Let's Never Talk About This Again

A Memoir

By: Sara Faith Alterman

Narrated by: Sara Faith Alterman

Samantha Irby meets Bettyville in this darkly funny and poignant memoir about love, loss, Alzheimer's, and reviving her father's pornographic writing career, from writer and Mortified live producer Sara Faith Alterman.

Twelve-year-old Sara enjoyed an G-rated existence in suburban New England, filled with over-the-top birthday cakes, Revolutionary War reenactments, and nerdy word games invented by her prudish father, Ira. But Sara's world changed for the icky when she discovered that Ira had been shielding her from the truth: that he was a campy sex writer who'd sold millions of books in multiple languages, including the wildly popular Games You Can Play with Your Pussy. Which was, to the naïve Sara's horror, not a book about cats. For decades the books remained an unspoken family secret, until Ira developed early onset Alzheimer's disease...and announced he'd be reviving his writing career. With Sara's help.

In this cringeworthy, hilarious, and moving memoir, Sara shares the profound experience of discovering new facets of her father; once as a child, and again as an adult. Let's Never Talk About This Again is a must-hear confessional from a woman who spent years trying to find humor in the perverse and optimism in the darkness, and succeeded.

©2020 Sara Faith Alterman (P)2020 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

"Page after page of the most hilarious and heartwarming honesty. Sara Faith Alterman turns cringeworthy surprises in family life into sweet comedy gold."—Kevin Allison, creator of the RISK! podcast

"Alterman leavens some heavily emotional subject matter with a razor-sharp sense of humor that will help readers smile through the more painful passages... A vividly written, compassionate homage to a beloved and eccentric parent."—Kirkus

"[A] funny, tender, and compassionate narrative in which Alterman-while living and working on the West Coast and starting her own family-helps her parents navigate this new phase of Ira's life amid his declining mental capabilities due to Alzheimer's."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A memoir that includes stories about writing sex books with her once-prudish father might sound hilarious, which it is, but Let's Never Talk About This Again is so much more. It's also a sweet, tender, and heartbreaking sendoff to her dad that's full of so much humor and love it's almost impossible not to smile, then laugh, then eventually cry."—Dan Marshall, author of Home Is Burning and Life Hacks for Dads

"Alterman is a top-notch comic writer, and fans of Chris Offutt's memoir My Father the Pornographer or the podcast "My Dad Wrote a Porno" will especially love this smart, compelling chronicle of family connections and the foibles and contradictions that make us human."—BookPage

"[Let's Never Talk About This Again] tenderly explores family dynamics and the pain of loss as well as the nuances of humiliation."—Time

"A laugh-cry memoir about family myths, unreliable narrators, and forgiveness. Alterman's story about her father is packed with empathy, honesty, and the sharpest New England humor."—Meredith Goldstein, author of Can't Help Myself: Lessons and Confessions From a Modern Advice Columnist

"It's a little ironic given the title but Let's Never Talk About This Again tackles difficult topics with warmth, candor, and humor. Sara Faith Alterman explores the biggest topics, literally ranging from love and birth to loss and death with intimacy and charm and the exact right number of references to Dunkin' Donuts. Every chapter gleams with a skill and level of perspective that make me think: 'What a great brain she has! I'm so glad she squeezed this book out of it!'"—Josh Gondelman, Emmy Award-winning writer, comedian, and author of Nice Try: Stories of Best Intentions and Mixed Results

Stay with it past the first few chapters

The author becomes so much better at the performance past the first chapters! I honestly almost stopped after chapter one—having just listened to the audiobook master David Sedaris’ new book, I just couldn’t listen to a dry audiobook. But I was pleasantly surprised only a few chapters in; the author became very animated, and the book was VERY funny and enjoyable!! Also my 85-year-old father suffers from dementia, my mother is his care taker, and her telling of his Alzheimer’s really touched home for me. I’m a new mother as well and enjoyed her baby stories.

Funny and Heartbreaking

I've recommended this to many people. It's hilarious at times, brutally honest and heartbreaking. it made me laugh but also sometimes left me with no words.

A Wonderful Memoir by a fantastic author

The fact the author narrated this moving memoir brings the humor, the tears, the fears to life. It's at once filled with family history and surprises that had me laughing with tears and then tears of sadness. I recommend this highly noting I listened in a one long sitting which is the Audible version of I couldn't put it down.

Both Funny & Moving

So many laugh out loud and tear jerker moments. I found this to be a touching and relatable story of a father-daughter relationship and pushing through the awkward growing pains of life. Beautifully told by the author herself, I was always eager to return to listening.

Good story about a loving family

Good story regarding between parents and children including your daughter. And I want ages to the evolution imagination. Lots of details could’ve been added but the story focused on. Enjoyable adventure.

Great! Just expected more of a comedy lol

I’m not sure why I thought this was going to be primarily a fun, light, kind of funny read. It started that way! But halfway through I realized it wasn’t going to get light again. Still an amazing story! So true, authentic, and raw. Eye opening, and I really did enjoy it!

I love, love this book!

The way the author writes and narrates this book made me feel like I met a new friend and she shared her upbringing wih me. I found it interesting and not at all boring compared to many stories that lag and you force yourself to keep going to the end. Occasionally you read a book that makes you laugh, cry and sad when the story ends. This book is one of those and I'm going to miss her brilliant writing

A Beautiful Story

I really loved this engaging story of a woman's relationship with her father from her childhood until his death. I had expected it to be an exploration of how her discovery of his secret life as the author of kinky sex tomes impacted her own life -- which always carries a risk of becomimg self-indulgent. Instead, it was a real accounting of events and relationships, beautifully paced and exquisitely narrated.
I recommend this to any woman exploring her own relationship with her father.