Post 5- "Not Fake vs Fake"

When I was little I always reminded myself that non-fiction was "not-fake." If a book was made up then it was fiction a.k.a "fake." I read non-fiction books to be informed about something. I don't want to read a book about, I don't know, lions and have the author tell me that they live in Australia. Yes lions might be in zoos in Australia so it technically isn't "lying" but on the other hand it isn’t 100% accurate. If you produce a memoir that is 95% true then why can't you make a note at the beginning of the book saying "loosely based on..." Or maybe even make it a loosely based fiction? Either would work for me.

"Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth..." This oath that people recite every time they are in court might just be similar to what happened to Frey when he was on the Oprah show. These comparisons might be a bit of a stretch, but from the way Oprah reacted, Frey might as well be a criminal. Frey's story was probably really good before he came out with the truth. I bet it changed some people lives when they read it. And I bet he wished he had said that is wasn't entirely the truth before he published the book. I personally haven’t read the book, but I know that I would have mixed feelings on whether it would still be a good book or not. I mean a book is a book. If an author wrote a story about their life and called fiction then later called it non-fiction I probably would have a hard time believing what was real and what wasn't. And vise versa. 

          I think that you do need to differentiate non-fiction verses fiction. If I want to read about someone’s life then I will pick up a NON-fiction book. If I want to read a fantasy, romance, sic-fi, etc. book then I will get a fiction book. Some people get emotionally involved with peoples memoirs. I bet that some people feel like they can relate to something that the author had gone through and it could mean something HUGE for that person. I can't imagine being told that parts of a memoir were made up or exaggerated. If an author wants to write a memoir and then say it was a lie later, probably will do them much good. I mean, "the truth will set you free" after all.