"The road out to the Bromfman farm in late August is no different from
thousands of other roads to grain farms in Kansas-hard-baked dirt dusted
with a fine powder of yellow clay that shifts almost imperceptibly with
the slightest movement of the air. Randy Larsen was on his way to the
farm in response to a call saying someone had died out there." Thus
begins the suspenseful story of a poor farming family in which each
generation holds the next in its deadly, predictable grip until
murderous opposition explodes. The characters, all beautifully drawn and
sympathetic in their own way, are determined to escape this fate, and
some seem close to doing so. Thomas Ogden's debut novel has received
international recognition and Best Seller Ranking: Number Four on the
Israeli Best Seller List for the year 2017--Ha'Aretz Newspaper ("The New
York Times of Israel")Israel's Critics' Choice 2017 Top 10 works of
fiction. 'A beautiful and touching novel.' - Maariv, Tel Aviv'Without
any harshness, and with a steady voice, Ogden writes the story of
trauma, transmitted from one generation to the next, until it is
interrupted, violently.' - Ha'aretz, Tel AvivPraise from Italy: 'Thomas
Ogden, who is perhaps the most renowned psychoanalyst writing today,
demonstrates his prowess as a writer of fiction in his stunning debut
novel, The Parts Left Out. His keen eye for the complexity of human
relationships and human frailties makes the characters so real and
compelling that they seem to step out of the page. Ogden's novel
confirms that the truest concepts developed in psychoanalysis have
already appeared in the insight of the artist. This story takes hold of
the reader in its opening paragraphs and does not let go until its
heart-wrenching ending has been told. I found this book almost
impossible to put down.'- Antonino Ferro, M.D., President of the Italian
Psychoanalytic AssociationPraise in the United States: 'Ogden writes
movingly and convincingly about everyday life, at the same time that he
writes tragedy. . . The dialogue rings true psychologically, at the same
time that it is unnerving . . . I do not find this a conventional novel
in the sense of offering a smooth or consistent narrative, much less a
single point of view. Rather it is jumpy, unsettling . . . but this is
also, I believe, its strength.'- Madelon Sprengnether, Regents Professor
of English, University of Minnesota, International Journal of
Psychoanalysis'Not only is Thomas Ogden the most creative psychoanalytic
author writing today, but in this novel he shows himself to be a
wonderful teller of tales. The Parts Left Out is an auspicious
achievement. As a work of fiction it succeeds in accomplishing the most
difficult of feats: to be both a spellbinder and an in-depth exploration
of human traits that bring on unspeakable tragedy. Tom Ogden knows the
human mind as few do. In The Parts Left Out he demonstrates his
remarkable understanding not only of the mind, but of the human heart as
well.' - Theodore Jacobs, MD, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association
