TIL our book club's hottest debate was about a travel memoir's accuracy

We could not agree if the writer's tales of Japan were true or just made up. This led to half the group planning a visit to see the places for themselves.

3 comments

3 Comments

josephcampbell1mo ago

You know, it's funny how readers can get so caught up in whether a story is true. Like @oliviaellis said about her cousin in Greece, sometimes the magic is in the telling, not the facts. But hey, if a book sends half your club to Japan, maybe the author did something right, even if they made it all up.

nancy_morgan1mo ago

Wild. If you call it a memoir, it damn well better be true. The whole point is that it really happened. Making stuff up and selling it as fact is just lying. If you want to write fiction, write a novel and label it that. This is why people don't trust anything anymore. Half the group spending money to check is proof the writer failed.

oliviaellis1mo ago

That bit about half the group planning a visit just to check is wild. It reminds me of my cousin who spent a whole vacation in Greece trying to find a specific taverna from a novel, only to learn the author made the place up. Some people take their book research very, very seriously.