Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You by Sue William Silverman

Actually, it’s even a bit more complicated: this new book is a series of linked essays, so I’m free to explore an even wider variety of voices. Then, in The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew, I rely on irony and humor. The narrator in Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction sounds like a dark, edgy addict. In the first, Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, I employ the scared, confused voice of a girl living with a dangerous father. In this way, each of my memoirs “sounds” different. It’s not really a matter of an author finding her/his voice it’s more a matter of finding the right voice for any given piece – at least that’s true for me. Generally speaking, each book we write needs to “find” its own voice. So even though my feelings for him are heartfelt, there’s still a surreal element to the relationship and, in particular, to the three separate encounters I had with him.

Pat Boone and me: It’s such an unlikely pairing. Thank you for noticing the humor! Well, I think if an atheist, Jewish, Democrat (me) has a life-long crush on a conservative Christian member of the Tea Party (Pat Boone), that’s just asking to be written ironically and with a sense of humor, albeit, in places, black humor. What a surprise to see the humor and playfulness in this book! Can you talk about the different voices for each book, and a bit about how you thought about your voice, the process of finding voice-a challenging question for most memoir writers. LJM: Sue, you have written two memoirs that had serious themes: sexual abuse and love addiction. This time, she has graciously written answers to questions by me, Linda Joy Myers, president of the National Association of Memoir Writers. We want to welcome Sue William Silverman to another stop on the WOW–Women on Writing Blog Tour.

Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You by Sue William Silverman