the strange planet inside my head
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the truth and nothing but the truth
on to the Oprah thing.
could you get a bigger tempest in a teacup? are you kidding me??
there's a war in Iraq based on our honored president's LIES, aids is rampant, gay people cannot attain the same rights as heteros, and children are starving in africa ( and in many other places. ) the Gaza strip is in turmoil, pedophiles seem to be around every corner, and i'm still not over the brad and jen ( not to mention the nick and jessica ) break up.
now oprah has her panties in a bunch because a memoir she chose for her exalted book club was not 100% factual?
memoir:
1. an official note or report;
2. a narrative composed from personal experience;
3. an accounting of something noteworthy.
narrative:
1. something that is narrated;
2. the art or practice of narration;
3. THE REPRESENTATION IN ART OF AN EVENT OR STORY.
from merriam-webster.
****
okay, i know i'm close to splitting hairs here. i have not read James Frey's book, "A Million Little Pieces". from what i understand, it's his accounting of his experiences of addiction. i guess parts of his narration are factual, some are embellished or changed, and yet others are totally fictional. for instance, in the book he claims to have spent three months in prision when in all actuality he spent three hours in a police station.
not to be facetious, but he was an addict - maybe in his alcoholic or drug-induced haze he felt like it was three months in a prison.
the book is not a journalistic rendering of historical fact. it is a memoir ( related to "memory", perhaps? ) of a pathetic addict and how he turned his life around. by all accounts it is well-written and riveting. truth is very seldom black and white - there are many shades of both. this is not to excuse his embellishments or his out-and-out lies....
to be perfectly honest with you, when i read a book, whether non-fiction or fiction, at the time i'm reading it ( if it's any good ) i believe every word of it! i believe there's dragons on Pern, i believe that redheads are telepathic on Darkover, i believe Roland did not mean to shoot his mother and that Susannah was impregnated by a demon. i believe Catherine the Great was perverted and vain, Elizabeth I was a virgin ( or not, depending on what version you read. ) i believe you can access another world through a closet, that Johnny Tremayne burned his hand and Jo loved Laurie, but not the way he wanted her to.
why wasn't there any outcry over "Memoirs Of A Geisha"? granted, it was fiction, but there was probably more truth in it than most memoirs. and it was written by an American man!
i guess as far as the written word goes for me, i don't believe everything i read and i believe everything i read. does it move me? does it feel real? reality is such a fluid term, after all, most reality tends to be related to your own perception of the world around you. everyone's perception is different...just like we are.
if James Frey had written a disclaimer that said, "Based on true events", would it have made any difference? would it make the book any more or less inspirational or moving? could a root canal without novacaine really happen?? ( yes, i've had one done. )
this whole hoo-haa is more about Oprah getting her nose bumped than anything else. who gives a rat's ass? who the hell is Oprah, anyway? she's just another reader! as IF she picks all these books herself, as IF she doesn't have a staff of millions. i don't care if Oprah vouches for a book's honesty - i'll make up my own mind, thank you. she can relax, now. IT'S NOT HER RESPONSIBILITY. mulit-millionaire she may be, but Goddess of the Universe she is NOT.
truth does matter...but truth is more than words on paper.
p.s. James Frey looked like a deer in the headlights on her show. yes, i feel sorry for him and his publisher too. if this doesn't knock him off the wagon, NOTHING will.
could you get a bigger tempest in a teacup? are you kidding me??
there's a war in Iraq based on our honored president's LIES, aids is rampant, gay people cannot attain the same rights as heteros, and children are starving in africa ( and in many other places. ) the Gaza strip is in turmoil, pedophiles seem to be around every corner, and i'm still not over the brad and jen ( not to mention the nick and jessica ) break up.
now oprah has her panties in a bunch because a memoir she chose for her exalted book club was not 100% factual?
memoir:
1. an official note or report;
2. a narrative composed from personal experience;
3. an accounting of something noteworthy.
narrative:
1. something that is narrated;
2. the art or practice of narration;
3. THE REPRESENTATION IN ART OF AN EVENT OR STORY.
from merriam-webster.
****
okay, i know i'm close to splitting hairs here. i have not read James Frey's book, "A Million Little Pieces". from what i understand, it's his accounting of his experiences of addiction. i guess parts of his narration are factual, some are embellished or changed, and yet others are totally fictional. for instance, in the book he claims to have spent three months in prision when in all actuality he spent three hours in a police station.
not to be facetious, but he was an addict - maybe in his alcoholic or drug-induced haze he felt like it was three months in a prison.
the book is not a journalistic rendering of historical fact. it is a memoir ( related to "memory", perhaps? ) of a pathetic addict and how he turned his life around. by all accounts it is well-written and riveting. truth is very seldom black and white - there are many shades of both. this is not to excuse his embellishments or his out-and-out lies....
to be perfectly honest with you, when i read a book, whether non-fiction or fiction, at the time i'm reading it ( if it's any good ) i believe every word of it! i believe there's dragons on Pern, i believe that redheads are telepathic on Darkover, i believe Roland did not mean to shoot his mother and that Susannah was impregnated by a demon. i believe Catherine the Great was perverted and vain, Elizabeth I was a virgin ( or not, depending on what version you read. ) i believe you can access another world through a closet, that Johnny Tremayne burned his hand and Jo loved Laurie, but not the way he wanted her to.
why wasn't there any outcry over "Memoirs Of A Geisha"? granted, it was fiction, but there was probably more truth in it than most memoirs. and it was written by an American man!
i guess as far as the written word goes for me, i don't believe everything i read and i believe everything i read. does it move me? does it feel real? reality is such a fluid term, after all, most reality tends to be related to your own perception of the world around you. everyone's perception is different...just like we are.
if James Frey had written a disclaimer that said, "Based on true events", would it have made any difference? would it make the book any more or less inspirational or moving? could a root canal without novacaine really happen?? ( yes, i've had one done. )
this whole hoo-haa is more about Oprah getting her nose bumped than anything else. who gives a rat's ass? who the hell is Oprah, anyway? she's just another reader! as IF she picks all these books herself, as IF she doesn't have a staff of millions. i don't care if Oprah vouches for a book's honesty - i'll make up my own mind, thank you. she can relax, now. IT'S NOT HER RESPONSIBILITY. mulit-millionaire she may be, but Goddess of the Universe she is NOT.
truth does matter...but truth is more than words on paper.
p.s. James Frey looked like a deer in the headlights on her show. yes, i feel sorry for him and his publisher too. if this doesn't knock him off the wagon, NOTHING will.
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