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My Father, the Pornographer
My Father, the Pornographer: A Memoir | Chris Offutt
25 posts | 23 read | 134 to read
After inheriting 400 novels of pornography written by his father in the 1970s and 80s, critically acclaimed author Chris Offutt sets out to make sense of a complicated father-son relationship in this carefully observed, beautifully written memoir.Chris Offutt owns one of the finest, surest prose styles around, ready and able to convey the hardest truth without flinching. Now Offutt enters the darkest and most mysterious of placesthe cave of a monstrous enigma named Andrew J. Offuttarmed with nothing but his own restless curiosity. Spoiler alert: He makes it out alive, walking into the daylight to bring us a deeper, funnier, more tender and more heartbroken truthand his masterpiece. Michael Chabon When Andrew Offutt died, his son, Chris, inherited a desk, a rifle, and eighteen hundred pounds of pornographic fiction. Andrew had been considered the king of twentieth-century smut, with a writing career that began as a strategy to pay for his sons orthodontic needs and soon took on a life of its own, peaking during the 1970s when the commercial popularity of the erotic novel reached its height. With his dutiful wife serving as typist, Andrew wrote from their home in the Kentucky hills, locked away in an office no one dared intrude upon. In this fashion he wrote more than four hundred novels, including pirate porn, ghost porn, zombie porn, and secret agent porn. The more he wrote, the more intense his ambition became and the more difficult it was for his children to be part of his world. Over the long summer of 2013, Chris returned to his hometown to help his widowed mother move out of his childhood home. As he began to examine his fathers manuscripts and memorabilia, journals, and letters, he realized he finally had an opportunity to gain insight into the difficult, mercurial, sometimes cruel man hed loved and feared in equal measure. Only in his fathers absence could he truly make sense of the man and his legacy. In My Father, the Pornographer, Offutt takes us on the journey with him, reading his fathers prodigious literary output as both a critic and as a son seeking answers. This is a book about the life of a working writer who supports his family solely by the output of his typewriter; its about the awful psychic burdens one generation unthinkingly passes along to the next; and its about growing up in the Appalachian hills with a pack of fearless boys riding bicycles through the woods, happy and free.
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Erynecki
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Pickpick

Offutt writes of growing up in the Kentucky hills, of his relationship with his father, and what it means to be an author (and the son of a prolific author). I loved the 1st half . That‘s not to say I didn‘t enjoy the 2nd half, but some of the content was tough for me. The prose is brave & beautiful & stares straight into the face of some dark and haunting material.

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emilyhaldi
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Offutt‘s father dies and he is suddenly left with an inheritance of more than 400 pornographic novels. As he helps his mother sort through the typewritten documents stuffed into every nook of his fathers office, Offutt is forced to confront his childhood and the difficult relationship he shared with his dad- a famed pornographic novelist. The idea of reading porn written by my own parent certainly gives me #creep vibes 😳
#anglophileapril

CarolynM Indeed! Good choice👏 6y
Cinfhen Not sure I could read this one. I‘ll wait for your review 6y
emilyhaldi I never got around to posting a review @Cinfhen ... but I did read it and let me just say it‘s a no from me 🙃 (edited) 6y
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Mdargusch Yeah, not sure I could read this one. 😳 6y
Cinfhen Thanks, Em!! #pass 6y
Reviewsbylola Major creep vibes. 6y
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Booksnchill
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Pickpick

Well, not quite sure what to say. The writing is without embellishment and very to the point. Chris Offutt is a writer, as was his father- the difference being his father wrote sci-fi and then exclusively porn and porn comics. This is bondage and torture porn from what I can tell and the father wrote hundreds of books- often one a month- on which he supported his family. He was a tyrant to his wife and children and a deeply troubled man. ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

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Booksnchill
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Ok @britt_brooke this is my pick for #nonfictionNovember. Got this gem from a #NashvilleLitsyMeetup Blind Date with a book swap and it comes@highly recommended- I was sold by the title alone! This is not the podcast “My Dad Wrote a Porno” but I highly recommend that as well- just be careful where you play it!!!🤣🤣🤣

britt_brooke Looks like you‘ve set the mood. 🕯😆 I really hope you enjoy this one. Not only is it an intriguing story, the writing is excellent. 6y
Booksnchill @britt_brooke yes Whiskey and I are cranking up Bolero and getting ready for the juicy bits🤣🤣🤣 6y
CaramelLunacy I also immediately thought of My Dad Wrote a Porno 6y
Booksnchill @CaramelLunacy I find it ( well only season 1 I admit) very entertaining)⛓🤣 6y
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britt_brooke
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Pickpick

“It was incumbent upon his family to listen to him, agree with him, admire him, and give him attention bordering on awe.”

