Tragic Life Stories

So I'm in W.H. Smith's today looking for a Mother's Day card that isn't a 2-page eulogy on YOU ARE THE GRAETEST MOST FRAGRANT WOMAN THAT EVER LIVED when I see a book shelf - a whole, top to bottom shelf - headed "Tragic Life Stories".

Inspired, maybe, by that Child Called It book by David Pelzer, there is now apparently an entire genre of "I had a shitty life" Misery Porn out there.

So I ask myself, is this a touching testament to people's urge to empathise with suffering? Or are there an awful lot of prurient, morbid fuckers out there? I don't know, I really don't.

#2

there's a certain type of person that is obsessed with this shit, I'm sure of it. there's a tone and everything for this kind of story. local news is full of "WAS BORN LIKE ANY OTHER CHILD, BUT NOW X Y Z"

I must admit I think mostly the answer is no 2, too. I don't think anybody watched Animal Hospital to see the puppies make a full recovery either.

2-page eulogy on YOU ARE THE GRAETEST MOST FRAGRANT WOMAN THAT EVER LIVED

My mother used to work in a card/gift shop and hates that kind of stuff. Unfortunately the only alternative is those cards with b&w 50's photos with captions like "Dad realised that all his kids hated him!"

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/thumb/4/42/Tombgshci.jpg/200px-Tombgshci.jpg

I had a friend in college that was really into a subset of these - that seemed to be popular in the 60s and 70s - that were narrative portraits of psychologically fucked up people.

I remember my Dad discovering the Pelzer trilogy and being really into it, the attraction for him I think was a) he likes biographies, b) sentimental streak about the poor kiddies, and c) some kind of "tut tut other people are terrible but not me" thing. I've never read Frank McCourt but I gather he does the same kind of thing? I think it's empathy that makes me not want to read this stuff - come across enough knowledge about horrible abuse via work/friends in social work, education etc/the news and I couldn't bear to wallow in this stuff for entertainment.

Weren't the Pelzer books made up?

exploitation memoirs. i find it funy that you can tell them ewith one look as i mentioned at the top here Examples of breathtakingly unoriginal marketing

sp

xxpost

Apparently some of Pelzer's family say so? I never knew that. I guess the "they would, wouldn't they?" defence might apply.

Sorry Henry, didn't come across your thread when I searched for this.

I remember reading an article (maybe in the nytimes?) that was particularly damning -- it wasn't just that his family was saying he was lying, but various records pointed to the books being at least in part fictional.

Which raises the point that I don't see much of this stuff in fiction. As far as I know there aren't shelves full of Shitty Life novels. Authenticity is probably quite a big deal to the fans of this.

I think that's why there are so many horrible fake memoirs in the past few years.

are there more of them since diana died?

pondering writing a spoof one of these called Bummed Up the Arse Off a Priest

Great unreleased Frank McCourt novel.

i'm paranoid now that somebody's already done a spoof Tradge Life Story book, they must've done surely

i mean apart from all the "genuine" ones that are just made-up