I never thought I had written a book that would be embraced across the board. I know that if I had written that book I would have failed on my own terms. I lived through this, I know what it is like, I know that a lot of what's in there is disturbing. It's not going to go away. I was committed to not glossing it over, and I was committed to not portraying myself as a victim because I think there is this very insidious aspect to our culture right now in which victimhood is almost equated with identity.
People begin to think of themselves as children of alcoholics or whatever.
Within that understanding of the self is a sort of slipping away from taking responsibility in a situation. It is only through taking responsibility that you can find any freedom. I'm not trying to take too much on my shoulders. I'm not saying I wasn't the child, or that I wasn't victimized to some degree by my father and by the whole situation. The more important truth for me was that there was a burden of responsibility that I needed to take, and as long as I fled from that I couldn't find any freedom.