LOVE SICK

"Every Thursday at noon I have sex with Rick in room #213 of the Rainbow Motel." The woman who writes those words is married - to Andrew, a dependable, detached college professor - but spends all week looking forward to a few moments with a man she thinks she can't live without.   Rick is also married, with a young son; and during their encounters, there is little time for small talk.  Yet despite the squalid motel room with its plastic curtains and tin ashtrays, despite Rick's hurried impatience, despite the knowledge that her lover sees her as a body rather than as a person, she convinces herself that what she experiences in room #213 every Thursday at noon is love.

Rick is only the latest in a long line of dangerous, unavailable men.   With the help of her therapist, Sue William Silverman comes to realize that she is a sex addict, someone who craves and needs sex - not because she enjoys it, but because she believes nothing else can make her feel good about herself.  "Only when my body is desired," she writes, "do I feel beautiful, powerful, loved." Silverman recounts her harrowing chronicle of sickness and recovery in the extraordinary memoir LOVE SICK [W.  W. Norton; May 14,2001; $24.95 cloth].  The first literary memoir of woman’s sexual addiction, this is a brave and candid book that will prove a touchstone for others seeking to break a cycle of emotional self destruction.  Like Caroline Knapp's Drinking.- A Love Story, this beautifully written narrative gives us a searing, uncompromisingly honest look at one woman's journey of pain, self discovery, and strength.

After seeing Rick one last time, Silverman checks herself into a hospital where she will meet with her therapist, interact with other women who share her addiction, and attempt to stay sexually sober for a month.  With each new day she struggles to defeat her addict self, the one who engages in destructive behavior and lies to her husband and family (none of whom know about her addiction).  Instead, she must explore who she is as a person and how to appreciate herself without needing sex - and men - to do it for her.

With Rick, Silverman hits bottom and finally seeks the serious help she knows she needs.  Together with the other patients at the treatment facility, she learns how to confront an illness that has long dictated the way she sees the world.  It is a frustrating process, full of setbacks.  She becomes obsessed with Gabriel, a hospital attendant who whispers seductively in her ear and promises to meet her after dark; she strains for connection with her roommate, Jill, who disdains both the program and her friendship; she relapses and leaves the hospital for one more visit to the Rainbow Motel.  But gradually, painfully, Silverman takes steps toward conquering her addiction and trusting in friends - people who care about her, as a human being - to help her get better.

In the existing literature on sexual addiction, this book stands alone: a woman's narrative of her own personal story.  As self-help, LOVE SICK will resonate with not only those who suffer from sexual addiction, but also anyone whose compulsive behavior whether with drugs, money, or food - threatens his or her emotional well-being.  And as memoir, Silverman's account is an important literary accomplishment, one that will move anyone who reads it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sue William Silverman is a professional speaker on the topics of child abuse and addiction.  Her first book, Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, won the AWP award in Creative Nonfiction.   She lives in Grand Haven, Michigan

You can visit her web site by clicking the following link:: http://www.suewilliamsilverman.com/works.htm