Week 5: We're 65% Water, It Makes Sense We'd Be Fluid

The concept of fluidity is a very interesting and true concept. Humans are constantly changing; physically, mentally, emotionally. The ones that survive adapt to the shape of the container they are put into. Whether we're stagnant or we flow, whether we're a crashing force or a quiet trickle, if we're carrying anyone, all depends on the time in our lives. A river does not know of a waterfall to come.

That being said, when we retell our lives, it will never be the same from a different time frame. We grow to know things that we didn't know at the time of an event, so our perception of what happened and our opinion on it will change. There may have been times in your life where you thought you overreacted to something, then even a week later you told yourself "wow I needed to chill out." Maybe you did something growing up that you thought would make you look cool at the time, and a decade later you cringe just thinking about it. Yet, we're still the same people.

Most memoirs aren't written until later in life, when a need for more validation arises, and we have a concept of our mortality. So if we're telling stories of the past from our "enlightened" mentality of the future, how can memoirs be true? Well, without the drama. We can just make a plain list of our timeline without adding fiction elements of description and feelings. But as Maddie Crum said in her editorial post Nothing But The Truth?: On Lying And Memoir -Writing "listing facts does not a cohesive story make — some embellishment, emotional and otherwise, is necessary."

If there's any truth, it's lies. Water can't climb back up from a waterfall, just like we can't return to the same state of knowledge and attitude as when we were younger. Thus, it is believable that many memoirs are written with many strands of false truth woven into the story. But so what? Did you read the story? Did you like it? Then chances are you got your money and time's worth out of it.

In all honesty, I don't read many memoirs. I have a short list of memoirs I'd like to read, but for the most part I'm rather content in my la-la land of fiction and fantasy. I think the only other memoir I've read aside from Memoirs Of A Geisha (which turns out to not actually be a memoir) is A Million Little Pieces by James Frey . It's been a long time since I've read it so I don't remember every detail, but it's about James Frey's struggle with heavy drugs, going in and out of rehab, and his relationships in-between.

I think it's ironic that I bring up this memoir and the truths in memoirs because there is a lot of controversy surrounding this book and if it's considered fiction or true memoir. I remember the  book being a page-turner; it was so well-written that Oprah herself endorsed this book, and made it one of her books for her book club. Turns out some years later after the hype it received, people from the facilities mentioned in the book did background research and couldn't find any record of him James Frey being there, so word got out that not everything in the book was true. Oprah put Mr. Frey on the public chopping block on her show, and grilled him and his editor about the truth. He still maintains that the book is mostly made up of facts, but it's very murky water to tread. This was eventually taken to court, and if you truly feel deceived by James Frey, then you have grounds for a lawsuit that Frey is likely to lose. I don't know how much longer that event is running, you might want to cash in on that now.

I remember finding out that the story may not be completely true and thinking "aww that sucks." But I wasn't personally hurt or offended by it. I didn't really think anything of it and sort of just... went about my day. It seemed plausible that not everything is true, because who can really remember that much detail in every part of their life?

If this book were to be a blog, I don't think it would do very well. Aside from the fact that it wouldn't be very long-running because the author would be arrested for all the drugs he was doing, it was a lot of inner monologue that didn't do much other than describe the situation. The voice that the author used was meant for a book, and you can tell. Let's keep memoirs books, and blog posts weird on the internet.