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.

I read an interesting thing once by a woman who wanted to write about rape in a way that conveyed the awful reality with absolutely no possibility of anyone getting inappropriately titillated.

She experimented with different words and structures until in the end she came up with something so grim it was genuinely hard to read.

A lot of misery memoirs are written in language (not the survivor's own) that feeds into the "unwholesome" interest I am talking about.

These books (not the originals) are written now to make money.

Cailin why do you think certain people exclusively read misery lit? Do you think it's beacuse they have such empathy or is it because they are getting pleasure from it?

Arabesque - why do you think these stories are unverified?

I see exactly what Hully is saying.

On one hand, having these sections and books out there as obviously as they are may be a good thing - abuse survivors know its not just them and may be more likely to speak up? And the writing of the true ones is obviously cathartic for survivors, I think?

On the other hand, many of us find it an odd subject matter to read for pleasure.

As a separate-ish question, do you think reading about these things constantly desensitizes people to the horror? Normalises it?

If I say there are a number of glorified bandwaggoners, you will say I am disbelieving survivors.

I am not playing any kind of game here.

The world is a horribly cynical place. If something makes money, people try and reproduce it to make money of their own.

Because I know of some cases where siblings have completely disputed some of the facts of some of these stories but they have been published anyway.

Posters here are talking about why people read these books and find them entertaining or attractive rather than the people writing them. And again, it would probably be the publishers rather then the authors that would come in for criticism anyway as they are seen to making a fast buck out of promoting this kind of thing.

Also, What HullyGully said.

OhTiger - regarding your last (excellent) question, yes. I do think people are desensitised, and I think child abuse is, to an appalling extent, normalised already. Do these books contribute? Perhaps - I'd quite like to do some research on that actually . . .

I think its about the way the books are marketed though! That is my problem with it.

There are plenty of peer reviewed journals that would be the place for a review of this sort of thing, that was being read by people with a genuine interest in the field, so counsellers, psychiatrists etc. I have no problem with that, but yes, as an extension of "take a break" and "bella" then yes, i think is mawkish.

Squoosh - most people read for pleasure so i assume they get pleasure from it. I got great pleasure from reading brian keenan's memoir even though what he described was horrific. If i hadn't been enjoying it i would have stopped reading it. Equally i believe people who read about war, vampires or murder get pleasure from it. Why do you ask?

HullyGully and Arabesque - I'm not playing mind games either. I genuinely know of four (all massive bestsellers, which made a fortune, which is not the norm for this genre at all, despite what some people believe). If you know of lots, I would be honestly interested as I would like to know which publishers are doing this.

I can't give you specifics, spotty. I was told by a friend who mentioned some names in passing, but frankly they are all too similar and I made no effort to retain them.

Thank you spottybanana - it's on my list of possible research questions too. Along with the whole nature of desensitisation in the last 15 years (dead bodies on the news etc)

Hully is still right. See for instance the swathe of vampire books after Twilight, and mummy porn post 50 Shades.

Publishers are not charities interested in furthering the cause of literature/providing a vent for the abused, as a rule, but large money making companies trying to rake in as much as possible.

So abuse should only be read about by counsellors and other qualified people? God it makes me feel like i'm carrying a paedophile-creating plague.

Spotty the fact that I alone know of a couple and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them out there makes me wonder how many are true, how many are half true, and how many are total fantasy.

It would be naive to think that, in such a lucrative genre. there is not some manipulation of facts (and indeed of vulnerable people) in order to allow publishers to make a lot of money.

Cailin

I don't know how else to say what I am saying. I'm sorry you feel the way you are feeling. It isn't what I (and I'm sure others) meant at all.

Peer-reviewed survivor memoirs?

Do you work in this field Arabesque? Again, a genuinely interested question as I would be keen to know how much publishers and manipulated survivors are making, the likelihood that there are thousands of 'total fantasy' abuse memoirs are getting past legal teams, and how you have uncovered this?

I hate being naïve, so would very much welcome the answers.

But surely Cailin, you wouldn't want anyone listening or reading to your experiences to feel anything other than horrified and angry?

That is what I question, what people are taking from these thousands of "memoirs"

NO, that is not what i mean, what i mean is, that is should not be sensationalised by publishers who are publishing all manner of these books for entertainment. That this sort of things should not be being used to make money. But should be being taken seriously!

I'm giving up now because i can't seem to say the right thing for saying wrong and really don't want to upset or offend anyone.

I have read some 'misery lit' books that I have found interesting and well written and some are truely inspiring. However, some read like an extended 'Chat' magazine article and are sometimes just salacious rubbish.

I love real life adventure books - for example mountaineering or exploration - these are often full of heartbreak and 'real life' drama. Some of the accounts of failed attempts of Everest are full of misery.

So I am on the fence unless I know the exact books you are reading

Why should i care what the reader feels hully? A paedophile took my childhood, should i let another paedophile stop me from talking about it?

Spotty I work in a related field to publishing and I didn't say 'thousands' are total fantasy I said that if I, as an individual, knew of a couple than, amongst the thousands of memoirs published, it is likely there is a percentage that are not completely true.

What field Arabesque?