Synopses & Reviews
Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You destroys our complacency about who among us can commit unspeakable atrocities, who is subjected to them, and who can stop them. From age four to eighteen, Sue William Silverman was repeatedly sexually abused by her father, an influential government official and successful banker. Through her eyes, we see an outwardly normal family built on a foundation of horrifying secrets that long went unreported, undetected, and unconfessed.
Review
andquot;With great courage and startling compassion, Silverman tells [her] story. . . . Harrowing in its depiction of savage violation and profoundly moving in its portrait of a child's fear, confusion, and desperate search for a safe place.andquot;andmdash;Kirkus Reviews
Review
andquot;This harrowing memoir gives voice to the inarticulate terror Silverman suffered as a child, when she could never find the right words to describe her situation. She has found them now.andquot;andmdash;
Booklist and#160;
Review
andldquo;Readers of Silverman's wrenching memoir...are in for a rough emotional ride, but it is well worth it.andrdquo;andmdash;Ms. Magazine
Review
"Silverman's lyric style transforms a ravaged childhood into a work of art. The book reads like a poem."—St. Petersburg Times
Review
andquot;Searing, brave, powerfully-written . . . Sue Silverman's memoir is about more than incest; it is about evil, about denial, about the great chasm between the public facade of a prominent, successful family and its painful reality, and it is about how, as in a Greek tragedy, a curse has been passed down through several generations. This book is the cry that shatters the curse.andquot;andmdash;Adam Hochschild, author of Half the Way Home: A Memoir of Father and Son
Review
andquot;Silverman has a brave, piercing intelligence which transcends psychological explanations and does not require symbolism to convey a sense of what she went through. . . . She has learned exquisitely how to look at what she could not face and how to speak through those silences.andquot;andmdash;
Fourth Genre
Review
andquot;Living, empowering proof that an orchid can bloom right up through concrete. A remarkable achievement from a remarkable woman who forces us to look for a word beyond 'survivor.'andquot;andmdash;Andrew Vachss, author of Haiku
Review
andquot;Nothing less than a bolt of electricity to the hopeful part of us that believes every portrait of a happy family that we see. . . . A terrifying and heartening book . . . I know it's going to be passed urgently from hand to hand.andquot;andmdash;Rosellen Brown, author of Before and After
Review
andquot;Silverman's lyric style transforms a ravaged childhood into a work of art. The book reads like a poem.andquot;andmdash;St. Petersburg Times
About the Author
Sue William Silverman is a professional speaker on child abuse and addiction. Her other books are Love Sick: One Womanandrsquo;s Journey through Sexual Addiction; The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew; and Fearless Confessions: A Writerandrsquo;s Guide to Memoir. She teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts.