Why do people read the "childhood abuse" books? I never look at them and think "oh I'd like to read that"

[MamaG]

so why do people read them?

Deborah Ross wrote a funny piece called (I think) "No Mummy no" which was all about how injured she was because her parents hadn't abused her and so she couldn't cash in on a terrible childhood.

i have read them. I havent got over my childhood really and sometimes i read these books to feel like i wasnt the only one or almost to see if the way i feel sometimes about it all is normal. A lot of these stories do have happy, inspirational endings that make me think well there is light at the end of the tunnel then....

Justageek, I can understand that.

I'd like to read "I only love you on Tuesday"

Yesterday I saw that WHSmith had a shelf labelled 'tragic life stories'....

we have this conversation at work

book man comes with a pile of books - childrens, cook books, lakeland walks (?!) etc etc

then there is one exacty as RockHardPlace describes, usually with tag line of "gut wrenching misery, award winning"

who buys this crap?

Isn't it the same thing as soaps? Something to go 'ooh isn't that awful' over?

don't do either but MIL loves both

my dad will say oooh did you read about the awful thing in the paper?

me: if it about that child yadda yadda, then no, I ignored it

dad: well blah blah blah
me: erm, I am not interested
dad:
me: grrrrrr

yes hand in hand with the DM

Hiya,
these are the sort of books i read although not all about child abuse i have read-

sickened -munchausens by proxy
the little prisoner- yes child abuse
out of the dark- woman tries to kill herself story of her in hospital
street kid- girl runs away joins circus!

plenty more just cant think of titles.

I dont know why i read the m i just do!

I remember reading "a child called IT" and thinking but by the time the author brought out his fourth or fifth book i was

Half of them turn out to be lies any way.

Half of them turn out to be lies any way.

Dave peltzer, yeah theres a whole tril of those books! why????

i read some of these books,there are several reasons why i read them - i didnt have a very pleasant childhood and some of the stories reaffirm that im not alone ,before my lovely sons arrived i worked for the social services and i saw first hand the knock on effects of abuse and thirdly because i read lots of 'real life' stuff.

I dont think im weird or voyeuristic just interested in the outcomes of such scenes.

sickened is a v. good title for a munchausens by proxy book.

nkf - I must read that Deborah Ross piece! Linky?

Andrew Collins's "Where Did It All Go Right?" was part of the backlash too.

windygales, no you are just 'unhealthy' like me

article on DR here, quite funny

it's a 'because they're there' thing for me.

they are horrible, I admit. I've stopped reading them now, but have been known still to have a look in the library . they're just a publishing fashion - SO many of them.

i must say though, while at my PILs the other night, I came across a 'cheeriness memoir' of the type popular in the 70s and 80s of which I also used to read a lot, i.e. 'There were 10 of us in a 2-room flat, we had half a cat once a fortnight to eat, but it was a Home full of Love and Laughter' and TBH the latter ones are much more depressing. I think because they imply that we should all aspire to that kind of life, and that life now is going to hell in a handcart. At least the misery memoirs say 'this was absolute crap but {usually} life is better now'.

I must say I read one called God's Callgirl the other day which was phenomenally weird.

Was God's Callgirl about the cult who sent girls out flirty fishing.

no. it was a woman who became a nun, then a prostitute. she now spends a fortune every few months 'training' in some weirdo alternative therapy and being amazed that nobody seems to want the therapy involved.

I have never ever read anything like this and nor would i want to - they are obvious from the cover too. Just car crash literature. I suppose these are often written by the victims and if that helps them to vent their demons thats great, really. But i just don't get why people would read that.

My friend was reading about the Two little girls murdered in Soham, i said "why are you reading that, its morbid" and she said she felt that people should know what was going on....um, like, why??

I did read a book once written by a police psychologist, but he had a chapter about the Jamie Bulger murder, i stopped reading it. Its horribly voyeristic and makes my fingers go on edge if im honest.

To make up fiction about it, its just weird. Surely people dont do that?

Queens, Angela's Ashes is one of my favourite books. I am at myself for liking it now you have put into the context of this sort of book - surely not?? Yes, it was desperately sad, but heavens it was written with such humour that i found myself laughing out loud at places, i mean, "the excitement" and "yer bladder is close to yer eyes" made me really laugh. I never really thought of it as a voyueristic description of child abuse, more of a historical representation of how tough it must have been for many families at that time.

Has anyone read 'Running with scissors'? Its a (true) misery memoir written as kind of a comedy - its good to counter-recommend when some idiot tells you you should really read 'Please Daddy, No' etc..