To really enjoy reading misery lit?

[wavethecars]

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?

@crosspelican - I'm with you on 'a little life' - literary misery lit. Yuck.
I read Flowers in the Attic as a teen, fascinatingly horrible.
Each to their own OP, it's a popular genre so you're not alone.

You should be ashamed to read this nasty genre. Whatever morbid curiosity brought you to read it must surely have been outgrown by now.

Yanbu. I don't read much but those types of books really grab me!

'A Little Life' is so miserable! Well written but also, how many more things can go wrong for one guy

Just read the newspapers. Lots of misery fodder there.

I believe all of Dave Pelzer’s siblings dispute the veracity of his accounts of his abuse.

I absolutely loathe A Little Life, which I think is a horrible piece of misery porn, aimed at the kind of reader who wants the Dave Pelzer details of exactly how much blood there was, and all the horrible details of how exactly a child is abused, but in the guise of a literary novel.

I’m baffled at its glowing reviews (though the UK ones were notably cooler than the US) because it reads like a repellent game about exactly what graphic tortures you can inflict on a character (oh, let’s have his boyfriend rape him and throw him down the stairs, because the chronic pain and self-harm was getting old ).

I totally agree with PPs about A Little Life and tbh I didn't think it was that well-written either. Loathsome book.

I wouldn't read a "misery memoir" myself but I'm glad in a way that some people do because the people who write them deserve to have their stories heard if they want to tell them. True crime books I'm on the fence about - again, not for me, and the worst ones can be very exploitative - but the best ones are a testament to journalistic grit and integrity.

I like misery-lit that isn't obsessed with cruelty. I loved Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs but mainly because he's a great writer and his character is so adorable, you just long for him to thrive in the end, which he does. But that's not about brutal abuse, more about neglect and madness. Still disturbing but ultimately so uplifting.

I did read Child Called It and it hauntedme. I remember feeling guilty for ages because DS2 (who had undiagnosed Aspergers) would only eat tiny cheese sandwiches and apples so he had that every single day for his entire primary schoollife which DS1 had all sorts of nice food. It reminded me of Peltzer's peanut butter and carrot sticks.

I'm not a reader of misery lit, but would imagine that part of the fascination is that the genre functions as a safe way to try out one's reaction to the worst circumstances imaginable.

The human psyche is a weird and boundless place.

I used to read a lot of books like A child called it, Cathy glass books etc, as I was teaching but wanted to go into social work and child protection. Then I had my children, and haven’t picked up one of those type books since.

They aren't the type of book I'd actively seek out but if someone offers me one to read, I do take it. Yes, they can be bloody awful but nothing good ever came of ignoring these issues. These things do happen and society shouldn't sweep them under the carpet.

I really couldn't handle Running with Scissors. I was 15 when I tried reading it (it was listed somewhere as a recommended memoir for young adults aged 14 to 18). I couldn't finish it. I came from a great but very sheltered background where we never swore, and reading the book was the first time I'd ever heard the c-word used (I'm not joking). When I told my DM that it was listed for ages 14 to 18 she was shocked. I didn't really understand the book much either, but I probably would now if I were to pick it up again.

I like reading memoirs in general, and I think that many memoirs have some negative components to them, whereas for books like Cathy Glass, you can see the characters' growth despite it still being very sad.

That's interestin, @WaterBird. I come from a childhood that isn;t a million miles from Running With Scissors. It certainly had similarities, and it made me feel so reassured that Burroughs had survived and thrived.

Cathy Glass is disgusting. She exploits the children put into her "care" by writing about THEIR abuse and they don't see a penny of the millions she's earned. Anyone reading those really should be ashamed.

J T Leroy’s books are stunning. I read them after the “found out” so only ever saw them as fiction. I think they’re beautifully drawn.