I was torn between giving this a three or a four--if only I had a pendulum to help me! A very funny, very sweet, very evocative memoir of the author's father who seems to have been--in the latter three or so decades of his life--the most gifted psychic ever. So I loved the tone and the characters. But tHere's not much of a narrative arc; it's more a series of chronological vignettes. Still, it's so atmospheric of a Miami that no longer exists and I was left feeling so bereft that I never had a chance to meet the author's father in person that I had to go with the higher rating. Lew Smith, if you're floating in the ether out there...and I know you are...there's a few things I'd like to talk to you about. And Philip, thanks for the warm, wacky reading experience. A very interesting book, even though it seemed to drag repetitively in places. This is the story of Lew Smith through the eyes of his son, Phillip. Lew is a decorator for dictators, movie stars, and other super rich people. Then he becomes a macrobiotic diet devotee and things just snowball. By the end of the book he is healing people long distance, creating projectors so others can do the same, communicating with spirit guides and watching his son--no matter what state or even continent he is on. Phillip wants to know what it's like to live a life of privacy but he never finds out. Not until his dad unexpectedly and to all his followers surprise and horror, dies. No one thought it could happen. I don't know what I think of this book. So much of what the author relates sounds so impossible that I find it hard to believe, yet it is related with such sincerity and matter-of-factness that I find it hard not to believe. And since I don't know what I think about psychic phenomena, I don't have a foundation to operate from. So I guess I'll just take it at face value and not judge it, one way or the other. Phillip grew up to be an artist and writer. He has an interesting web site that is more about his dad than his own work. I was surprised that Lew Smith isn't on Wickipedia. I would like some confirmation, but other than a few newspaper clippings on Smith's website, I don't think I will find much.The book itself is pretty well written. Smith's attitude towards his neighbors in the beginning of the book was getting on my nerves, but then it moved on into the heart of the book, his dad's "ministry" and what it felt like to try and grow up as a normal teenager with a dad like Lew Smith, who sounds like an extremely kind, wise, and loving father and person.
What do You think about Walking Through Walls (2008)?
So good! Interesting story of the son of a psychic. Lots of fascinating details.
—green
Entertaining, if not a bit unbelievable.
—Stayfearless134
