Walking Through Walls: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Philip Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2008

Running with Scissors meets Bewitched in this irresistible memoir, as Philip Smith describes growing up in 1960s Miami with his decorator father, who one day discovers he has the miraculous power to talk to the dead and heal the sick.

After a full day of creating beautiful interiors for the rich and famous, Lew Smith would come home, take off his tie, and get down to his real work as a psychic healer who miraculously cured thousands of people. For his son, Philip, watching his father transform himself, at a moment's notice, from gracious society decorator into a healer with supernatural powers was a bit like living with Clark Kent and Superman.

Walking Through Walls is Philip Smith's astonishing memoir of growing up in a household where séances, talking spirits, and exorcisms were daily occurrences, and inexplicable psychic healings resulted in visitors suddenly discarding their crutches and wheelchairs or being cured of fatal diseases.

While there are benefits to having a miracle man in the house, Philip soon discovers the downside of living with a father who psychically knows everything he is doing. Surrounded by invisible spirits who tend to behave like nagging relatives, Philip looks for ways to escape his mystical home life -- including forays into sex, surfing, and even Scientology.

By turns hilarious and profound, Walking Through Walls recounts Philip Smith's often bizarre but always magical coming of age in a household that felt like a cross between Lourdes and the set of Rosemary's Baby, and shows how he managed to map out his own identity in the shadow of a father who, truly, loomed larger than life itself.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Smith, an artist and former managing editor of GQ magazine, reflects on his youth in 1960s Miami. He wanted a father who mowed the lawn, drank beer, and fell asleep in front of the TV. Instead, his dad, Lew Smith, was a successful interior decorator, who went through a macrobiotic transformation and began tuning into mystical vibrations. Young Philip was introduced to fasting and yogic diets, while Lew explored esoteric spirituality, reincarnation, Bach Flower Remedies and such metaphysical arcana as the akashic records, an ethereal Library of Congress of every soul in human history: [Philip] wasn't sure if this endless invisible database also included reruns of I Love Lucy or Perry Mason, but it probably did. After a 1968 encounter with famed trance medium Arthur Ford, Lew found his true calling as a psychic healer, and overnight our isolated house became Lourdes central. Smith's fine flair for waggish anecdotes is especially evident in his riotous recall of being suckered into Scientology at age 17. He looks back at his father with much affection in this mirthful memoir that bounces between the comic and the cosmic. Smith is a gifted humorist, and readers are certain to request more merriment. (Sept. 16)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. In this astounding coming-of-age story, Smith, former managing editor of GQ, describes his father's transformation from Miami's famed decorator-to-the-wealthy into something altogether more strange—the then-backwater city's resident psychic healer who performed exorcisms and seances and rid both the rich and the poor of infections, cancer, and paralysis. Here's the twist: according to the author, Lew Smith could truly heal people. The problem is that the author wanted a normal dad, one who sells insurance, comes home from work, has a beer, and falls asleep in front of the TV. A 1970s teen rebellion ensued. Hilarious and touching; for fans of the goofball and paranormal.—Elizabeth Brinkley
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books; First Edition edition (September 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416542949
• ISBN-13: 978-1416542940
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (204 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #886,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable and fascinating memoir, August 29, 2008

By 

Margaret Dybala "too many books, too little time" (Pearland, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walking Through Walls: A Memoir (Hardcover)

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This engaging memoir is so readable that I could hardly put it down. It is the story of a family living in Florida, with the author growing up in the 1950's and coming of age during the '60s. His mother is a wonderful, lovely woman. It sounds patronizing to say she is "colorful," and I don't mean it like that. She is a beautiful, interesting person who walks to her own music. His father is a successful interior decorator and there is a great story of him being kidnapped to work in a palace in Haiti during the 1950's.

The idyllic life changes, however, when the father begins to acquire a "spiritual healing power." Soon there is talk of reading the Akashic record, using pendulums to discern truth, psychic healings, etc. A large part of the book is about the strain this puts on the marriage, and how difficult, yet also magical, it was to grow up around all of this.

I don't want to say too much more, since I am borderline spoiler already. But this is a worthwhile read, and I hope it makes bestseller.

