Post #5 Truth in Memoir

In order for a book to be non-fiction I believe the whole book must be true. Little details may be stretched because the specifics about stories may be hard to remember. This is especially true for authors who right about events in their life. As long as the details don’t affect the plot or the characters in a major way, then it’s fine to have little “made up” details. People want to read non-fiction because the stories are “real” and they can help other people in their own lives. One example is The Glass Castle. This book is about the struggles a young girl went through her whole life and eventually reached a life sustaining career. People will read these because they think they are true. They read it and think if this person went through all this maybe I can. When people find out that some of these non-fiction books aren’t true then they may feel heartbroken and lied to. Half-truths are not okay either. If half the book is true, then the book is just fiction instead of non-fiction. Even if the book is a good story, they should not call it non-fiction.

I feel it was okay for Frey to bend the truth the way that he did. The problem was the way he presented his book. He had people believing that the whole book was true word for word. What he should have done was let people know that some parts were a little made up. Some people might have gotten a little mad but in the end as long as it was a good book most people would have been fine.