The Theft of Memory Audiobook By Jonathan Kozol cover art

The Theft of Memory

Losing My Father, One Day at a Time

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Theft of Memory

By: Jonathan Kozol
Narrated by: Sean Runnette
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.56

Buy for $15.56

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

National Book Award winner Jonathan Kozol is best known for his 50 years of work among our nation's poorest and most vulnerable children. Now, in the most personal book of his career, he tells the story of his father's life and work as a nationally noted specialist in disorders of the brain and his astonishing ability, at the onset of Alzheimer's disease, to explain the causes of his sickness and then to narrate, step by step, his slow descent into dementia.

Dr. Harry Kozol was born in Boston in 1906. Classically trained at Harvard and Johns Hopkins, he was an unusually intuitive clinician with a special gift for diagnosing interwoven elements of neurological and psychiatric illnesses in highly complicated and creative people. "One of the most intense relationships of his career," his son recalls, "was with Eugene O'Neill, who moved to Boston in the last years of his life so my father could examine him and talk with him almost every day."

At a later stage in his career, he evaluated criminal defendants, including Patricia Hearst and the Boston Strangler, Albert H. DeSalvo, who described to him in detail what was going through his mind while he was killing 13 women.

But The Theft of Memory is not primarily about a doctor's public life. The heart of the audiobook lies in the bond between a father and his son and the ways that bond intensified even as Harry's verbal skills and cogency progressively abandoned him. "Somehow," the author says, "all those hours that we spent trying to fathom something that he wanted to express, or summon up a vivid piece of seemingly lost memory that still brought a smile to his eyes, left me with a deeper sense of intimate connection with my father than I'd ever felt before."

Lyrical and stirring, The Theft of Memory is at once a tender tribute to a father from his son and a richly colored portrait of a devoted doctor who lived more than a century.

©2015 Jonathan Kozol (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Long-Term & Elder Care Medical Physical Illness & Disease Alzheimer's Disease Dementia
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Theft of Memory

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Vivid Recount Of a Devoted Loving Witness

I loved the way this author wove the complex and fascinating life of his father and his decent into the black hole of loss into a compelling and inspiring story that read like great historic fiction.

I would like to have known more about the authors personal life before the book concluded and so my curiosity caused me to leave one star off. It seemed the author committed his entire adult life to his parents who both lived to be over 100. I felt sad that , other than his venturing out to participate in the duties of a published and successful author, Jonathan had no life of his own or was reluctant to speak of it.

I think everyone should read this book because we will all, at some point, be faced, through our own family or others, such a descent. Excellent and captivating read and very informative.

Additionally, the narration perfectly matched the story. Couldn't have been a more thoughtful pairing and delightful performance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A very well constructed and chronological description of events

Liked the story ememously. Also I found the book extremely well planned and educational.
I disliked nothing !!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Complex and interesting lives

A very modern love story. So many are faced with a similar challenge. This makes us all stronger. Thank you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Rigorous tenderness

I was truly moved by the authors diligence to wrestle with his memories in honor of the truth of himself and his mother and father in all of their humanity. I can attest that his faithfulness to his heart of love in challenging his own perceptions regarding his family relationships was and is powerful and important as a guidepost for my own life journey. Thank you Jonathan.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!