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Confessions of a Former Child: A Therapist's Memoir

Daniel Tomasulo
Graywolf Press (2008)
ISBN 9781555974992
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (2/09)

In “Confessions of a Former Child: A Therapist’s Memoir,” Daniel J. Tomasulo shares his experiences as a child, a parent, and as a therapist.  When I first started reading this book, I was completely unprepared for the level of humor that it contained.  Memoirs, especially those of a therapist, are usually not anticipated to be a laugh-out-loud read.  Tomasulo’s book, however, was absolutely hilarious!  Don’t get me wrong, there are many parts that were more emotional, but when something was meant to be humorous, it truly was funny!

Some of my favorite parts in the book are the stories about one of Tomasulo’s patients, Enrico.  After finishing graduate school, Tomasulo signed up to do psychological testing for the state as a way to earn some extra money.  With his first referral, he finds out that he is the only one in the county who has agreed to do this type of testing.  Apparently, it is not a highly sought after career move.  Tomasulo’s first testing experience is with Enrico, a large Italian man who speaks broken English and who registers an IQ of fifty-two.  The stories involving Enrico are some of the funnier passages in the book.  He is an extremely interesting personality.  I don’t want to give too much away, but let me just tell you that in one of the milder portions involving Enrico, you will read about him making out with the Rorschach “inkblot” test.  It only escalates from there!

“Confessions of a Former Child” is an excellent, heartfelt book!  Tomasulo is an extremely talented author.  He completely succeeded in making his life and work both interesting and entertaining.  I loved reading about his journey so far!  He says at the end of the book that this memoir took ten years to write, so I will be looking for more of his journey in another ten years. That is my only complaint about this book, that there wasn’t more, as I did not want it to end.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading memoirs or just wants an overall good read.  You definitely will not be disappointed! 

 

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