Nope, I have just noticed that people I consider intelligent (WoW posters) have vastly differing opinions about her. I am not for Sarah Palin but I do agree about the fact that if she were a man, this might not happen or the dissection would be in a more adoring light. McCain tried to make out that Obama was the world’s greatest celebrity. Whether she wants it or not, (and it would appear she’s just not letting these issues die) his running mate is turning into one herself. Which is sad. She should really focus on both her family and career. If she wants to run for 2012, she should keep herself in the public eye in a more positive light (preferably for her political accomplishments), and if she wants to be a good mom/grandma, she should support her daughter in a more constructive way. Starting with keeping them out of the limelight and not exacerbating her family’s issues.

That is what is difficult about this case—a lack of primary evidence. At least in Frey’s book you could look at arrest records, etc. This is one man’s memory and story about something that not only the majority of people alive did not personally experience (the Holocaust) but it would be considered treason to question someone’s account of something so horrific. I am glad he survived and is able to write about his experience, and I am sure it was an excellent read, but he had no need to cheapen such an already moving story by adding an untrue twist. Although I would not have objected to it had it been fiction. If Oprah had doubted and would have been open to a lawsuit, I don’t think she would have picked the book. Although she could probably handle a lawsuit better than a private citizen. I would investigate a memoir I didn’t believe as I would a mainstream news story—the amount of thoroughness depends on my interest (so would a reccomendation). But more than likely, I’d just read it and enjoy it the first time.

I did find a good resource at http://www.snopes.com/glurge/thefence.asp. I found it very interesting that a professor researching child prisoners at Buchenwald doubted the story “years before”. I do agree it would be difficult to research definitively. I think “Million Little Pieces” would have been easier. About the best you could do would be to learn about the structure and the layout of the camps, what kind of supervision they had, and possibly similiar stories. That would be a very general picture, but enough to plant a seed of doubt. For me, though, it’s not so much that she threw him apples while he was in the concentration camp, but the fact that she encountered him years later. That twist is what makes the rest of it suspect. I don’t know if Oprah, me, or the average bookreviewer has a working knowledge of concentration camps large enough to doubt the initial story, but when in doubt…

I don’t believe I ever said Oprah had any doubts or not, and whether that was publicized I admit I wouldn’t know. My point was, if she did, before making this recommendation, she should have settled them. I really don’t think she did doubt the story, but that’s Oprah’s personal problem and the publisher’s larger problem. I’m not an Oprah fan, either, but this story and several instances of fictionalized memoir have involved her. That’s why I think people drag her in, but I agree it’s a larger issue that should involve the industry more than people who get duped by it. I probably shouldn’t have used the phrase “as you would”. My point was, not that you have use personal funds or time to try new things, but you should have some familiarity and comfort level with them before you go off and tell all your friends about it. Your examples are extreme. I would also do a lot more research on my own before I bought a used car, even from a friend. And yes, I would go after Ford, which makes me agree with your ultimate point. And I do, to some degree. But I wouldn’t recommend a restaurant that gave me samonella or a book I felt was untrue. Those are equally extreme. And in the case of the book, for my own personal satisfaction, I would do a little research on the story before I did recommend it to my friends. Hopefully later if we all found out it was a fake they wouldn’t be so churlish as to ask for a refund. It wouldn’t be the end of the friendship for me. The content of the book is no one’s problem except the publisher and the author. Not mine, not Oprah’s. Even if we had researched it might take a while for the details to surface. But I think we do owe it to ourselves and the people we respect to, if the bs detector goes off, see why it’s going off. It may never go off, and then, well… I do think it is a little different for a book review because they are invested in the story, more than the author and the emotions that the story supposedly provides, as Oprah is. I think they are more likely to take a story at face value, wheras when Oprah brings more dimensions into it, the cracks show up more readily and are more damaging. A memoir or any piece of writing should just be a good piece of writing, first, then an incredible story. The memoir has the added burden of being true. In any case, the industry does need to be…not even more vigilant, let’s just stop the whole memoir craze and call everything fiction, whether it involves a true story or not. Even the best memoirs in terms of factual fidelity have composite characters.

When I read this it feels like there’s a whole bunch of good things waiting for me to find them on the road ahead.

Ohh, pity there’s no angry Posedien for you to encounter.

