A Father's Story

Product Information

In his book, "A Father's Story," Lionel Dahmer shares his personal journey and struggles in coming to terms with his son's heinous crimes. I find it abominable that people can be so hateful to parents of murderers, especially parents like the Dahmer's who, like so many others, do what they believe is a good job raising their children and guiding them to be decent, law-abiding citizens. However, the book is also a brave attempt to seek answers and bring about understanding of what can lead a person to commit appalling acts. He learned the grisly details of his son's crimes during the trial before which his son was found to be legally sane and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment in February 1992. However, I'm not interested in hearing the man's self-justification on why he would not have known about Jeffrey and that it couldn't possibly be him who's the problem.

It's hard enough to wrap one's head around the atrocity known as serial murder, now imagine that that the serial murderer is your son. Not always the parents are monsters, not always they are responsible for their children becoming what they end up becoming. What I mean is that for me to attempt to describe this book would take away from the many layers of emotion that this book reveals.

NEITHER ME OR YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT LIONEL IS GOING THROUGH, SO IT'S BETTER TO ONLY SYMPATHISE AND NOT GIVE YOUR OWN OPINIONS.

REVIEW IS LONG AND INTENDED ONLY FOR THOSE WHO ARE DEEPLY INTERESTED IN READING THE BOOK, NOT FOR CASUALTIES. A reality check for all, especially parents, this is a heart wrenching book that gave me a very different perspective of the notorious Jeffrey Dahmer. or accompanying admission that Dahmer Senior had also had similar desires "but never took them that far", as if he is so desperate to claim any sort of emotional connection that he is willing to take some sort of pale credit for his son's monstrosities. An anguished memoir written by the father of a serial killer, trying to imagine what went so horribly wrong inside his family.

They added another sibling that they were paying more attention to because he was colic and let's be honest he was the best kid so they're going to give him more attention where as Jeffrey was odd so they probably stay clear of him. Instead he had to somehow unify the son he thought he knew and loved with a monster capable of unthinkable acts of violence. It is both a touching family memoir and a haunting confession - the searing account of a man who never relented in his effort to fathom the deepest quarters of his son's affliction, even as they pointed to his own. It's not just the serial killings that have marked Jeffrey Dahmer's complex personality, and I must say: there is no excuse to harm, abuse, and kill a human.

I would argue a conscience and empathy keep atheists like me from hurting people to get what we want. The most important thing to me that just makes me want to say after reading this is: Thank you Dad for being with me all these years, and all the unconditional love that I've always had.Someone should have told Lionel to hire an editor before releasing ‘A Father’s Story’ for publication.

Dahmer boldly confronts the guilt he carries for not recognizing signs of his son's deviant behavior earlier.The sadness and the inescapable reality of a book like this is that Dahmer, like the rest of us, will never really know what made his son do what he did. The trial of Jeffrey Dahmer was to determine if he was guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity – prison or mental institution? I found out that after this book was published that Joyce Dahmer, Jeffrey’s mother, interpreted it as a direct attempt to blame her, the mother.