Who is Robert Goolrick from The End of the World as We Know It: Scenes from a Life and what is their importance?

The author of the book, Robert Goolrick, is the primary person within the novel, as he is both the author and the subject of this memoir. Goolrick is a highly depressed and extremely dysfunctional individual who has spent his entire life trying to overcome or hide from the abuse and molestation he received from his mother and father. Goolrick, as a four-year-old boy, was molested in the night by his father and although his mother woke up long enough to stop the rape, she did nothing in response. This episode, along with the resulting abuse heaped on Goolrick by his mother and father, led him to very deep feelings of self-rejection, self-hatred, and problems with self-worth.