I’ll get a speeding ticket. I think it’s bound to happen eventually…

Perhaps the WoWia can keep track of Sarah Palin over the next 4 years, but this is driving me nuts. Yes, Sarah Palin is apparently an illiterate egomanic with a screwed-up family, and if she…god forbid…runs for national office in 2012 then our obsession will have been well-worth it, for we will have been informed about the symptoms of the “terrible Plaugin”, but in the meantime, can we focus on things that are germane to that excuse to check up on her? I know she thrust herself and this story upon us, I know a candidate’s character is important to people, but puh-lease. Or, at the very least, can every story Wow reports on Sarah Palin NOT be in the most commented stories of the week? Especially stories like this? If they report stories at all (unless there really is a Wowia in Wasilla)? I know she riles some of us intelligent females up, but let’s get riled up about what it would mean to have her as President, policy-wise and/or experience-wise, which is ostensibly why everyone is so angry about her in the first place. And just to set the record straight, yes, I am female, and there’s a reason why I’m the BLUE lizard! PS: However, I was grateful to discover the Palin Baby-name generator, still going. That was a brief amusement, unfortunately unlike the woman herself. Though I don’t think her baby names are all that bad. Wait…hypocrite! As long as she doesn’t rename the White House, this too has nothing to do with her as a politician.

I agree that is the greed of the business, but I have heard from aspiring writers that since the market for memoir is so hot, it’s hard to sell anything that’s not a memoir. Frey originally tried to sell A Million Little Pieces as fiction—failing that, let’s call it memoir. The same happened to the book about the girl who was raised by gangbangers. While the business climate is not good for traditional fiction (if it’s not chick lit), and authors want to sell their books, a hoax like this is more the fault of the author than the publisher. Sure, the publisher can suggest that the book be named a memoir, but the author still has the authority (no pun intended) to refuse. I realize that means the book is not published, but what’s more important, artistic integrity or publishing? Or money? But how many people write a book to become rich and famous? I didn’t. Of course, I haven’t even tried publishing it yet… Unless I am being totally naive and the publisher can call the book whatever genre they want without authorial input? That seems like an awful disingenous way to run a business. See, told you I haven’t published the book yet… As for Oprah, two things. The (young and callow though they may be) writers I know actually think her O stamp is the lipstick kiss of death. Obviously the publishing industry doesn’t think so. I think if someone can sell a book by word of mouth (though Oprah of course transcends word of mouth) because she truly believes and loves the story, more power to her. I don’t watch Oprah, but her interview with Cormac McCarthy about The Road seemed sincere and not overly facile. I can’t really decide whether she has a responsibility to fact-check or not. The thing is, when you’re reading a memoir, sure, some things might be a little too pat, but people write a memoir because they (or think they) have a great story to tell. Of course it’s going to verge on unbelievable…to a point. Strange things happen in real life—that is why we have Ripley’s Believe it Or Not. Plus, because this person is the author, we as readers tend to trust them. As I said earlier in a different context, they have authority. When you’re reading a memoir, are you constantly thinking, “gee, wonder if this really happened?” To me, that would detract from the reading experience. But I guess now we should question. And on that note, I do think Oprah, if she had any doubts, should have done some independent fact-checking, like you would if you were going to recommend a book or a restaurant or a car to a friend. Just for her own pleasure and piece of mind . As someone who likes a book and wants to share it with others, she has that responsibility, a responsibility that only marginally grows with the width of her audience and influence

Mick Jagger’s not bad. Keith Richards…not so much.

Well, don’t try making a list like I did for 2007…it’s definitely depressing. Do you think it was just very bad generalized karma or what?

Nice avatar…ever heard of the Procrastinator’s Club of America? Apparently they financed a mission to find the new world…sometime in the 1970s. Not kidding, I read this somewhere.

I love the line about the broomstick!

This sort of reminds me of something I read in an Augsten Burroughs…think it was “Slippery When Wet” or something like that, about this woman who took out a full page 5000 word ad in a newspaper, she was that desperate. The funny thing was when Burroughs helped her go through the myriad responses (so it works?), the very first picture she dismissed because she “didn’t like redheads”. Well, later, after having gone through a whole bunch of blondes, she goes back to the first picture and…success! I would never do online dating like match.com but I think the website is more extended and personal. Perhaps. I need some help myself.

It seems like a lot of horrible things have happened to my friends in the last two years. In 2007 I was so depressed by this phenomenon that I made a list and called it, after Joan Didion’s memoir, “The Year of Magical Thinking”, which has beautiful writing. It’s about the period in which she lost her longtime husband and her daughter suffered a serious illness. Well, 2008 was no better, and since I am still relatively young I am hoping these years are not continuing phenomenons. But perhaps everyone has their own “year of magical thinking”…several of the members of this site appear to have…I haven’t come across mine yet. I hope I will be prepared. I also hope that 2009 is not it. Didn’t start off too well…I feel like crap…oh well. Let our thinking be magical without needing to be magical!