madzone
Physically unfavourable
Enid Blyton beat you to it
Tragic Life Stories.........
- Thread starter moomoo
- Start date
My childhood would laugh in the face of Enid Blyton's childhood - I mean, she never even had a Mastersystem...
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
Today I woke up, played Wayne Gretsky on my SEGA MASTERSYSTEM for 12 hours, shouted at my mum and went to bed.
Rpt ad infinitum e ad nauseum...
Looby
Well-Known Member
Oh God! My daughter has left one of these in the bathroom - it's got the handwritten title and everything.
Perhaps she wants to be reassured that her life isn't that bad after all....
What's it called?
What's it called?
'So much to tell you'
But panic over! Although it has the handwritten title and a pastel cover, it appears to be a novel. Although, reading the blurb, it says it's based on a true story and is the diary of a teenage girl traumatised by a violent incident in her past.
She's on shaky ground here, I'll have to have a bit of a word....
It's like those Torey Hayden books about abused kids and rehabilitating them. It's fucking grief porn
I read one of her books once and wanted to poke her in the eyes, I'm not saying these horrific things shouldn't be taken seriously, but the way she wallows in her pious-ness (is that a word??!) is hideous
Everyone should read - Dress your family in Coudrouy & Demin by David Sedaris instead - it's about a crazy mental childhood but written in a really humourous brilliant way
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
5t3IIa
Registered User
'So much to tell you'
But panic over! Although it has the handwritten title and a pastel cover, it appears to be a novel. Although, reading the blurb, it says it's based on a true story and is the diary of a teenage girl traumatised by a violent incident in her past.
She's on shaky ground here, I'll have to have a bit of a word....
She may well feel traumatised by an event in her childhood and is being helped by that book. Just saying
5t3IIa
Registered User
Louloubelle
Well-Known Member
the category is "Tragic life stories"
They fit very well IMO. You don't get much more tragic that being raped by an uncle aged 8 or being imprisoned in a series of concentration camps.
That's not to say that they fall into the category of "misery lit", misery lit is just a sub category of "Tragic life stories". Some memoirs are written with attention to detail as to make them important historical documents. Some are written so beautifully and with such skill that they are recognised as great works of literature. Some are not penned by great writers but are helpful to significant people who may have encountered similar traumas and who feel comforted to feel they are not alone. Some are simply misery porn published by cynical, materialistic entrepreneurs to satisfy the salacious curiosity of the masses. Some might be a combination 2 or more of these of these or something else entirely.
My point was that all kinds of memoirs have a tragedy or tragedies at their centre but that they are not all misery porn.
Maggot
The Cake of Liberty
there's a fine line between reality and satire.
there was an unofficial competition recently to see who could come up with the best miserable childhood title. The winner was No Grandad, Not on my face.
I liked Running with Scissors - does that count as misery porn?
Oh bugger, thats the one I meant, not Dress your family in Coudrouy & Demin! Thing is, it could've been if he'd written it from a different angle, but I don't think it is
frogwoman
Let them eat newts
this. I do think some survivors of these events do find it helpful to write it down on paper, and make it into a book, and i wouldn't knock someone else's therapy but a lot of them are lurid and explitcit to the point of being pornographic imo.
Louloubelle
Well-Known Member
Well I started to read a book that someone gave me because I enjoy martial arts
Taming the Tiger by Tony Anthony
Apparently Tony Anthony was abused by his Chinese grandfather who was a kung fu expert and used to beat him and force him to train in kung fu.
It wasn't all bad though as they travelled up into the mountains of southern China where Tony met a white tiger in the wild, not only that but she let him pet her like she was a cat.
He went on to become the world kung fu champion. Or something.
Then he became a very bad person and killed lots of people in various spectacular ways and also worked as a debt collector for a Saudi diplomat which involved all kinds of evil acts on his behalf.
Then he found Jesus and now makes a fortune visiting schools and running seminars as well as promoting his best selling book.
The only problem is that the book is very clearly a work of fiction. It is complete and utter shite, and it really pisses me off that this joker is wheedling his way into so many schools and hearts with his pathetic stories.
If his wild accounts really were true then he should be arrested for murder.
This is going to be one of the bigger scandals of the fake "misery memoir" genre when the truth finally comes out.
Read the negative reviews on amazon to see why some people are so angry.
Then read the many rave reviews. It's really sad.
Taming the Tiger by Tony Anthony
Apparently Tony Anthony was abused by his Chinese grandfather who was a kung fu expert and used to beat him and force him to train in kung fu.
It wasn't all bad though as they travelled up into the mountains of southern China where Tony met a white tiger in the wild, not only that but she let him pet her like she was a cat.
He went on to become the world kung fu champion. Or something.
Then he became a very bad person and killed lots of people in various spectacular ways and also worked as a debt collector for a Saudi diplomat which involved all kinds of evil acts on his behalf.
Then he found Jesus and now makes a fortune visiting schools and running seminars as well as promoting his best selling book.
The only problem is that the book is very clearly a work of fiction. It is complete and utter shite, and it really pisses me off that this joker is wheedling his way into so many schools and hearts with his pathetic stories.
If his wild accounts really were true then he should be arrested for murder.
This is going to be one of the bigger scandals of the fake "misery memoir" genre when the truth finally comes out.
Read the negative reviews on amazon to see why some people are so angry.
Then read the many rave reviews. It's really sad.
