false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178674325m/820591.jpg 820591 10 The 1990s seems to be the decade of revelation. What used to be private is becoming increasingly public. All is aired on talk shows whose guests are no longer celebrities hawking their latest film, book, or album, but ordinary citizens selling their personal traumas. Mothers Who Sleep with Their Daughters' Boyfriends; Men Who Wear Their Girlfriends' Clothes; People Whose Families Have Been Murdered Before Their Eyes--no subject is too salacious or too shameful for public consumption. <br><br> And now here comes a true story about A Woman Who Slept with Her Father--prime fodder for the TV talk show feeding frenzy. Certainly it would be easy to lump Kathryn Harrison's new memoir, <I>The Kiss</I> into this same category of titillating topics, but that would be a mistake. There is nothing remotely titillating about Harrison's book; instead, it reads like a slow descent into hell--one that compels and repels in almost equal measure at times. Harrison, who did not really meet her father until she was 20, takes the reader on a difficult journey into her loveless childhood, her bouts with anorexia and bulimia, and, eventually, the incestuous 4-year affair with her father. Her prose is deceptively simple; her choice of present tense to describe events that occurred many years ago forces an immediacy--almost a complicity--upon the reader that heightens both revulsion and compassion. <br><br> <I>The Kiss</I> is not for everybody. Some readers will be outraged by its subject matter; others will find it just too painful to read. But for those who make it through, this harrowing tale promises the reward of a life reclaimed and a tragedy transcended. 2034026 1997 The Kiss total:716|5:98|4:195|3:260|2:114|1:49| 716 2327 1025 158 3 1 false false Thu Jun 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 19 14:05:15 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 20 07:04:45 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 23 14:52:25 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 23 15:02:33 -0800 2008
I feel great respect for the bravery that went into writing it. Something bugs me which is that after all of that, she didn't go into the healing part of the trauma. Well, maybe that was ...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 25 06:08:11 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 25 06:46:02 -0800 2007 ...more...]]> 1 1 false false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu Jan 29 01:58:57 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 02:03:58 -0800 2009
Listen: No one wishes what happened to Harrison on their worst enemy, but that should have no bearing on if her book is readable or not. The Kiss is probably one of the most mind-blowingly numb books I have ever read- it reads...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu May 10 06:34:38 -0700 2007 Thu May 10 06:41:56 -0700 2007
This memoir is ... all the words that have been attributed to it. Lyrical at times, provocative, s...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Wed Jan 30 14:59:03 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 30 15:05:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jan 20 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 29 12:20:31 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 29 12:26:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 1 false false Wed Aug 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 21 19:29:59 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 28 09:22:43 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 29 21:53:11 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 29 22:16:44 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Nov 14 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 14 07:02:55 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 10:36:09 -0800 2009
It is her story of being born to teen parents who barely know each other, abandoned (physically and...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 22 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 21 13:22:06 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 09:33:38 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Wed Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 14:02:04 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 13:42:45 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jul 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 13 18:45:34 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 14 17:07:24 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Jul 19 21:12:43 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 19 21:18:01 -0700 2008
The author if this book shocked the publishing world with her memoir about being romanced and seduced by her father.

Remarkable and strange. This is not a titallating detailed account of her relationship with her father (thankfully), but it is an...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Mar 26 21:29:48 -0700 2008 Sat Dec 20 14:59:45 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jul 28 20:28:55 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 20:37:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Mar 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 10:16:05 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 10:33:16 -0700 2009
I picked this book up at the library while looking for something else. I knew it would be a "one sitting...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 14 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Sep 16 11:15:20 -0700 2008 Fri Jan 16 07:46:55 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Sep 03 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 29 12:04:36 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 13:32:35 -0700 2008
That said, ick. A memoir about father/daughter incest, that begins when the daughter is age ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Jul 03 23:09:10 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 03 23:21:24 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=820591