''The Incest Diary'' is a 2017 memoir by an anonymous author detailing her incestuous and abusive relationship with her father.

Synopsis

The author discusses how her father raped and abused her from ages three to 21 in graphic detail. The author told her mother, grandmother and a family friend about her abuse but was ignored. She eventually confronts her father, who apologizes and cries and goes on to tell the family about it. The author's grandfather tries to force her into a mental institution and her brother has a breakdown for which she feels responsible.

Critical reception

Writing for '' Vice'', Lauren Oyler noted that early reactions to the book, such as those published in '' The Independent'', '' Globe and Mail'' and '' Newsweek'' were "disappointingly conservative". H. C. Wilentz writes in '' The New Yorker'' that the book is "carefully wrought", and "the writing is often feverish", also noting that the critics of the book "pick apart the authors' methods and motives rather than engage with the thornier issues of taboo and transgression." In a review in '' The New York Times'',

Dwight Garner Dwight Garner (born January 8, 1965) is an American journalist and longtime writer and editor for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, he was named a book critic for the newspaper. He is the author of ''Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany'' and ...

praised the prose in the book as "clear and urgent" commenting that the "book offers more sensation than perspective."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Incest Diary 2017 non-fiction books American memoirs Farrar, Straus and Giroux books Incestual abuse Works about child sexual abuse Works about dysfunctional families Works published anonymously Bloomsbury Publishing books