Post 5: Truth in Memoirs

If a book has an engaging plot and interesting story, I feel like it is then acceptable to provide facts that aren’t 100% credible. As long as the overall information is true and convincible, and the story is entertaining to the audience, it is completely fine to use a few facts that are not true.

I agree with Janet Fitch, because she mentions wanting to hear a story, even if it has a few lies in it. Janet states, “I don’t care if it’s true or not.” If a book is a half-lie, I don’t think the audience should mind, as long as they finished reading and were pleased with the author’s work. However, this might not be the case, and some readers might’ve not enjoyed either the plot or the half-lies. But, most readers will enjoy the story, besides the fact of the lies. If they picked up the book expecting to get a history lesson, I personally think it would’ve made more sense if they picked up a history textbook.

I think David Shields has a good point on the subject, but there should still be lines between fiction and non-fiction. But, I would still consider a memoir non-fiction even if there were a few phases of story bending along the way. My theory is if a reader decided to purchase a book with a memoir in the setting of the historical event, they should know some background information about the specific event, instead of relying completely on the memoir itself.