Really interesting memoir, exploring oppression and sexuality.
Thank you to the publisher for letting me read and review!

Advanced Reader copy - Enjoyed this book, really opened my eyes and made me seek out other similar books to read.

If I could choose one word to describe this book it would be harrowing. This is one of those books that is so hard to review and so hard to recommend to other reads but NEEDS to be read.

very interesting and very informative memoir about, in my option, crazy people that try to cure something that needs to changing at all!
sometimes this book is almost ab it too much with the clearly crazy "therapies" but overall it was defiantly eye opening!
Worth a read!

A very personal account of conversion therapy and the effects it can have on the individual. It's also good for those who want to read an account of growing up as homosexual and the long terms effects of childhood experiences and trauma.

This book will ring true to so many people but the writing style was hard for me to just allow the book to encompass me. I like to be lost in a book and this one wasnt it for me.

What happens when primal therapy turns to conversion therapy? A socially important autobiography by a gay man who is ostracized by his family and turns to the only help he can get—a charming, disarming Canadian psychiatrist who seems to be the author’s only salvation. The doctor’s unconventional ‘cures’ become more demanding, harsh and inhumane in the cult-like setting and the author is continually subjected to egregious treatment by this off-center psychiatrist who so heavily medicates him that he almost dies. And yet this is an amazing story of a brave man speaking out, his liberation, his resilience, his return to self love and acceptance—and the gradual growth to family healing.

What a crazy ride this book was. Who knew such insane practices happened so recently? Really great writing. I could have skipped the end. And I really wanted to know if the doctor was still practising.

Much has been written about “crazy therapies” the unproven, unusual, and downright strange psychological counselling and therapeutic practice’s some patients have been subjected too. “Inheritance of Shame: A Memoir “-- a debut by Canadian author Peter Gajdics. Using journals, official documents, medical records and recordings, Gajdics recalled his bizarre story in a shocking narrative, then afterwards how he reconnected with his parents and siblings, and traveled to Europe and Hungary to explore his family heritage.

The youngest of five, raised in the Vancouver B.C. region, his father was an orphaned Hungarian immigrant and his mother escaped from a communist Yugoslavia. As observant Catholic’s, Gajdics was raised in a churched culture, his parents would never fully accept him as a gay individual. As a young adult, after accepting payment for sex, he realized he needed psychological counselling. Next, Gajdics received a referral from the Health Authority for the only psychiatrist that was accepting new patents: Dr. Alfonzo.

Gajdics was highly skeptical of Dr. Alfonzo right from the start. Dr. Alfonzo insisted that all his patients needed medication, which he overprescribed. Dr. Alfonzo was writing his own book at the time, and believed that only he could be the “savior” for his patients with his cutting edge Primal Therapy, Rebirthing, and Reparative Therapy that offered a cure for homosexuality, in his controlled residential living “Styx” community homes. Due to the medication Gajdics was prescribed he gained 40 lbs. (from the book)… “Demons rattled beneath the floorboards of my soul and helplessness overwhelmed me. Rivotril, Elavil, Surmontil, Sinequan, daily—nothing helped.”… If Gajdics would have been older and more mature, he may have outright resisted the control Dr. Alfonzo had over his life. Instead, Gajdics was in Dr. Alfonzo’s care for nearly six years. Reparative therapy was eventually discredited and therapists were advised not to practice it. In 1998, Gajdics was contacted by an attorney for the College of Physicians and Surgeons regarding formal complaints filed against Dr. Alfonzo.

Gajdics story was extremely fascinating especially during the first half where he provides readers with a detailed account of Dr. Alfonzo’s disturbing behaviors, unconventional therapeutic methods, and using his residential patients for free labor. Fortunately, after blaming his parents for all his problems claiming they tried to “crucify” him (during Rebirthing Therapy), his parents welcomed Gajdics back in their lives after he discontinued therapy with Dr. Alfonzo. Much of Gajdics family history was usually described in painstaking detail, many of these details would only be of interest immediate family members. Gajdics applied for Hungarian citizenship under his father’s name, toured Europe in 2004, wrote lovingly of his father’s decline and death, and his mother’s escape from the communist concentration camps during WWII. It was really remarkable after so much conflict, Gajdics was able to reconnect with his family in such a meaningful and inspiring way. With thanks to Brown Paper Press via NetGalley for the direct digital copy for the purpose of review.

A stunning piece of literature, that I'll definitely remember for many years to come. A punch in the gut, with thought-provoking lines and a message for this society that's getting harsher and harsher to people who need its help the most. I learned a lot while reading and also retrospected while having a look at various parts of my soul. I recommend this book to all adult readers out there. It's so beautifully written and endlessly mind-challenging.

Peter Gajdics' memoir is haunting and raw. Once I started reading it, I had trouble looking away. His experiences of living within a therapeutic cult in Canada for five years are bizarre and sad. His parents' memories of war and torment intertwined helped to add a key layer to the book. His descriptions of European cities was excellent as well. I visited Budapest a few months ago and his words brought me right back.

*Read via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Peter Gajdics (pronounced 'Gay Dicks' by cruel schoolmates) was born in 1964 and possibly 'reborn' by the telling of this startling- often disturbing- memoir.
He lived with his family in Vancover, Canada. His father had emigrated and escaped from Hungary, whilst his mother also escaped Yugoslavia after being imprisoned (as a German) in communist concentration camps.
Whilst the family was Catholic, that connection to church activities and damnation of sex, led a young Peter (aged 6) to be sexually abused. Truancy, disengagement, sexual promiscuity and his growing need to understand his homosexuality leads Peter to the door of a therapist 'Dr Alfonso'.
Psychiatry and the immersion of patients into 'alternative' therapies is where, for Peter, his life spirals into unorthodox treatments and him living in a 'cult' house with others who undertake the commands and cures Dr Alfonso prescribes them.
The group of Styx households grow in other towns and quickly Peter is denying his family, his friends and still questioning his sexuality.
That he finally gains enough strength to escape and return to his parents is inspiring. When through reconnecting with his father particularly their family ancestry and review of European(particularly Hungarian) history is described makes the whole story so positive.
The ideas surrounding reparative therapies to 'cure' homosexuality took years to be thrown out as both dangerous and unethical. Despite the World Health Organisation(WHO) denouncing their medical/psychological danger many still approve of their methods (including current Vice President Mike Pence).
The vulnerability of young people (seen not only through the author but also his parents as children) should always be protected. Mix in religious prejudice, egotistical psychiatrists and the misrepresentation of those who do not conform to the status quo always ends in tragedy. Often only determination and sacrifice in some strong individuals will overcome such a life as we read in this memoir.
This is definitely not an easy read as every experience is intimately outlined on the page. Sex, violence and life trauma form a catalogue of inhumanity through many of the people readers will experience. Luckily through his writing Peter Gajdics has managed to survive. As readers we also need to learn about such a potential destruction of not only his but so many other lives.

An incredibly moving and important memoir.
To think that even in 2017 there are still countries and cultures that believe homosexuality is a choice and something that can be changed by therapy and in worse cases, experiments.

Wow! What a read. The reader is taken on a gripping, shocking and unimaginable journey shared by this courageous author. The subject of homosexuality and the 'need' by some to 'cure' this 'affliction' is described incredibly honestly by Gajdic's own shocking experiences. To quote the book "The horror of it all provokes disbelief". I couldn't put this book down!