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Secret Life: An Autobiography
by
Michael Ryan
At the age of five, Michael Ryan was molested by a neighbor. Nearly 40 years later, he found himself methodically preparing to seduce a girl who was barely more than a child. As Ryan describes his free fall into sexual obsession, he creates an autobiography that is at once harrowing and redemptive, heartbreaking and profoundly moral. "By turns repelling and seductive . . .
...more
Paperback
,
356 pages
Published
June 25th 1996
by Vintage
(first published 1995)
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Community Reviews
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A prizewinning poet confesses his sex addiction, reveals he was sexually molested at the age of five, gives a painful account of his horrible violent alcoholic father and tells us all he himself is the loathesomest of humans and ought to be dead.
Could be pretty interesting, I thought. Well, it really isn't.
All the above is in the first 50 pages. For the next 250 pages we get a really tedious description of growing up in 50s/60s America. We've had this a kazillion times before in better books th ...more
Could be pretty interesting, I thought. Well, it really isn't.
All the above is in the first 50 pages. For the next 250 pages we get a really tedious description of growing up in 50s/60s America. We've had this a kazillion times before in better books th ...more
view all 5 comments
An incredibly ugly, painful, life-changing memoir from one of America's finest poets. Michael Ryan went through the earthly equivalent of hell for many, many years, progressing from molestation as a child through a crushing sex addiction and the torture of concealing it all. It unveils the dark story that colors so much of Ryan's poetry, yet bears an unmistakable twinge of hope.
Dec 11, 2008
Liz
marked it as to-read
Heard about this "icky memoir" from an
article
about literary overshares. could be interesting?
This is a brave book that is well written. It explores sexual trauma as a child and how it impacted his sexuality as an adult. It might be a hard book for many to read.
a memoir that I thoroughly enjoyed. Well written book on sexual addiction, childhood molestation. It is a very honest book. It doesn't ask for sympathy.
Really interesting memoir about compulsions and sexual addiction.
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