The Prodigal Father: A True Story of Tragedy, Survival, and Reconciliation in an American Family

By Jon Du Pre

Chronicles the author's search for his once successful father among the nation's homeless and describes the process by which he came to forgive the man who abandoned his family twenty years earlier. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561706744
• ISBN13: 9781561706747
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Hay House
• Length: 285 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Without equal!

I have never felt so personally attached to a book in my life. Jon became my friend on the first few pages, and there were times, like I told him in an e-mail that I wanted to shake him good for contributing to his father's addictions. Then my attitude would change. He never ceased being my friend though.Having a rather awkward relationship with my own father made this story "real" to me. I never went to the lengths Jon did to "make it right."I recommend this book to everyone, because everyone can find themselves in this unbelievable story of the human spirit and the will of a young man to "make things right." I'm sorry there are only 5 stars I could give this book.I hope those of you who have read this fantastic story will agree with me when I take words from the Forward and say, Jon, you took the "right sense" way. Thank you again for writing it, and bearing your soul to all of us who needed to read it.Ron

Absolutely Terrific

I rarely find myself drawn to "relationship" stories, but Prodigal Father was terrific. I found myself drawn to each chapter and couldn't put it down until I hit the last page.

A riveting book

I found this book difficult to put down possibly because I was searching also to see why Jon's father became the person he did.

the father-his side

The subject of Jon Du Pre's book, his father, Robert Owen Dupre [one word], aged 73, is still a homeless person in Tucson, Az. Bob Dupre is presented by his son as a complex, sometimes friendly and helpful and sometimes out of control and neglectful father. Jon characterizes his post childhood relationship with Bob as first, for most of his adult life, feelings of chaos and some devestation and then ultimately discovering strong feelings of forgiveness, gained through finding Bob and facing his feelings in a forecful and sometimes angry but very brief reunion in San Diego in the mid 90's. Bob remained homeless, mostly in Tucson, Az., and was not again ever genuinely contacted by Jon. For Jon, the issue he says is PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Jon does not use the word child abuse, but he describes a great deal of it, stressing childhood memories of chaotic and poverty stricken times and broken relationships, and especially from his Dad, neglect.It is not as popular as it used to be to discuss child abuse openly, and some therapy groups now deny [mostly falsely I believe] most claims of the more serious kinds of abuse. It is thus in the new century [unnecessarily I think] difficult for people like Jon to tell the entire truth. Jon uses amorphous and non-controlled narrative segnments to highlight his memories and feelings, but the feelings and some of the memories come through very powerfully. Homelessness also produces much PTSD. Jon's father faces surgery for two cataracts next month at the local VA hospital in Tucson. I bought Bob a begal and coffee yesterday at Brugers Begals at Congress and Stone in downtown Tucson and tried to get a special residency for Bob at a local shelter because of his eye problems. I failed. Read the book; its a very good one!John Patrick Molloy

This is the American ANGELA'S ASHES!

I read this book from cover to cover without putting it down. It is an immensely entertaining, moving, and inspirational book about a seemingly perfect man (handsome, successful, great family) who is tortured by the memory of his childhood, and of his lawyer father, who left the family when the author was 14 and then ended up homeless, by choice. In order for the author to deal with his life, he has to search out his long-lost father and find out, "Why! " Anyone who's ever been a family member will relate to this marvelous book, which should be a bestseller, if there's any justice in the world.