It‘s always refreshing to read a memoir by an established author. I know you all know what I mean. His writing is fine-tuned, articulate, and entertaining. This is largely about Offutt‘s strained relationship with his dad, but does delve into his father‘s prolific porn-writing career, even cataloguing his works.

britt_brooke Thanks for choosing this for me @drbethandherkindle - it‘s one of the best memoirs I‘ve read in a long time. And one of my favorite reads so far this year! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 6y
pgh.femme I liked this one a lot too. 6y
britt_brooke @pgh.femme 💚 6y
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emilyhaldi I've had this one in my stack for a while 😄 nice review! 6y
britt_brooke @emilyhaldi Thanks! It‘s a great read. 6y
Reviewsbylola That cover is amazing. 6y
britt_brooke @Reviewsbylola Isn‘t it cool? I love it! (edited) 6y
drbethandherkindle I‘m so glad it turned out to be a pick!! Definitely adding this to my TBR now! 6y
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britt_brooke
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Lists found in his dad‘s notebooks of porn descriptive terms. My favorites are “thrusting artillery shells” and “meaty pendants.” 🤦🏼‍♀️🙄🙅🏼‍♀️

This book is largely about Offutt‘s relationship with his writer father, but these detailed pornography bits are oddly fascinating. At one point, his dad cranked out a porn novel per month!

saresmoore I‘m just trying to imagine the headspace of writing a porn novel per month! 6y
readingjedi Hilarious! 6y
kidamy @saresmoore This might be TMI, but I suspect I would never be in the mood again. 😐 6y
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britt_brooke @saresmoore Right?!! I think you‘d like this book. It really delves into his personality and is very well written. 6y
TiredLibrarian Cantilevered coneshapes?! 😆 6y
saresmoore It sounds great from what you‘ve shared. 6y
britt_brooke @TiredLibrarian I just noticed “loosely attached knockers.” 😆 6y
MicheleinPhilly Oh my. 6y
readordierachel Cantilevered coneshapes 😂. So sexy. 6y
raeintheworld Pfft. Dudes. Slick-skinned titty curves? Did he know women at all? 6y
batsy I'm always fascinated by how writers work, especially with writers who write this type of formula fiction for money. This sounds interesting... "love-swollen little buds" aside ??? 6y
britt_brooke @raeintheworld Not his strongest description, eh? These are all so ridiculous. 6y
britt_brooke @batsy 😆 Yes, “shapely creamballs” aside, I‘m with you. If he was producing that many books a year, he basically chose from a buffet of options and just plugged them in. (edited) 6y
Moray_Reads Canister jutted? He seems to be clutching at straws on the second page 😅 6y
AJones His word choice is humorous! 🤣 6y
britt_brooke @Moray_Reads 😆 So sexy, right? 🙄 6y
Reviewsbylola Omfg 🙅🏼‍♀️🙅🏼‍♀️ 6y
AlaMich These are so very very bad. 6y
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britt_brooke
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This book is so much more than a catchy title.

Leftcoastzen Beautiful passage. 6y
AJones I agree with @Leftcoastzen! And I just added it my #TBR stack. Thanks for sharing! 6y
kspenmoll Thanks for referral! Stacked! 6y
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britt_brooke @Leftcoastzen @AJones @kspenmoll It‘s far exceeding my expectations. You can tell this a memoir written by an experienced author. I‘m sure you know what I mean. 6y
pgh.femme I liked it as well. 6y
jillrhudy It‘s Appalachian; it‘s stacked! 6y
britt_brooke @jillrhudy I have a soft spot for books that take place in Kentucky. It‘s my home state, though I am not from hill country. I‘m from the other end. 😉 6y
minkyb Great excerpt! 6y
RidgewayGirl I‘m really enjoying his new novel, Country Dark, right now. 6y
britt_brooke @RidgewayGirl This is my first of his books, but I look forward to checking out his fiction! 6y
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britt_brooke
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Off to a good start. I‘m intrigued.

LeahBergen It sounds good! 7y
britt_brooke @LeahBergen It‘s really good so far! 7y
REPollock Whoa. That guy‘s life is pretty bizarre. 7y
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Lcsmcat Sounds interesting. 7y
britt_brooke @REPollock @Lcsmcat This is really good so far! Weird and well-written. 7y
minkyb Wow. This is intriguing. 6y
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britt_brooke
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Finally cracking this one open. I received it from @drbethandherkindle in a swap a while back (thanks!). She knows I love memoir. 🤗 I just love the cover!

