Title: From Brokenness to Atonement, Faith, Hope, and Love: A Vietnam War Sniper’s Journey and a Psychiatrist’s Bibliotherapy
Author: Hani Raoul Khouzam, MD, MPH, FAPA
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing
ISBN: 979-8885403948
Pages: 190
Genre: Faith
Reviewed by: Dan MacIntosh
Hollywood Book Reviews
Hani Raoul Khouzam’s “Christian” book is Christian in the most subtle sense. Yes, it follows one man’s journey, from horrors experienced during war, to a much more contented life many years later, where faith helped him grow and get over his great regrets. However, Khouzam never hits the reader over the head with religious lingo and language. He rarely even quotes Bible verses. Instead, he leans much more to his trained psychological analysis of his subject to help tell this story. It is, as its title infers, a story of individual atonement.
The book is all about a man only identified as Mr. L, who was an orphan reared by an especially caring Carmelite Nun. Mr. L grows up to be an intelligent and talented man, with military skills that place him in an important role as a Vietnam War sniper. It is in Vietnam, though, where Mr. L experiences circumstances which lead to his greatest life regrets. Through no fault of his own, he is tricked into shooting and killing innocent victims. This experience would haunt him for most of his life.
Along with the narrative of how Khouzam treated Mr. L, this book is also filled with fascinating information about the writer’s career. He is careful to praise the many psychological professors who have mentored him over the years. Khouzam also goes into great detail about many of the unique treatments he has learned and applied in his practice.
Khouzam also inserts information that – while not always directly related to the patient and his mental issues – is interesting and detailed. Khouzam writes about music, for instance, with love and passion, as well as analyzing the writing of Dostoyevsky. Such sections might be distracting, if they weren’t done so well. Khouzman keeps the reader fully engaged, no matter what tangent he happens to follow.
Mr. L eventually found true, romantic love, which – along with Khouzam’s counseling – helped lead to his emotional healing. One way he was also able to ‘give back’ was by involving himself in the production and distribution of prosthetic limbs for soldiers and landmine victims. Before he found a measure of peace through using his talents to help others, though, Mr. L had one serious death wish. He felt that, because he took the lives of innocent victims, he had no right to go on living. For instance, when he volunteered to help remove remaining landmines from former war zones, he did so with a secret wish that he would step on one of these and end his own life.
The enduring message of this book is that there is hope for even the most psychologically damaged among us. Although most of us will never experience the kind of tragedy he went through, all of us have mistakes and regrets that dog us, in many cases, for most of our lives. Khouzam strikes the reader as a man who will not give up on his patients. In much the same way God has been described as the Hound of Heaven, Khouzam somewhat mirrors that admirable characteristic of ‘seeking the lost’ through his work. Even after such a confusing and troubling military conflict as the Vietnam war, which sent many soldiers home wounded – both physically and mentally – there is still hope for restoration and healing.
This is an inspiring story. Even a troubled man, like Mr. L, had plenty of goodness deep down inside of him. He just needed someone like Khouzam to help bring that buried goodness up to the surface. I recommend From Brokenness to Atonement, Faith, Hope, and Love by Hani Raoul Khouzam, MD, MPH, FAPA to readers who enjoy stories of deep human connection, struggles and insights with war, and the beautiful, complex nature of faith, hope and love.