NONFICTION - Aug. 4, 1991

DANCING WITH DADDY by Betsy Petersen (Bantam: $19; 180 pp.). Somehow I imagine that the experience of reading “Dancing With Daddy” is like watching open-heart surgery on a stranger. It pushes the boundaries of comprehension--and all the while, you can’t help but feel that what you’ve witnessed is too personal to be made public. Petersen certainly isn’t the first, nor, sadly, will she be the last to write an autobiographical account of childhood sexual abuse. She undoubtedly is one of the nerviest survivors to tackle the issue. The anguish on these pages is palpable, as she confronts what her father did to her, and how she, in turn, has abused her sons without ever laying a hand on them. She has made a torturous journey to enlightenment, to an informed reconciliation with the other members of her family, one that surely will inspire other victims to heal themselves. The awkward question is what this revealing, if oft-overwritten, memoir means for the rest of us. Was Petersen’s rage so deep that only an exorcism in front of an audience would purge it?