#booksandbrews

drbethandherkindle Ahhh! Let me know how it is! 7y
britt_brooke @drbethandherkindle It‘s really good so far! 7y
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Wellreadhead
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Wellreadhead
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Wellreadhead
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“Childhood improves as we age and get further away from it.”

EchoLogical Sounds about right. Lol 7y
PurpleyPumpkin Oh so true!👍🏽 7y
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Bookchipmunk
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Pickpick

Weekend TBR: Saw this and thought of my Litsy community! Spending some time this weekend to finish this well written exploration of a father and son relationship for my book group. Aloha Friday 🤓🌺🌅

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cocomass
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Pickpick

This is a tough one to rate but I'm going to with "pick". Chris Offutt's father was a strange and difficult man who was pretty much a narcissistic jerk. Buuuuut the memoir was definitely interesting and his family was strange and outrageous, but in a quiet way. The descriptions of his father's porn weirded me out, but I expected it. I really enjoyed the details of the author's own life and writing journey. 3.5/5 ⭐️

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cocomass
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Getting started on my book about books for the #ReadHarder2017 challenge.

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Expandingbookshelf
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Pickpick

WHAT A WILD FUCKING RIDE THIS BOOK WAS VERY GOOD BUT NOW I FEEL VERY VERY UNCOMFORTABLE

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MrBook
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#TBRtemptation post! Praised by Michael Chabon, this is an interesting memoir. In the summer of 2013, Chris began looking through his deceased--and formerly estranged--father's manuscripts, 1,800 pounds of pornographic fiction. It began as the way to pay for his son's orthodontic needs & then became a writing career--pirate porn, zombie porn, secret agent porn, etc.--which was helped by the erotic novel's 1970s peak. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

Riveted_Reader_Melissa That does look tempting, in a really weird way... LOL😂😂 (edited) 8y
bio_chem06 @MrBook read it & loved it. For anyone interested, it's dark, so be prepared. 8y
The_Literary_Jedi Stacked! 8y
Zelma I heard about this on the Literary Disco podcast (I think). It's supposed to be very good. 8y
LitsyGoesPostal 😊👍🏻 8y
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Bookish_AF
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Pickpick

Received this from @Nerdfins for Christmas along with this very appropriate bookmark to go with it! Really enjoyed it, along with the following description of breasts that was listed in one of the chapters: "firm and tight-skinned as new pears dangling unpicked from sun-warmed trees".

Nerdfins I told you you'd enjoy the random terms for breasts. 🙃 8y
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balletbookworm
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Pickpick

Chris Offutt has some commitment, yo. I don't know if I would have been able to go through his inheritance, 1800 pounds of porn. But he was trying to understand his dad, so in that case you make the commitment. (TW, he describes some the porn for examples and they are extreme fantasies)

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balletbookworm
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A+ solution to the pesky problem of lending-limits at libraries.

Lola I do this! Cards in the kids' names triple my borrowing power! 😛📚📚📚 8y
tysephine That's genius! 8y
readinginthedark Wow, my limit is like...100 books or $2500 worth of stuff! Four books is crazy! 8y
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LeslieDotCom
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"I was reading over my head but didn't know because no one told me so." My childhood, in a nutshell...

Angelala007 Oh hell to the yes! 9y
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Yanderee
Pickpick

Chris Offutt delicately and lovingly describes the ways his father positively and negatively, effected his life. He reflects on the life and work of his father and in turn discovers things about his own life.

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Simona
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Pickpick

How and where to find reasons for father behavior?

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Simona
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1st page.

Megabooks I have to read this! 9y
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Hilary
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Pickpick

Okay, so I just hosted a reading with this guy, and not only is he hilarious, but this book is incredible. His dad died and left him 1800 lbs of porn. That he'd written. Go from there.

rwrkb This book is atop my wishlist! 9y
todd Super intrigued. 🤔 9y
Orbeck33 I heard him on a podcast and loved him. Looking forward to reading. 9y
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Danielle I really can't wait to read this! Would be a total bonus to hear him speak...lucky you! 9y
WesleyHoffmann I've never heard of porn being measured by the pound before, haha! 9y
selectivesnake Heard good thing about this book from @bookriot! 9y
thelittlestbiblio What an intriguing story! Definitely adding it to my list! 9y
Aimee I really want to read this. You can't choose your parents!!!! 9y
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