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cocobanal
08/25/09

In reply to Glass Castle Author Pens "True-Life Novel"
Aw, my grandmother used to whip out her teeth, too, just to make me laugh. She didn't have a gun, though, but she did wear mid-heel pumps and rolled her stockings down below her knees. She was a hoot.
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Edited by cocobanal at 08/25/09 12:56 PM cocobanal was starred cocobanal was unstarred

TexasCrude
08/25/09

@cocobanal: My greatgrandma use to do it to me because she knew it freaked me out and that I didn't know her teeth were fake.
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sydbarrettsaves, emissary of hell
08/25/09

In reply to Glass Castle Author Pens "True-Life Novel"
I read the Glass Castle for an English course, it was an amazing read. My final paper addressed some of the symbolism throughout the novel.
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GeorgeFayne
08/25/09

In reply to Glass Castle Author Pens "True-Life Novel"
I'm the only person who hated The Glass Castle, right?
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formergr
08/25/09

@GeorgeFayne: What was it you didn't like about it, out of curiosity?

No idea if you're the only person who hated it-- I found it a very interesting story (but can't say I was blown away by the writing quality or style), and rather eye-opening.

ETA: Hopefully that didn't come off as judgy or anything-- usually it's me who is the only person who hates something, so I was just genuinely curious!
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Edited by formergr at 08/25/09 1:00 PM formergr was starred formergr was unstarred

MakeFetch
08/25/09

@GeorgeFayne: You're not alone. I found it tedious and in the end, I felt like I was reading a work of fiction.
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GeorgeFayne
08/25/09

@formergr: It's been a while since I tried reading it, but I found all the characters (well, "characters") wholly unsympathetic, and the writing style/quality basically absent. To me, it was a book that had already been written several dozen times over, and better.
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EdnasEdibles
08/25/09

@GeorgeFayne: A friend made me borrow it and I had really low expectations based on her tastes which were of the Dan Brown area of the book store. So it was better than I thought it would be but overall read like an Oprah book that I'd already read before.
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colormeroutine
08/25/09

@GeorgeFayne: I liked that the characters were unsympathetic actually. Some people are just genuinely unsympathetic.
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sydbarrettsaves, emissary of hell
08/25/09

@GeorgeFayne: I felt disconnected from some of the characters as well. Specifically the parent's for abandoning their children- I found their behaviors difficult to appreciate. However, I would still reccomend this book to others.
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alouette
08/25/09

@colormeroutine: Yeah, some of the characters were disgusting, but that's what I liked about it. Well, liked/made me feel sick.
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FrostyTempleton
08/25/09

@MakeFetch: That's how I felt. Maybe some of it was true, but I felt like there was a lot of exaggeration.
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colormeroutine
08/25/09

@FrostyTempleton: I doubt there was. Do not underestimate just how much life and people can suck
I'm sure there was some exaggeration, as there is in any memoir or biography, but I think the majority of it was truthful
It's not like A Million Little Pieces, which I never understood how anyone didn't notice was full of glaring medical impossibilities
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Edited by colormeroutine at 08/25/09 1:32 PM colormeroutine was starred colormeroutine was unstarred

formergr
08/25/09

@colormeroutine: Wait, you mean novocaine and narcotics aren't the same?? Ohhh.

Yeah, I read that for my book club before it all came out about it being made up, and was the only one who A) hated it, and B) was confused at some of the inconsistencies and "science" in it.
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TempleDrake
08/25/09

@GeorgeFayne: My mom read it last Christmas and would not stop complaining about how attrociously and impossibly untrue it sounded. She read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn immediately after as an intellectual antidote.
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jengrrrl
08/25/09

In reply to Glass Castle Author Pens "True-Life Novel"
I see publishers have learned their lessons: memoirs sell very well, but often have pesky made up things in them. I know, we'll market them as "true-life" novels, and no one will be able to complain. Take that, Oprah!
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AnotherJenn
08/25/09

@jengrrrl: My family has some stories that have been passed on as true but may not be and there's no real way to prove it anymore. Like did great-grandma really abandon her first family, including five kids, because they were Mormon and she felt oppressed until the Love of Her Life came and set her free? Or maybe she was just a deadbeat and it's the story she told to make herself feel better. We'll never know so I can't tell it as straight-up truth but it might be. I can see a collection of family stories like that being sold as "true life novel."

Then you have something like "What is the What" where David Eggers claims everything couldn't be verified so they are calling it a novel, but you can't help but think about how other Sudanese refugees have flat-out memoirs. Are the other memoirs wrong? Or did Eggers just have too much trouble with the form's restrictions so he decided to fictionalize the protagonist's story to make it more interesting and read better?

If you're still claiming everything is true, you shouldn't be able to classify it as fiction. I think.
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