The Parts Left Out

“The road out to the Bromfman farm in late August is no different from thousands of other roads to grain farms in Kansas—hard-baked dirt dusted with a fine powder of yellow clay that shifts almost imperceptibly with the slightest movement of the air. Randy Larsen was on his way to the farm in response to a call saying someone had died out there.” Thus begins the suspenseful story of a poor farming family in which each generation holds the next in its deadly, predictable grip until murderous opposition explodes. The characters, all beautifully drawn and sympathetic in their own way, are determined to escape this fate, and some seem close to doing so.

Thomas Ogden’s debut novel has received international recognition and Best Seller Ranking:

Number Four on the Israeli Best Seller List for the year 2017--Ha’Aretz Newspaper (“The New York Times of Israel”)

Israel’s Critics’ Choice 2017 Top 10 works of fiction.

'A beautiful and touching novel.'

- Maariv, Tel Aviv

'Without any harshness, and with a steady voice, Ogden writes the story of trauma, transmitted from one generation to the next, until it is interrupted, violently.'

- Ha’aretz, Tel Aviv

Praise from Italy:

'Thomas Ogden, who is perhaps the most renowned psychoanalyst writing today, demonstrates his prowess as a writer of fiction in his stunning debut novel, The Parts Left Out. His keen eye for the complexity of human relationships and human frailties makes the characters so real and compelling that they seem to step out of the page. Ogden’s novel confirms that the truest concepts developed in psychoanalysis have already appeared in the insight of the artist. This story takes hold of the reader in its opening paragraphs and does not let go until its heart-wrenching ending has been told. I found this book almost impossible to put down.'

- Antonino Ferro, M.D., President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Association

Praise in the United States:

'Ogden writes movingly and convincingly about everyday life, at the same time that he writes tragedy. . . The dialogue rings true psychologically, at the same time that it is unnerving . . . I do not find this a conventional novel in the sense of offering a smooth or consistent narrative, much less a single point of view. Rather it is jumpy, unsettling . . . but this is also, I believe, its strength.'

- Madelon Sprengnether, Regents Professor of English, University of Minnesota, International Journal of Psychoanalysis

'Not only is Thomas Ogden the most creative psychoanalytic author writing today, but in this novel he shows himself to be a wonderful teller of tales. The Parts Left Out is an auspicious achievement. As a work of fiction it succeeds in accomplishing the most difficult of feats: to be both a spellbinder and an in-depth exploration of human traits that bring on unspeakable tragedy. Tom Ogden knows the human mind as few do. In The Parts Left Out he demonstrates his remarkable understanding not only of the mind, but of the human heart as well.'

- Theodore Jacobs, MD, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association