SOURCE: "The Evil Dads," in New York, March 17, 1997, pp. 57-8.

[In the following excerpt, Udovitch asserts that Kathryn Harrison brings to The Kiss "a mannered, accomplished technique, which … is executed with precision and grace. What she fails to bring is any sense of rigorous engagement with her material."]

Okay, let it first be said that if Kathryn Harrison, whose memoir The Kiss tells the story of the incestuous relationship she had with her father between the ages of 20 and 24, wants to make this experience the centerpiece of her published work, be it fictional, nonfictional, pictographic, or a series of rhyming billboards on the Garden State Parkway, the emotional, moral, and financial implications of this decision are nobody's business but hers. She has in fact told virtually the same story in fictional form with her debut novel, the pleasantly readable Thicker Than Water, as well as a variation on...