Hiram's Way

Book excerpt: Hiram Kauffman is an internationally noted figure in academic psychology, having achieved a full professorship at Yale. Never married and tightly focused on his work, he assigns a lesser priority to family. An exception is a yearly Thanksgiving Day dinner hosted in his New Haven apartment. Present are his sister Hannah, also never married and a New York Public Library administrator, and his brother Harris, a business writer married to Laura with two sons: Samuel is a rabbi with wife Ruth and two little girls; Michael is a science reporter for The New York Times. That’s the background as the novelized memoir’s anchor character approaches his 69th birthday. Currently a professor emeritus, he continues to teach and mentor Ph.D. candidates including Lynne Davidowe, later romantically involved with Michael. Following a period of not feeling well, Hiram is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor that doctors expect will end his life in 12 to 18 months. How the impending death of the Kauffman family’s patriarch impacts the “great man” himself and all those around him consumes the major portion of the book. Although early chapters may suggest otherwise, this is not a “downer” of a story. On the contrary, “Hiram’s Way” spotlights how relationships are generally impacted for the better during major life crises.