Memoirs: Reader Beware
by Sean Hackbarth
The Wall Street Journal also reviewed Ben Yagoda’s Memoir: A History. Reviewer John Gross notes Yagoda’s appreciation for modern memoirs:
On the whole, Mr. Yagoda celebrates the greater honesty of contemporary memoirs, in comparison with their often less-than-frank predecessors of 50 or 60 years ago. Readers may feel that this supposed honesty is sometimes questionable: An abrasive, confessional tone is no guarantee of authenticity, and even when the truth seems assured, it can come at too high a price. Vindictive feelings encourage narrow views.
With so many questions surrounding memoirs published today, I go by this approach: if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
“Songs of Ourselves“
