Shmoogie

The true story of a boy whose parents could never say no to him.

Over-indulged, over-protected, and falling into the victim role, it’s not surprising that ‘poor Shmoogie’ grew up to be a very unhappy and embittered person.

When they were confused and enfeebled by old age, Shmoogie pressured his parents to change their wills to leave everything to him and disinherit his elder brother. He also gained control of his parents’ bank accounts, preventing them from spending their savings on end-of-life care at home as they wished, and they both died in misery in an NHS hospital geriatric ward.

Completely lacking insight, he was unable to benefit from understanding the psychological meaning of the undiagnosable pains that plagued him for much of his life.

Consumed by resentment and full of hatred towards his own brother for perceived slights, a psychiatric diagnosis remains elusive, but this book attempts to bring together the threads that led to the many examples of Shmoogie’s dysfunctional behaviour.

An illuminating background to the narrative is provided by the inclusion of a previously unpublished autobiographical account of the writer John Symonds’s early life.

Available from Amazon and all good bookshops.