When Is A Memoir Not A Memoir?

With the increased interest in personal memoirs of ordinary people, the market has become saturated with autobiographies that read like novels, astounding tales of people overcoming terrible childhoods and debilitating diseases to become happy, productive adults. But is anyone fact-checking these tales of personal heroism? A recently released memoir by James Frey has a number of reviewers questioning whether many of the events he describes could have actually occurred. Frey hasn’t bothered to defend himself too heavily, either: “I wrote what was true to me and true to the experience,” he said recently. “If people want to pick the facts apart, they can.”