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Original poster

Horrifying Tragic Childhood - My Story, an International Bestseller

53 replies

expatinscotland · 15/12/2006 21:32

Christ on a bike!

I popped into a bookshop looking for a light holiday read.

Stroll over to the Bestseller section to find it chockablock w/tales of horrific childhoods - 'Ugly', 'I Survived', 'Sickened', etc.

All w/gold lettering announcing, 'A No. 1 Bestseller' 'An International Bestseller Translated into 158 Languages'

Who buys these things?

I understand they're very cathartic for the writer, maybe help them on their path, to make peace, move on, etc., but fuck me! Life is already sad enough, don't you think?

I'm actually feeling nostalgic for chick lit!

OP posts:
Miaou · 15/12/2006 21:34

My brain atrophies when I am pregnant. I am currently lovin' Erica James. Not a miserable childhood in sight

beansprout · 15/12/2006 21:34

I totally agree! I really don't see the appeal of these books at all. They are books for people who don't really like books (ditto biogs of the likes of Jordan and Posh Spice).

There, I've said it

moondog · 15/12/2006 21:35

I know.

Idiots revelling in misery.

Those Dave Pelzer ones are the worst.

Dave and his mid life crisis

Dave ruminates on years of toxic parenting

Dave: a life fucked up

Dave is 85 and still an emotional wreck

Misery from beyond the grave:Dave lives on

They're mostly lies anyway.

Original poster
expatinscotland · 15/12/2006 21:36

I walked out empty-handed, bean!

A first for me.

Granted, I didn't have time to stop and have a proper gander, but that just put me right off buying a book.

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turquoise · 15/12/2006 21:36

I So agree. I've been thinking that for ages - seems like about 80% of the paperbacks in Tescos etc are of this genre. Why? What the hell is the appeal?

sillysausages · 15/12/2006 21:37

strangely enough i recently had a converstion in well known book shop with the staff and they too thought it was very strange that people would read these books.

Can't understand why anyone would read these althugh my mil does, but she reads the daily mail!

doyouwantfrankincensewiththat · 15/12/2006 21:37

I never had a Sindy doll - do you think there's a book in that?

Original poster
expatinscotland · 15/12/2006 21:38

I wound up buying an armful of Discworld novels in a charity shop across the road.

I'd rather read about entire worlds balanced on a turtle's back.

OP posts:
turquoise · 15/12/2006 21:39

DAve Pelzer's brother is now churning out a few of his own. Although many other members of the family insist that the whole thing is fiction.

Original poster
expatinscotland · 15/12/2006 21:39

I'd rather read romances by that woman who sets them all in Liverpudlian ghettos.

My MIL loves those.

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beansprout · 15/12/2006 21:40

Definitely a book in that. I came home one day to find the dog had been taken away, so there's at least a trilogy, right there .

Original poster
expatinscotland · 15/12/2006 21:40

is Dave Pelzer 'A Child Called It'?

Right up there w/all those, 'I Lost My Entire Family, My Penis, My Vagina and My Limbs, But My Human Spirit Is a Triumph'

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southeastastra · 15/12/2006 21:41

my mil reads them too!! also tons of true crime things

7swansaswimmingup · 15/12/2006 21:41

actually half the books on my bedroom shelf are depressing ones ive bought from tescos, like dave pelzer my sister buys books like that as well.

dont know why i read them, i just enjoy them, praps its cause im always moaning i have a shit life and wether these books are fictional or not the stories make me realise that my life aint as bad as i thought. once i start reading one, i have to literally spend 2days reading till i finish it

beansprout · 15/12/2006 21:42

These books are just for the sort of people who love to revel in other people's misfortune. People who love to gossip while pretending they are actually concerned for the people they are talking about.

colditz · 15/12/2006 21:42

The new Hannibal book is out.

Original poster
expatinscotland · 15/12/2006 21:42

They sell books in Tesco?!

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doyouwantfrankincensewiththat · 15/12/2006 21:43

you could have chosen one from this genre...

Does anything eat wasps?
Why don't penguins feet freeze?
Do fish drink water?
Do sheep shrink in the rain?
Why do men fall asleep after sex?
Where do nudist keep their hankies?
Moths that drink elephants tears.

not sure how much space there is left on that bandwagon after that.

Original poster
expatinscotland · 15/12/2006 21:43

Yes, the true crime ones. Those are like watching a train wreck. I'd be furious if someone wrote an entire book about how my ordinary life ended. I'd haunt them till they went insane and then write an international bestseller about it from The Other Side.

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moondog · 15/12/2006 21:43

lol lol lol at Pelzer's brother churning them out too!

I have a worrying addiction to true crime.
Usually with black glossy covers.

Stories of adolescent runaways being chained under the bed of trailer trash couples in Missouri for years,that sort of thing.

turquoise · 15/12/2006 21:44

Tescos seem to sell vast numbers of these abuse books, and "auto"biographies of fascinating role models like Colleen McCullough.

Pruni · 15/12/2006 21:45

Message withdrawn

doyouwantfrankincensewiththat · 15/12/2006 21:46

every little bit helps eh?

Original poster
expatinscotland · 15/12/2006 21:46

When I was 15, I went to live in France for a year. Before being turned over to our host families, we had to spend 6 weeks in a holiday camp on the Gironde 4km outside this pokey village w/other Americans. It was Sartre's hell incarnate.

One of the girls I had to share with was only 16 and already into all these self-help books. 'I'm Okay, You're Okay'.

Thing was, she wasn't okay.

She was a FREAK.

Put me write off self-help books for life.

OP posts:
Pruni · 15/12/2006 21:47

Message withdrawn

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