Week 5: Community Blog- Fluidity/ Memoir Review
While memoirs should be a record of true events, contemporary memoirists have demonstrated a lot of fluidity between fact and fiction. Fluidity affects memoir-writing because it alters the facts hence defeating the meaning of a memoir. On the other hand, fluidity may help readers better understand the writer because some aspects tend to be boring. Since a memoir is written for an audience as opposed to private journals that are written for private use, fluidity is one of the features that memoirs more appealing to the audience.
I have always been averse to reading memoirs of celebrities and political figures. Such memoirs do not seem authentic because famous people have an image to protect. Hence leave out most of the raw memories. However, I fell in love with Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime because it gives a different perspective on life.
Favorite quote: I don’t regret anything I’ve ever done in life, any choice that I’ve made. But I’m consumed with regret for the things I didn’t do, the choices I didn’t make, the things I didn’t say- Trevor Noah
I found lessons, comic relief and passion in the life of Trevor Noah as described in his memoir. I learnt that hardship should not make our lives sad, we can still enjoy life while a dark cloud is passing. If I found that some parts of this memoir were not factual, I would not have the same feeling s about it because it would read like fiction.
This memoir will influence my blog in various ways especially the lightness in the book. I would like to communicate meaning and thoughts as well as Trevor Noah did in his memoir without invoking pity from his readers. I believe that a memoir does not have to dear down a reader’s heart into shreds for it to be impactful.
i agree the some memoirs by public figures can seem not real but i'm glad you were able to find some comic relief from Trevor Noah's memoir. look forward to reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteI avoided memoirs for a long time, too. I blame the bad reputation they got. I was born in the early 90's, so I remember books like A Million Little Pieces getting a lot of bad press over "inaccuracies." I assumed they would be insincere and I didn't see the merit in reading about someone's life when they were telling you lies. What is funny to me about this is that now I find them fascinating. I also feel silly because in my own initial post I forgot that I had read any, but have actually read Lauren Graham's, Anna Kendrick's, and Felicia Day's memoirs but it was about four years ago and they've been packed away since due to moving.
ReplyDeleteFelicia Day's I particularly loved because it was relatable to me and I enjoyed watching her on webshows like The Guild or Dr. Horrible. I was accustomed to her sense of humor and story telling so her memoir read as authentic to me, though there were typical critics talking about inconsistencies. These inconsistencies were small and some of them nit-picking at her change of perspective on certain situations that, to me, seemed to be completely reasonable scenarios to change your opinion - a major point in this week's resources is this, the fact that you may reframe the way you look at a situation. Overall, she succeeded in getting the point across that she found refuge from her loneliness and depression on the internet, the internet consumed her life for a while when she was really really down, and then she fought to get better. She even made a business out of her geeky obsessions.
It sounds like Trevor Noah's memoir did well to capture the human experience based on the quote you shared. Regretting the things we didn't do feels so common. Even William Zinsser says something along these lines in his interview on NPR. He said that people often say "they regret not asking their mother." We regret not what we do or learned, but the missed opportunities that come along with doing what we did. This captures the human condition and our limited time all too well.
I am not familiar with this memoir, but I added it to my list after your review. Like you, I think that reading a memoir by someone who is not famous is the way to go to come closer to a realistic account of a story. Aether makes some good poignant comments about the actual writing of our memories. Well said.
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