Secret Life: An Autobiography [Paperback]

Michael Ryan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 1996

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 . . . absorbing and disquieting."--New York Times Book Review.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Poet Ryan's sexual confession spans from when he was molested at the age of five to his own free-fall into obsessive sexual behavior.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Celebrated poet Ryan, whose God Hunger (LJ 6/15/89) won the Lenore Marshall/Nation Award, reveals the dark secrets of his childhood?sexual abuse by a neighbor and his father's alcoholism?that have haunted him since.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (June 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679767762
• ISBN-13: 978-0679767763
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,368,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Stark Life of a Sex Addict, January 2, 2000

By 

Helene Hoffman (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Life: An Autobiography (Paperback)

I never understood sexual addiction until I read this book. Ryan is incredible - he is able to completely convey what horrors this compulsive behavior meant for him. What said it all to me is when he explained he would go into bars and pick up whomever - a man, a woman . . . it didn't seem to matter! (He wasn't bisexual) Another shocker is that he had an incredible position at Princeton, but just couldn't keep his you-know-what away from his students. All that mattered is that he HAD to have sex, the compulsion was so incredibly intense, he just approached whomever was handy. In addition, this book, surprisingly enough, is amazingly funny (it reminds me of another memoir, "Permanent Midnight" in that way). Sometimes I found myself laughing out loud! It seemed that the humor was a great healer for him. My only regret is that he didn't reveal his treatment, which I would have loved to have learned about, as his compulsion was so deeply engrained. Bravo to him for "coming out of the closet" on this issue, writing this book, and showing us what this compulsion took from him.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story about the suffering of a sex addict., November 7, 1999

By 

Sal Morano ([e-mail]) (Corona, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Life: An Autobiography (Paperback)

This is one of the very best books I have ever read about sex addiction. Not only does it present a powerful, gut-wrenching account of what it feels like to be such an addict, it also tells a moving, often tragic, but also inspiring story of growing up in the America of the '50s and '60s.

The author wins you over early as he leads you slowly and painfully through his early childhood and molestation, his memories of his alcoholic father, academic and athletic struggles, peer conflicts, bottoming out in his sex addiction, then seeking recovery through a 12-step program.

Must reading for anyone affiliated in any way at all with any of the nearly half dozen programs dealing with sex/lust addiction. Highly recommended for other 12-step recovery people who might be tempted to snear at sex addiction. Ryan demonstrates that his disease was just as deadly as alcoholism and drug addiction. After reading the book, one realizes it is no laughing matter - regardless of what some sitcoms and commercials say.

Compares well with "Asylum" by Patrick McGrath, also about sex addiction, but, unlike "Secret Life," a novel with the tone of a thriller. Ryan's story is so compelling, one almost feels sorry to put it down but wishes the author well at the end as he embarks on a hopeful journey of recovery.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nice autobiography, February 7, 2000

By 

Erica K "luboost" (WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Life: An Autobiography (Paperback)

This book was tasteful and interesting. I bought and read this book because I saw that my english professor was reading it--I didn't even know what it was about. When I bought it and saw it was about an addiction to sex I felt a little embarrassed--but soon got over it because it's not about sex, it's about a man with an addiction. I reccomend this as a literary read if nothing else. Ryan has true talent.