to read "misery lit"

[shewhowines]

Is that the correct term for it?

I have just finished reading a book, about someone who suffered childhood abuse, that somebody passed on to me. I know there is a hatred of such books by many people.

Whilst it would not be my first choice of book, I must admit that I "enjoyed" it. It made me sad and I did actually have tears in my eyes at one point.
Reasons I have occassionally read them/watched sad films.

1. It is important that people are aware that this sort of thing went on/goes on.
2. It is important that people have some ability to empathise (although I know you obviously can't really understand unless you have gone through it yourself).
3. I get a positive emotion from it, in that I feel grateful for the life that I have led and feel very lucky. There for the grace of God goes I...

I am prepared to get a flaming for this, But I am genuinely interested in why it is supposed to be so popular, and what other people think of it.

'The publishers don't care if they are true or not . . .'

Not true itself.

I think the problem is CAillin is that there were some good books written - I can't remember who started it off. Some guy where he wrote about his childhood that i just cant remember his name - he wrote a series of books. It just seems that now everyone has jumped on the bandwagon - by everyone i mean publishers. I think there are better outlets for survivors of abuse or at least there should be. These books are not cathartic for anyone apart from the publisher

That's a separate question Cailin. Anyone can write anything they want. What I question are the motives of the readers these days. It has become an industry. It taps into something not entirely wholesome.

Fair enough lem. You don't like the books or anything violent. Where did you get the idea that abuse survivors can't spell?

My only awareness that this is a genre for books is through threads where they are mentioned on MN, so I'm not well placed to comment.

I did enjoy "Ugly" by Constance Briscoe if that counts. I don't know of these other books you are all talking of.

However I do find when reading (or watching TV) that I do get quite addicted to a certain genre, and thrash it until my interest is exhausted or something else captivates me.

Recently it's been Swedish crime novels & TV - Larsen/Nesbo etc, plus The Killing/Wallender/Arne Dahl etc etc.

Now I've moved onto English history - reading Hilary Mantel, watching The Tudors, The White Queen etc. I just can't get enough of it.

When PG with DD2, and not feeling well at all, all I wanted to watch was CSI:whatever from dusk till dawn.

Morbid fascination is what i think you are looking for there hully? I thnk its common in younger people? As i get older, my empathy prevents me from being able to read anything like that.

They have a whole Misery Lit section in Asda. I find it quite upsetting that people go in for eggs, milk, pasta, tale of horrific child abuse.

Do not understand the appeal at all. But then I watched Les Miserables the other night, cried several times and then said I really enjoyed it. Aren't we odd?

Have you been and looked at that section in a book shop? They have their own section. People's misery packaged and sold as entertainment.

I find the Asda section odd. Biography, Fiction, Kids, Misery

CAilin - i'm sorry, that was a result of my bad English! I meant the celebrety autobiographies! not folk who write these books - but i do wonder how many of the misery lit books are written by the victims or written by a "ghost writer" these are the people who write bad books. Sorry, did not mean to imply that at all x

The thing is Cailin that there are abuse survivors writing serious, thought provoking accounts of their experiences but they are lost in a wealth of sensationalised, half truth/half fiction ghost written 'memoirs', with titles and covers chosen by marketing sections of large publishing houses to titillate readers and almost 'glamourise' the whole subject. It's that which is distasteful.

Just - almost all adult books contain some element of misery. Why is abuse special?

Hully it's comments like your "not entirely wholesome" that make me feel tainted like i'm dirtying people by just talking about what happened to me.

squoosh - I find Asda (all supermarkets) odd. Lad's mags, booze, fags, etc etc. MN has taught me none of that should be judged.

Abuse survivors though? Fair game . . .

YANBU to read whatever you like.

Having said that, I understand why abuse victims etc write these books but I can't fathom why anyone would actually want to read them.

There are lots of books about dogs. Written by ghost writers. Now, lots of people with dogs will no doubt have fascinating doggy stories to tell. If they want those stories packaged in a way that will hit a wide audience, they get a ghost writer, they get a major publisher, they get a cover that will fit the genre. Should no dog book be published because of this?

Or is it just abuse that has different rules - as always?

If you want to have a debate about publishing, that's fine - there's plenty to talk about; but why vilify survivors while doing it?

Nobody's 'vilifying survivors'. And I think abuse is a rather more serious subject than dogs. What an extraordinary post

See if i had a massive car crash i could tell everyone about it and they would want all the details and be interested in and amazed by what i went through. No one would be considered weird for wanting to know all the details. Yet with abuse just hearing someone else's story is "not quite wholesome." so i would have to assume that anyone genuinely wanting to listen to me was some sort of pervert getting a kick out of the details.

Who has vilified abuse survivors?

People are judging those who devour these books one after the other.

It's not extraordinary at all. It's comparing genres because a lot of the attacks in this thread are about how publishing works.

I can see survivors being hurt, undermined and vilified here.

It is, however, extraordinary if you think I was suggesting abuse is not a more serious subject than dogs. Would you like one of those patronising little emoticons back at you, Arabesque?

If someone was constantly buying books about crash survivors and anxious to read the lurid details then I would find them strange, yes.

Someone with a genuine interest in the psychological after effects of trauma reading serious books on the matter - and maybe one or two personal accounts - fine. But constantly reading the more sensational ones - no.

Cailin you are misunderstanding me.

There is nothing wrong with writing/taking about abuse

There is something wrong with a lot of people's reasons for wanting to read it.

The survivor (the one in a hundred genuine author) may write out of pure reasons.

It is the reader whose motives for reading I question

Can you not see the difference?

Spotty, if doggy owners are happy to be exploited by publishers, fine. But exploiting a serious subject like child abuse by sensationalising it and publishing unverified stories is something I find distasteful. That has absolutely nothing to do with vilifying or undermining abuse survivors, quite the opposite in fact.

Exactly squoosh. People are saying "yes abuse survivor write your story but bear in mind only weirdos will read it. Normal people like us don't want to hear about it and we will sneer at anyone who is interested in what you have to say."

Hullygully - are you saying that only one in a hundred of those who write survivor memoirs is telling the truth?

I feel the same about people who buy weekly sensational magazines on the subject of serial killers. It's just odd.