In class last Thursday we talked about the "memoir" A
Million Little Pieces." The half fiction/half nonfiction book is about
a 23 year old alcoholic and drug addict. As we said in class the author James
Fray was interviewed on Oprah and his book became extremely popular. However,
when word got out that many of the events in the story were highly exaggerated,
the American public was outraged. Oprah stated that Fray "betrayed
millions of readers." She later commented "what mattered was not the
truth of Frey's book, but its value as a therapeutic tool for addicts."
She later went back on this remark and apologized because she "left the
impression that the truth is not important” (Wikipedia).
What I found interesting about this “argument” was that people got so
caught up in the debate about whether this memoir was true or not that they
failed to take away any real inspiration from the story. When we read books,
whether they are fiction or non-fiction, we are allowing the author to take
over our minds when we read. As readers, we become submissive, and generally
“agree” to absorb what he or she is saying to us on the pages.
On one hand, readers could feel betrayed because they put some sort of
superficial trust into Fray. Secrets bring people close, and because he was
sharing his deepest and darkest secrets in his book, the readers most likely
felt connected and close to him, making the read that much more emotional, and
making them feel betrayed when they learned his events weren’t all true. On the
other hand, the memoir, whether true or false was very influential. If Fray had
published it as a fiction novel would it not have been featured on Oprah? Would
it not have been a best seller on Amazon if people realized many of the events
were made up? Although humans tend to identify more closely with events that are fictional, I think this argument got way too out-of-hand. The memoir was clearly moving and probably extremely influential for many readers. Debating about the credibility of his anecdotes just drew away from the inspiration of his story.
I completely agree that a story can be meaningful and inspirational without being at all true. However, in the case of A Million Little Pieces, I wonder why the author even felt the need to attempt to pass off his book as nonfiction. If he is confident in what he has created, shouldn't it be able to stand on its own, without the added bolster of the label "memoir"? I don't think it matters that the story was made up, but I do think it matters that he was playing his audience for chumps. To me, that's what feels sort of alienating and disrespectful to the reader.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you that a story can change someone’s life even if it is not based off of true events. Something can still be inspirational to me even if it never happened. A story is moving when a person sees another person overcome adversity and achieve their goals. It is the idea that matters, not whether it happened or not. I do wonder why the author would trick all of those people in his book, “A Million Little Pieces”, but I also wonder why Oprah was, so upset. Oprah was clearly helping people change their lives by advertising this book and it seemed to be working off of its reviews. I think Oprah should have just accepted it was fiction, but still show how motivating it can be. Oprah freaked out because she felt robbed, but if Oprah still supported the fiction novel and it still changed people’s lives, would it really matter if it was true or not?
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