Week Five: I don't read many memoirs

Memoirs are books, and while you should keep it nonfiction, it's important to write in a way that makes your book interesting to the reader. The use of fluidity is to take something from your past and confront it in a way to make it the center of your story. My favorite memoir (I mean I'm pretty sure it's the only memoir I've read, BUT I LIKE IT AND DON'T MIND TALKING ABOUT IT!) is Greg Sestero's The Disaster Artist. There are two sides to the book's story, the making of the movie The Room and everything that happened before the making of The Room. The odd numbered chapters focus on the former while the even numbered chapters focus on the latter. The center of the story is the making of the movie The Room, as well as the creator behind The Room: Tommy Wiseau, who is a major part of both sides. Greg Sestero's career path involved meeting this mysterious and eccentric European guy who seems to make his own career decisions on a whim (hell the reason he made The Room was because he couldn't sell it as a play and after watching The Talented Mr. Ripley he thought he could make a better movie than them). If I learned that Greg Sestero made certain parts up, especially for the stuff that takes place before the making of The Room, I wouldn't mind all that much because at least the story that was made was one that was interesting to read.

Comments

  1. Taking a BackseatFebruary 16, 2021 at 8:23 AM

    In the past ten years, I have probably read more memoirs than I have in years. With unique stories to read about, I find diving into someone's story cathartic in many ways. I remember seeing the movie of The Disaster Artist, but I didn't read the book. I will add it to my list. I think this is a great example to explore because of the aspects of verisimilitude. Sestero is listed as the author but so is Tom Bissel - a fiction writer. It would be interesting to know why Sestero didn't just write his own memoir.

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