Why do we like to luxuriate in tales of childhood misery...

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Author	Comment
Zannylicious		#41	[-]
(04/11/08 01:15 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	Squig- It gets even better... But I'm not going to ruin it for you... I totally understand why you are having a hard time believing it.. For me, it is the fact that her Dad made up such fantastic stories about everything, that maybe perhaps SHE also got the knack for it too.. I was being sarcastic about the 3 year old making hot dogs, and just wait.. Wait until they get to Phoenix.. and what else happens in the book... I was at a Jewelry Party last night, and we talked about this too...
cp		#42	[-]
(04/11/08 01:18 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	Gyps.......Ever the victim........................always accusing people of attacking you when they don't agree with everything you have to say............I was NOT attacking you, but you read into it in whatever way you want to. My point was..............there ARE people that go through really awful crap, and are able to get themselves out of the dysfunctional cesspool that they called their lives.........and if they can find some healing by sharing that experience via writing a book and it inspires just one other person to do the same... then it is a good thing...... I don't read your blog (or anybody else's for that matter......I don't have the time, nor the attention span to follow somebodies daily diary) However, you have said time and again that you trained and worked in the psych field, yet when you post or respond to things like sexual abuse by clergy, or other abuses that people experience...............very little compassion comes across when you write about it. That's just my interpretation.............again, no attack there, simply an observation! Nuf said by me on this.
Evelyn		#43	[-]
(04/11/08 01:20 PM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	Gypsy wrote: when I started this thread, I was more interested in knowing how people feel about these books (especially if they have read them and loved them) once they find out they are frauds. Zanny gave a good answer. My second question was will people still continue to buy and read "true memoirs" knowing how many of them have turned out to be frauds? I'd guess that if people read them and love them but are generally aware that there's a better than even chance it's made up (or at least even in the best of them, embellished), that's one thing; if they really get sucked in, nobody likes feeling they've been made a fool of. Will people continue to buy and read them? Probably. Maybe it has to do with the expectation you go into it with.....if it's purely entertainment as I'd say most fiction is and they have no particular personal investment in it, they take it for what it is. When I read the Glass Castle pretty early on since it was a gift, I didn't buy that it was a true account by any means. There were parts which to me were such high drama in a very contrived way that I just assumed it was fiction. I thought it wasn't a bad story, but just a story. Later on when I would talk with some people who were so caught up in it and were absolutely convinced it was all true, I was frankly a bit shocked. My overall impression was the author was on an attention-seeking grand high royal drama queen rant, but that doesn't necessarily make it a bad read as a story.
Evelyn		#44	[-]
(04/11/08 01:26 PM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	cp wrote: My point was..............there ARE people that go through really awful crap, and are able to get themselves out of the dysfunctional cesspool that they called their lives.........and if they can find some healing by sharing that experience via writing a book and it inspires just one other person to do the same... then it is a good thing...... Well said. I would just caution that sometimes people can take another person's "solution" a little too seriously----especially when even an honest account as a book is bound to have a few exaggerations or stretched truths just to make a point or for better reading----and every individual's reality is unique and therefore, demands a somewhat different solution. Identifying with something in a book can be a healthy source of insight; over-identifying can be destructive (and sometimes the tendency is to over-identify.)
Gypsy		#45	[-]
(04/11/08 01:26 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	Gyps.......Ever the victim........................always accusing people of attacking you when they don't agree with everything you have to say............I was NOT attacking you, but you read into it in whatever way you want to. Okay, you're just slinging mud --- whatever makes you happy. True art is moral: it seeks to edify life, not to debase it, to hold off, at least for a little while, the twilight of the gods and of us. - John Gardner The Old Mermaid's Tale: The Video \| In Memory of Mark S. Williams \| Sponsored by Parlez-Moi Blog
Gypsy		#46	[-]
(04/11/08 01:32 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	I'd guess that if people read them and love them but are generally aware that there's a better than even chance it's made up (or at least even in the best of them, embellished), that's one thing; if they really get sucked in, nobody likes feeling they've been made a fool of. In my opinion, that is the crux of all of these situations. I think many people revel in the drama and, what Eric Berne referred to as "Ain't-It-Awful-ing". Then when they find out it is a pack of lies they feel foolish and, ultimately, angry. I don't blame them. I agree with your assessment "an attention-seeking grand high royal drama queen rant" and think that many of the authors who write these books are doing exactly that. I think if you can read them and take that lightly you probably won't have a problem but those who do take them seriously will probably get very outraged. I still wish I knew why they are so much more appealing to people than the very same story but sold labeled "fiction" instead of "non-fiction". True art is moral: it seeks to edify life, not to debase it, to hold off, at least for a little while, the twilight of the gods and of us. - John Gardner The Old Mermaid's Tale: The Video \| In Memory of Mark S. Williams \| Sponsored by Parlez-Moi Blog
Gypsy		#47	[-]
(04/11/08 01:35 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	Identifying with something in a book can be a healthy source of insight; over-identifying can be destructive (and sometimes the tendency is to over-identify.) Absolutely! In fact, it is my opinion that over-identifying has spawned the rash of these books --- one memoirist wants to out do the last one, much like Frosty said. Also, if people are identifying with these books and then the books turn out to be high-drama, they have identified with something that is a fabrication. So, following that line of thinking, aren't the books more destructive to those people than helpful? True art is moral: it seeks to edify life, not to debase it, to hold off, at least for a little while, the twilight of the gods and of us. - John Gardner The Old Mermaid's Tale: The Video \| In Memory of Mark S. Williams \| Sponsored by Parlez-Moi Blog
