Misery Memoirs.

[mametsuki]

We've all walked past the shelves in Waterstones. Right next to the Biographies, a section entiled "Misery Memoirs"  
Usually with a white cover, usually with a heartwrenching picture of a troubled child, and a title like "A Girl called nothing" or "Don't tell Mummy". And we all know they started with Dave Pelzer's "A Child Called It".  I haven't

Comments

[vjbseven]

I've never read a misery memoir, and never really wanted to because I always assumed I'd find it too upsetting. But I often wondered what kind of people read them, and why there's such a market for them. Surely no-one wants to read something that depressing all the time? Or perhaps people want to find out what other people's lives are like? In any case it's something I've wondered, so next time you see someone with an armful of misery memoirs, go ask them what they get out of it!

[dragon_in_a_jar]

I read The Gulag Archipelago. Does that count? Sometimes I would assume its curiosity. Sometimes it may even be a coping measure for people with a shared experience. It is important that they're there because unless you can publicize these things then there is a sense of isolation and uniqueness that could stop some from coming to terms with their own experiences. Then there are the people who enjoy these just as a read... but frankly they can be lumped in with the people that get a kick out of reading true crime stories or going on the Jack the Ripper tour as they are equally taking joy from the suffering of others.

[mametsuki]

Solving crime mysteries is a Seperate thing.We watch Agatha Christie to find out whodunnit, not how dunnit! (Midsomer Murders is fun for the odd characters!) Most of the Jack the Ripper stuff I've come across has been more about who the heck he was, rather than the troubling facts of what he did

[dragon_in_a_jar]

True. These are primarily postulations for why these books exist and why they are so popular with some people. You are in fact correct with the premise that some people just have morbid tastes. However there are true crime stories that have never been solved and irrespective of how you dress it up by looking at how the situation was resolved, it is still deriving pleasure from the suffering of others.