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What do you love and what do you hate about memoirs?

Favorites? Least favorites?

Cedarthvader asked in General Book Discussion about 1 year ago | Report

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  • Dscn0421_small
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    A really good memoir should open up a person and show the reader what makes that person tick, not just show off what a person has seen or done in their lifetime. That's the most compelling part of every entertainment in the world- really good books, plays, movies, t.v. shows, and even relationships satisfy our curiosity about the "other"- who are they really? And why? And what does that tell me about myself? It's why little brothers the world over read their big sisters' diaries, why reality t.v. got so popular, why everybody likes pop psychology and why our culture has such a weird obsession with serial killers.

    A really bad memoir creates a persona that the person himself does not possess. It cheats us out of the window into his life that the memoir promises. Whether this is done through bending the truth, pushing an agenda, or hiding behind a contrived voice ("I'm so folksy and wise" is my personal least-favorite), it makes the whole concept of the memoir useless.

    Sphinx answered in General Book Discussion about 1 year ago | Report
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  • Subcultureoftwo_small
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    I hate it when someone writes their memoirs before they reach the age of 30.

    Sacrelicious answered in General Book Discussion about 1 year ago | Report
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  • Spaceship_small
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    They are always colored to make the person sound perfect or adorable.

    I'd much rather hear a third party history.

    O my captain answered in General Book Discussion about 1 year ago | Report
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    mishalibrarian

    I appreciate memoirs that are honest, warts-and-all or make me see life or the world in a different way.

    Some favorites:

    Just Kids by Patti Smith
    Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat
    Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett
    Blackbird by Jennifer Lauck
    Rockabye: from wild to child by Rebecca Woolf

    Favorite comic memoirs:
    Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
    Stitches by David Small
    Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

     

    mishalibrarian answered in General Book Discussion about 1 year ago | Report
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