Irvin Yalom, Becoming Myself: A Psychiatrist's Memoir (2017) — a short review

© 2017 Peter Free

 

29 December 2017

 

 

Caveat — this is (an arguably unworthy) antidote to the mass of uncritically favorable reviews

 

Irvin Yalom's latest literary effort — Becoming Myself: A Psychiatrist's Memoir (Basic Books 2017) — is a dry 'I went there, I did this' recollection that may interest family members, stalkers and patient admirers of accomplished people. It serves superbly as a list-like chronology of youth, career and age.

 

That said, Becoming Myself is not (I estimate) productively insightful or deeply engaging enough for general readers. Or for substantial numbers of those with backgrounds in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

 

I wanted more soulful relevance from a perceptive psychiatrist's life history. Something that Dr. Yalom's other writings, at least peripherally, generate.

 

Yalom fans vehemently disagree with me about Becoming Myself's limitations. My more negative assessment probably says more about my own elderly person's emphasis on valuing piercing cogence, as opposed to trudging through a documentary-like record.

 

 

Curiously

 

Despite Yalom's (seemingly unending) statements about his writings, he says little of professional field interest. His other books provide better insight, deeper humanity and story-telling richness. See, for example, Creatures of a Day.

 

 

There are random nuggets among the book's boring dreck

 

But they are far too quickly left hanging.

 

For example, Dr. Yalom says his immigrant family isolated itself from American culture. And he appears to have rebelled against their avoidance by emotionally isolating himself from them. But instead of dealing with the topic of cultural non-integration in a penetrating and potentially relevant way, Yalom abruptly leaves the subject. He also never substantially deals with his stated regrets about the way he treated his parents. Odd.

 

Also illustrative, the author decides to go after Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl for unattractive personal oddities that he apparently thinks negatively conflict with Frankl's reputation. Only to admit later that perhaps he (Yalom) had been too critical of the Holocaust survior.

 

I can see the merit of admitting errors in psychiatric judgment or personal kindness, as Yalom appears to be doing here. But why put the details of that supposed mistake into print, where they will continue to stain the reputation of the person already wronged?

 

Alternatively, if Yalom is correct about Frankl's pettiness, as I am near certain he is, why not flesh out that vignette with similarly noticed instances of that common human affliction? Doing so would have allowed a larger point to be made. One that affirms the spiritual holding that one should assess (primarily) the message, rather than its messenger.

 

Point avoidance, like Yalom's with regard to Frankl, continues throughout the book. One opportunity after another for generating interest and insight is rejected in favor of providing an ash dry chronology. There is, additionally, too much name dropping without elucidation. Tell me something substantively interesting, instead.

 

Eventually, I became so irritated with Yalom's minutiae-focused, topic-skipping vacuity that I skimmed the last 25 percent of the book. I found nothing of notable interest there, either.

 

 

But — keep in mind that

 

Becoming Myself is a superb record of one eminent person's rise from poor immigrant to academic and public prominence.

 

The book serves very well as a historically pertinent how to guide for people similarly headed today.

 

 

The moral? — Becoming Myself is a very well written chronicle

 

But from my perspective, the book misses providing soulfully substantial insight into Dr. Yalom's admirably helpful core being.

 

If you are a determined Irv Yalom fan, Becoming Myself should be on your list. If not, skip the book. You will not miss anything that is not much more inspiringly generated by his other writings.