cp		#48	[-]
(04/11/08 02:04 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	I guess my problem is that I just assume that ANYTHING I read (even the newspaper) has a bit of hyperbole and one must keep that in mind.
Evelyn		#49	[-]
(04/11/08 02:34 PM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	Amen, cp. It's all partially fiction IMO. But people tend to suspend all judgment and believe which just makes me boggle. It's the old, "if I saw it on TV, it must be true" mentality. Gads. No wonder we end up with the pols in office we've got.
Gypsy		#50	[-]
(04/11/08 02:43 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	So are you saying that people who buy and read memoirs like Love and Consequences and A Million Little Pieces believing that they are true are wrong to do that and should not be surprised when they turn out to be hoaxes? True art is moral: it seeks to edify life, not to debase it, to hold off, at least for a little while, the twilight of the gods and of us. - John Gardner The Old Mermaid's Tale: The Video \| In Memory of Mark S. Williams \| Sponsored by Parlez-Moi Blog
AlteredAnnie		#51	[-]
(04/11/08 04:00 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	I read "A Million Pieces" and "The Glass Castle" and felt, while reading them, that something wasn't quite right, but I finished both of them. When I found out that Frye had either lied or embellished parts of his book, I was disappointed. Did it ruin my day? No. Does anyone know for sure that "The Glass Castle" was also full of lies or embellishments? Probably not. If it turns out to be lies, I'll still go on with my life and continue reading. None of this is a very big deal IMO.
joltin j		#52	[-]
(04/11/08 04:07 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	Zanny, I read The Glass Castle and I LOVED it. True or not, it was a great book and I could not put it down. People do live like that, a lot more people that we'd like to admit. My husband grew up in a pretty sad situation. Nothing to write a book about, but not comforable. People like to think that kids in America can't live like that. My husband's parents moved them around a lot, whenever the school got suspicious or something.
Foresta Gump		#53	[-]
(04/11/08 04:14 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	star squiggle wrote: i'm reading "The Glass Castle" now...my friend was reading it while we were in Aruba...she couldn't put it down and read the whole book and gave it to me before we left for home...i started it with the thought that it was all true. after a few chapters, i'm now thinking....BULLSHIT....another book of made up lies. just like "A Million Little Pieces" and "Running With Scissors" both of which i read and believed. maybe Jeannette Walls is telling a truthful story..but it sounds too far fetched to me and the saying goes...Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Um, Squig, I need a book to read while I'm in Aruba. Think you'll be done with it by then? I'll just look at it as fiction and leave it at that. 'LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES...YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET'
Zannylicious		#54	[-]
(04/11/08 04:15 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	The Glass Castle makes you say hmmm, for sure.. I couldn't put it down either, and I read it one Sunday... I started with my coffee, and finished later that evening. 3 women I know last night & I discussed it, and all of us decided SOME parts may be embellished... But we just couldn't understand the mother, and what the hell she was thinking, with the ring, the land, the house in Phoenix... They were so destitute for all of those years... and she HAD a teaching degree..
Evelyn		#55	[-]
(04/11/08 04:16 PM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	Gypsy wrote: So are you saying that people who buy and read memoirs like Love and Consequences and A Million Little Pieces believing that they are true are wrong to do that and should not be surprised when they turn out to be hoaxes? Nope, nothing wrong with buying/reading it, but they probably shouldn't be too surprised when they turn out to be a hoax. After all, selling books is a business.
star squiggle		#56	[-]
(04/11/08 04:16 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	I still wish I knew why they are so much more appealing to people than the very same story but sold labeled "fiction" the same reason documentaries are usually more appealing than movies when based on subject at hand. it's more riveting, when it's true... when i buy or borrow a book that the author claims to be a "memoir" i want the truth. Damn it. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints The sinners are much more fun...
Foresta Gump		#57	[-]
(04/11/08 04:17 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	No more info, Zanny. Just in case I want to read it in Aruba ok? 'LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES...YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET'
star squiggle		#58	[-]
(04/11/08 04:21 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	FG..when are you going... as said, the book is borrowed..but i'll ask the owner if i can lend it to you. if she doesn't have anyone waiting for it, that is. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints The sinners are much more fun...
Gypsy		#59	[-]
(04/11/08 04:25 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	Nope, nothing wrong with buying/reading it, but they probably shouldn't be too surprised when they turn out to be a hoax. After all, selling books is a business. - Evelyn I didn't ask if it was wrong to buy and read it, I asked if they were wrong to expect a memoir to be the truth. when i buy or borrow a book that the author claims to be a "memoir" i want the truth. Damn it. - star squiggle So what then is a memoir-ist's obligation to the truth? What is any writer of non-fiction's obligation to the truth? If an author sells a book claiming it is the truth should that author be held accountable if it turns out to be a hoax? Or should readers, as Evelyn says, not be surprised if it IS a hoax? True art is moral: it seeks to edify life, not to debase it, to hold off, at least for a little while, the twilight of the gods and of us. - John Gardner The Old Mermaid's Tale: The Video \| In Memory of Mark S. Williams \| Sponsored by Parlez-Moi Blog Last Edited By: Gypsy 04/11/08 04:29 PM. Edited 1 times.
Foresta Gump		#60	[-]
(04/11/08 04:26 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Friend Request Blocking Visit My Community Ignore User's Posts	Cripes, it just dawned on me..........I think I have that book at home! I googled it and the cover looks very familiar. My step-daughter gave me a bunch of books awhile back that I haven't read yet and I think that is one of them. LOL I knew that "Glass Castle" sounded familiar, but couldn't figure out why. I'll let you know later squig. Thanks. 'LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES...YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET'

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Why do we like to luxuriate in tales of childhood misery...

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