Blog #5

Jessica Cory                                                                     

If a book is considered non-fiction, I think that all of the facts need to be as accurate as possible. This is because it’s labeled as non-fiction which means a true story and people reading non-fiction books are most likely expecting something that is fully the truth. I think that half-truths are okay as long as the writer classifies it as that and not a non-fiction book. I think that it’s okay for Frey and other memoirists to bend the truth to tell their stories, but only if they let the readers know that is what they are doing. I think that David Shields is right in certain situations. I think that it makes it easier, for those who like a specific genre, to find a book that they like if there are lines between genres. I think that we do need to label things non-fiction and fiction, because people reading these books might be looking for facts, and they won’t be able to know if the facts are accurate without the labels. I also think that there should be an in-between for those authors that want to use a real event that has happened and make it more interesting in their own way. Personally it doesn’t matter to me, but I think we should respect other reader’s preferences.