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Originally Posted by michelej1
Interesting because I'd have to go back to my hard copy and verify, but I don't think my edition of the book said that anything was recreated from memory. She said she relied on her audio diaries, which she went back and listened to and I remember thinking that she was trying to bestow false credence on her recollections through that assertion.
Michele
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I have the Kindle edition, and it's the page before the 'title page', actually. Nothing about audio diaries right there. I just don't understand why it's such a big issue that she needs to claim EVERY WORD is true, and that we can take that to the bank. If she herself can admit some conversations are based on memory then it's not a big stretch to then conclude that some words aren't accurate, seeing as everyone's memory is infallible. That's not even mentioning stories that I think ARE altered for various reasons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bombaysaffires
I think for me her behavior after the book has been unusual and maybe, I'd have to think about it more, has by association influenced how I think about the book.
I know when I read it, like so many others, I found the writing left a lot to be desired, but you muddle through it to try and understand the point she wants to make about these people. And that's the thing-- the book is more about all these other people, not about her. She doesn't let the reader "in" to understand her that much. And because she doesn't, you're just left with the picture she chose to paint of herself, which is this impossibly innocent, naive, angelic person to whom all this bad stuff just happened, but who kept going back for more and who, even years later, still rhapsodizes about her abuser. Which is fine if that's what she wants to do; but we're all entitled to have our opinions about what she put out for us to read.
Then after the book came out, to do these things like troll FM fans and readers of the book [and if I were a betting person I'd bet my house she trolls this board], is just weird. I can buy having some curiosity when the book first comes out, and wanting to sort of eavesdrop to hear what the reaction to the book is, but then, you better be prepared for what you hear. It might not be all good. And clearly it hasn't been. So to then, at age--what is she? 50 something at least?? -- to troll around the internet and befriend people and engage with them only to attack them or insult them, that is unhealthy.
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I wish posts had a like button because THIS. I've always appreciated the existence of the book and I've read it a couple of times. I'm not even questioning her motives for writing it. My problems with the book and with her and nearly wholly based on how she's acted about it AFTER the fact. Her actively searching out SN/FM/LB fans to FB friend and SN/FM/LB FB groups to join strikes me as odd. Her way of talking to those who disagree with her also strikes me as a touch immature and childish, given her age.
For me, personally, it DID kind of suck having her (and later, one of her staunchest supporters) publicly call me out by name - in a post just dedicated to that - and insulting me, especially as she'd 'liked' what she then denigrated, and the information she'd been given, which caused her to say what she did, wasn't even accurate.
She can claim it's a book for healing and for abuse victims, etc, but it doesn't really read like that. I'm very pleased if it DID help those who suffered abuse but it doesn't mean that every word in the book is magically true and accurate because of that. Someone being there doesn't automatically mean they're right and there IS such a thing as objective truth, contrary to what she and some of her fans seem to think. Changing details of what happened at the AMAs isn't a big deal in and of itself, and certainly it's not slanderous. However, I truly believe it was altered and facts were omitted and changed so that it portrayed a certain vision of the band - CAH and Lindsey isolated from the uncaring band, etc. In terms of how she writes about herself, I really felt a lack of self-reflection and growth, to be honest. I was told a lot about what she learned and felt, but the way the story was told didn't really bear it out.
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Originally Posted by michelej1
Overall, I think the book is a good thing to have though, because I find the things people choose to embellish or lie about are just as revealing as the truthful anecdotes. I wish a few more people who have been associated with FM would write books, Sara and Ray for starters. But also Billy is writing one and I want to read about his FM years very badly.
Michele
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This. A thousand times this. What is slightly altered in a story, what is omitted, what is added, etc, ALL these things are hugely of interest to me. It doesn't have to be a big lie; it's the smaller ones that usually interest me more, especially if they're consistently told that way. In addition, I find it fascinating seeing what adjectives she chooses to describe people or events, what note she ends chapters on, what metaphors re-occur, whether the verbs in stories are related to active or passive things on a consistent level, and so on. It's all very interesting to me.