On a personal note, I also grew up with a family member who claimed this kind of ability. I felt happy, in a bittersweet way, that it wasn't so bad for the author. For me, I felt like I lived in a Stephen King book sometimes. I usually hate this sort of thing (imagine growing up in Rose Red or the Overlook!). I state this to show how compelling and well written this book is!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars charts a son's pathway to acceptance, then admiration, August 30, 2008

By 

T. Fraser (Texas Hill Country, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walking Through Walls: A Memoir (Hardcover)

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This book contains two stories: one, the account of Lew Smith's metamorphosis from society decorator to psychic healer and two, the author's pathway from embarrassment, to acceptance and finally to admiration for his father's talents.

We are able to follow Lew Smith's metaphysical pathway and growth, as well as the hurdles and derision he must overcome in practicing his healing. For those who have a firm belief in the superiority of allopathic medicine, the recounting of Lew Smith's use of healing energies, discussion of the etheric body and use of a pendulum to diagnosis disease will probably have a few eyes rolling. For those who share Smith's view of modern medicine ("You know what your wonderful doctors do? They give you some pills that make you sicker than when you walked in the door. Then they give you more pills to counteract the first pills..."), you'll wish he could have taught in a medical school and been given the latitude to introduce an entirely new aspect to the teaching of medical care. Instead, Lew Smith had to contend with visits from FDA inspectors, confrontations with arrogant doctors and being hauled away by police when he tries to help an accident victim.

Being "normal" is the life wish of most kids and we see the author's struggle for normal in statements such as "At the age of ten, I was not about to sit down and simply be the only acid-balanced, nontoxic macrobiotic kid in all of Miami." The dualism of his growing up - "out of necessity I developed a dual personality. During school hours I needed to appear as normal as possible, in order to avoid being beaten up or laughed out of class...", and his desire for a 'normal' father - "What I really wanted was a father who mowed the lawn, drank beer, and fell asleep in front of the TV."

Fortunately for all who read this book, Philip does take in his father's lessons ("I didn't want to tell my father, but since that first lesson, I had been practicing the pendulum a lot...") because this acceptance of his father's teachings allows for a better and more insightful retelling of his father's talents. The culmination of the author's coming full circle and fully appreciating what a remarkable man his father was comes with his eulogy at his father's funeral: "...my father devoted his life to creating the future of medicine. He struggled against official ignorance and prejudice...We may not begin to even understand what he did until the next century...I know he would want his work to live on...".

Lew Smith's son has ensured his story and work will live on in this wonderful book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir., January 2, 2009

By 

C. Wollin (IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walking Through Walls: A Memoir (Hardcover)

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I read it within two days, and I had a hard time dragging it out that long! Having spent several years living in the Keys, I immediately connected with Philip's surroundings in his memoir.

He tells the story of his beautiful, classy mother, and his father, a prominent Miami decorator, who was best known for creating the beaded curtain of the 60's, and of himself, a young boy growing up with highly unusual parents. In the beginning, it seems they live the idyllic life, being successful in business and moving in exciting social circles. One day, his father comes home convinced he has a disorder called sanpaku, starts a vegetarian macrobiotic diet, and with that, everything changes. It doesn't take long before he has a spiritual awakening, and finds he has the gift to heal others.

All this is very stressful on the family. Philip's father, Lew Smith, wants to pursue his gift, refine and develop it, and his mother has a hard time supporting him, or even in time showing any interest in his gifts whatsoever.She has her own interests which include sleeping in, unfiltered Camel cigarettes, diet pills, glamour and fashion. The main part of this memoir is about the struggle Philip goes through alternating between resentment, embarrassment, and finally acceptance of his father's new way of life. He has to learn to fend for himself because at times, his parents seem to forget that he even exists, but, eventually his father keeps tabs on him like no other father ever could. Philip never has any privacy because his father can see what he's doing at all times, either through his spirit guides or through the use of his pendulum. He must endure other embarrassments as well. Just going grocery shopping becomes a public spectacle as his father holds his pendulum above the melons, asking his spirit guides which one is the ripest and has the least amount of pesticides. Philip's father brings him along on exorcisms and healings, all which have become everyday occurences in their lives, and then he must attend school and pretend to be just an average kid to fit in.

To try and define his own life, Philip rebels, and describes his experiences with great detail; smoking "mellow yellow", experimenting sexually, and disappearing to Ecuador, among other things. Eventually, he comes to the realization that even though his father has his faults, he loves him and is proud of him as he sees how others have come to view his father, as a selfless healer.

All in all, this was a fascinating book that I didn't want to end. Whether you believe in the metaphysical or not, it's a great read that brings back lots of those 60's memories!