Post 8: Truth in Memoir

I think a story should be completely accurate and true if the author and publisher’s consider it non-fiction. If I were reading a non-fiction book about the origin basketball and I saw a fact that sad they originally used rocks, I would feel duped out of my money. Obviously that was a bit of a stretch, but I think I make my point. A book needs to have a solid truth behind it if I am to spend money on it and call it non-fiction. While I understand that not all books fall in to just one category I feel like non-fiction is probably the one exception to that rule. Now I am going to discuss half-truths. I am not ok with what Frey did and how long he let the supposed memoir earn him money. If I am buying a memoir I expect the main character has suffered every tragedy, heartbreak, and near-death experience they write about. If I wrote that I endured a brush with death, I would mean it. I haven’t had a brush with death, so something like that wont come up in my writing. I also believe that labels are necessary to a degree. As a reader I love to go to the fiction section and explore endlessly until I find my perfect fit. But I don’t like to have to strenuously attempt to find the book I want.  Genres help organize writing, which I like. I am not saying that all writing fits into to one genre. I dislike sub-genres because I think that is getting to specific. All in all I like to be told the truth and have an order to things.