Necessary Journeys: Letting Ourselves Learn from Life

Although this popular medical correspondent on Good Morning America and 20/20 has a full life as a practicing surgeon, mother and wife, she recounts some painful moments and admittedly poor choices on her journey to midlife satisfaction. In a narrative that is positioned as self-help but is actually more of a memoir framed with references to Scott Peck, Parker Palmer, Carol Gilligan and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Snyderman tells of a seemingly idyllic Midwestern family life in Fort Wayne, Ind., where her physician father was a role model for her professional aspirations. She reveals that she was raped in college and believes that the silence and shame attached to the experience lingered with her for years in the form of depression, low self-esteem, social withdrawal and weight issues, until she finally sought help after her first marriage failed. Along the way, however, Snyderman's problems didn't prevent her from attending medical school, getting married and taking a residency in Pittsburgh, where, by accident, she got her start on TV. Later, she established a practice in Little Rock, Ark., socialized with the Clintons, married a man who, she says, ultimately was unfaithful and took her money. Her story harbors many emotional touchstones and triumphs: a cancer scare, a happy romance and successful third marriage in San Francisco, a magical bonding with an adopted daughter, her newborn son's breathing problem and consequent hospitalization. Yet many readers, especially Snyderman's TV audience, may be curious about some issues that are only partly revealed, such as her parents' response to her rape and her relationship to the father of her second child. (June)