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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To really enjoy reading misery lit?

41 replies

wavethecars · 12/02/2019 19:03

It always feels faintly distasteful and I can't put my finger on why I like it/ I don't actually buy them because I feel a bit ashamed but if I come across them in charity shops I buy and read, justifying it with it being a donation to the charity.

Part of me thinks I shouldn't, another part of me thinks I should just read what I like ... I like true crime as well which again makes me feel a bit ick.

AIBU?

OP posts:
EspressoX10 · 12/02/2019 19:06

I truly dislike both of those genres, but I'm strangely attracted to dystopian and large scale disaster stories.

Neither is particularly nice, but for some reason they both make me feel cosy and safe. Weird.

Uhtredswoman · 12/02/2019 19:24

I also read both of your favoured genres, but on Kindle so nobody sees Blush

Uhtredswoman · 12/02/2019 19:24

Not that that makes it less ick Confused

MmaMakutsi · 12/02/2019 19:26

It's not something I could or ever would read but unto each their own. I don't know if I'd judge you - maybe you'd judge me on my reading tastes. Who knows - I only know one person who likes this sort of thing and she's not very bright but I'm sure that can't be true of everyone who reads it.

LilaJude · 12/02/2019 19:27

What is misery lit?

BasinHaircut · 12/02/2019 19:29

Do you mean stuff like a child called it etc? I read that years ago as everyone was raving about it. I remember not being able to understand what all the fuss was about and feeling as if I never wanted to read anything similar again and I haven’t.

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 12/02/2019 19:29

God no, can’t think of anything worse.

iklboo · 12/02/2019 19:30

Definitely not my genre but if you enjoy reading it then it's nobody else's business really.

DramaAlpaca · 12/02/2019 19:31

I don't read misery memoirs, it's a genre I find really distasteful & can't understand why there's so much of it around. I don't read true crime either, I prefer crime fiction, but I do watch loads of true crime stuff on TV. But if you enjoy reading those genres YANBU, whatever floats your boat I say.

Parthenope · 12/02/2019 19:37

www.nytimes.com/2002/07/28/magazine/dysfunction-for-dollars.html

Have a read of that, OP. It's absolutely fascinating on the Dave 'A Child Called It' Pelzer industry.

Can you say what it is about reading that stuff you like?

This is a quote from that NY Times article:

''A Child Called 'It,''' a curious book told through the eyes of Pelzer as a small child, age 4 to 12, has spent 215 weeks and counting on the best-seller list. Over the course of 160 pages, Pelzer tells how his mother, Catherine, burns David's arm over the kitchen stove, smears a feces-stained diaper in his face, makes him vomit and then eat it, stabs him in the stomach, starves him for 10 days, makes him drink ammonia and separates him from his four brothers, who never witness his abuse.

Clearly, as his books have been huge bestsellers, even though his brothers say they're fabrications, you're not alone in your tastes...?

Pomello · 12/02/2019 19:38

I've read a couple and I don't seek them out. But I think they made me feel anything was possible.

I know what the other poster means about feeling safe in this world when reading dystopian fantasies

GruciusMalfoy · 12/02/2019 19:40

You're certainly not alone in reading them, they sell huge amounts. I read A Child Called It, on a friend's recommendation. I would never read another book like it. I (like previous posters) find them really distasteful, their popularity makes me uncomfortable.

Ragnarthe · 12/02/2019 19:45

If I want some misery I prefer things like The Count of Monte Cristo or Les Miserables.
But I don't judge you for your choices op.
Each to their own!

crosspelican · 12/02/2019 19:46

You'd bloody love A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It was the most unbelievably depressing novel I've ever read, to the point where (about 700 pages in) I decided I was being trolled by it.

Take 4 unbelievably clever, hot, successful young men. Then make them miserable. Then take the one with the most "sensitive youth" appeal, and FUCK HIS LIFE FROM THE START. Then make it worse. And worse. Make sure he is sexually abused or assaulted at least once every 4 years. Oh - is he not dying of something yet? Let's do that! Maybe that doesn't hurt enough. Let's add in self harm. It went on and on and on. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker and got rave reviews, but it pissed me off no end.

I will concede that it was very engaging and the characters were beautifully drawn, but it just got too much after a while. I hate not finishing a novel though.

spidereye · 12/02/2019 19:47

I quite enjoy the Cathy Glass books (not sure if they count as misery lit) but they always seem to be in the same section in the library

Ribbonsonabox · 12/02/2019 19:49

I love horror. Love thrillers.
But I cant handle things like 'a child called it' or even 'Angela's ashes' I just feel sick reading them... which is odd because I love true crime documentaries... it's just books written by actual victims that I cant handle.

But YANBU because these people obviously wanted to tell thier story and are profiting from you reading it... so that's fine I guess.

Sukochicha · 12/02/2019 19:53

Oh god a child called It was horrific :-( the horror at his situation stayed with me for years.

Isn’t the point of reading things like that that you get to experience the emotions in a safe way? Like you can be upset, and have a good cry and feel better afterwards?

NotMyUsualTopBilling · 12/02/2019 19:55

YANBU.

If you enjoy reading it then what does it have to with anything else?

Pre-kids I regularly read this stuff to but I couldn't stomach it afterwards. I do however, still read true crime books most of which seem to be centred around child abductions.

I've always said that "big brother" government watch doesn't really exist because if it did I'd have been arrested based on my library and Google histories!

Abacab · 12/02/2019 19:56

The most relentlessly depressing novel I've ever read is Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy. It doesn't end well for anyone.

strawberryredhead · 12/02/2019 19:58

I couldn’t read them myself (they’d haunt me) but I’m interested in knowing where the appeal lies. Some people who like them are people who are themselves survivors of abuse. I guess it maybe helps them feel less alone.

goodolddaze · 12/02/2019 20:21

Didn’t ‘A Child Called It’ turn out to be fake? Or was that another one? I think it’s a horrible genre.

Ribbonsonabox · 12/02/2019 20:30

The JT Leroy one turned out to be fake. The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.

WaterBird · 12/02/2019 20:37

I enjoy some misery lit so YANBU. My fantasy-reading DF has never understood it (as he feels it's not an escape from a very demanding job). Often these books do end with the characters' growth.

WaterBird · 12/02/2019 20:40

@SpiderEye, for the longest time, I enjoyed reading Cathy Glass as well as other authors who did books like this such as Casey Wattson, Maggie Hartley and Rosie Lewis. But eventually I just got really sick of the writing style. I felt like there were certain aspects of the carers' lives which made for unrealistic reading, such as the fact that the biological children almost never act up.

Kittykat93 · 12/02/2019 20:53

Can't understand why people enjoy reading about horrendous child abuse and things like that. Makes me feel sick even thinking about it, especially since having a baby