Lost in America: A Journey with My Father

by Sherwin B. Nuland

Book Overview

A writer renowned for his insight into the mysteries of the body now gives us a lambent and profoundly moving book about the mysteries of family. At its center lies Sherwin Nuland's Rembrandtesque... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375412948
• ISBN13: 9780375412943
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 209 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Nuland's best work

The most brutally honest and memorable memoir I've ever read. I stumbled across this book by accident; originally I came to this site to purchase some of Sherwin Nuland's better known works related to life in medicine, like "How We Die." I read it in a weekend because once I began I couldn't leave it alone. It's intriguing in a lot of ways. It is the memoir of a famous author, surgeon, and ethicist. Also, Nuland talks candidly about his battle with depression (published in the mid 90s, before the movement to destigmatize mental illness gained momentum), gave some perspective on the experiences of Jewish immigrants to New York, anti-Semitic discrimination in higher education, and dysfunctional family dynamics, among other things.

Family Dynamics Woven Into a Powerful Narrative

In 1994, when DR Nuland published his "Best Seller". "How We Die", I wrote a review for a Journal. As a surgeon, I was not impressed with explication of the disease processes that commonly caused death and the organization of the material; but I distinctly remember giving Nuland high praise for "his literary facility with the narrative in the case histories and the poignancy of his boyhood family life". This same literary power is revisited in "spades" as he deftly threads the emotions of ethnicity, bizarre family dynamics, guilt, failures, despair, poverty, illnesses, hatred, rage, control and triumph into the fabric of a powerful narrative. The chronology conveniently saves the denouement of the malady that causes the Father's problems to almost the end. The author's triumph in being appointed Chief Surgical Resident brought redemption for the father's failures as well as a modicum of reconcilliation and (unexpressed) love to the father-son rapport. The author's wish that his father would die so that he would not cause him further embarassment perhaps emanated the ethical guilt to be expunged by re-visiting the father-son dynamics in the writing of this book. The moral honesty with which he wrote of this relationship had to have been very painful for the author, as it seemed palpable to me in the reading(a mark of good literature). This is definitely Nuland's best literary work.

Powerful and deeply moving

In an earlier book, Dr. Nuland told us How We Die. That book gave me some understanding and comfort following my father's death. In this beautifully-written and heart-wrenching memoir, Dr. Nuland tries to come to terms with his own father's death and in doing so, manages to exorcise some demons. This is a very brave memoir in that the author spares no one, including himself. It is at once brutally honest (sometimes so much so, that I had to stop reading) and incisive. His prose style--unusual for a doctor--is lyrical and succinct. He tells his story from a uniquely Jewish perspective (naturally) and so I wondered if readers with other religious affiliations would respond in the same way. Perhaps it doesn't matter. The book is a winner and I am enriched from having read it.

Moving, sensitive, beautifully written

I love this book. Dr. Nuland takes you on a journey with him to his past and his family, in particular his relationship with his father. He tells his story in a manner that is simple, clear, yet deeply moving. His characters are real people who I really cared about while I was reading. I've read his previous books and was very impressed; this one is even better. His description of his severe depression was gripping. How I wish I could describe mine as well. Thank you, Dr. Nuland for a heart-warming book.

Illuminating and touching book

This isn't the kind of book I normally read, but it was given to me before I went on vacation. I just picked it up one night and couldn't put it down. Nuland first takes the reader on a familiar journey as a son of poor immigrants struggling to survive in a new country. In widening circles of description, recognition, and, finally, illumination, Nuland allows the reader to accompany him in his own journey to understanding and perhaps forgiving the person who influenced his life so strongly. The book is funny and tragic and very very moving.