I just read by a guy named Howard Dully.  I guess the name's authentic, though it seems kind of a strange coincidence.  I had noticed this book months ago and got sidetracked from reading it until a customer came in talking about it recently.  It is absolutely chilling.  Poor Howard Dully had the most evil stepmother EVER, and she somehow managed to talk a demented doctor into doing an "icepick lobotomy" on the poor kid (at age 12) because he was annoying and complained about not getting to watch his favorite TV shows.  Really.  The deck was just stacked against Howard because he was big and clumsy and got bored in class and lost his jacket at school and did things to get attention.  So it was perfectly logical that he should have been tricked into having part of his brain destroyed to improve his disposition.  More chilling than what happened is that Howard's spineless father went along with it. Obviously, Howard survived, and with enough cells in place to co-author a book about his experience, so hurrah for the restorative powers of the brain and overcoming vast obstacles in life.  But the bigger story here is that such drastic surgery could take place without good reason, and totally without consent of the patient.  We're talking in the 1960's!  The unrepentant father is still around when Howard hits middle age and starts searching for answers behind his screwed-up life.  It's pitiful and moving to read because Howard never gives up, no matter what he goes through, and how old he gets.  He just never stops hoping for acceptance and love from his horribly flawed parents.  It's a story you've read many times, and yet you've never read anything like it.  I wouldn't recommend this book for everybody, but if you are intrigued by weird tales of medical malfeasance and parental neglect, this one will stay with you long after you finish the last page.