Turns out the whole James Frey debacle was just a tip of the iceberg. (Though with the whole Oprah thing, it was a pretty big tip, to be sure.) At least two other high-profile memoirists have been debunked in recent weeks.
Nasdijj, an acclaimed Navajo writer praised for giving Native Americans a voice, turned out to be a struggling white writer of erotica from Michigan.
And J.T. LeRoy, who won praise and sympathy as an HIV-positive, former drug addict, ex-prostitute teenager, has been unmasked as 40-year-old woman in San Francisco.
Interestingly, LeRoy's book, "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things," is about to come out as a movie. (How's that for a fitting title?) So the marketers have had to repackage it as a "controversial" film based on a "seductive" story, and add the new tagline, "behind the greatest hoax of our time is the heartbreaking story that started it all."
Seems any popular story written as autobiography is going to get a fresh look and an extra dose of skepticism...
Nasdijj, an acclaimed Navajo writer praised for giving Native Americans a voice, turned out to be a struggling white writer of erotica from Michigan.
And J.T. LeRoy, who won praise and sympathy as an HIV-positive, former drug addict, ex-prostitute teenager, has been unmasked as 40-year-old woman in San Francisco.
Interestingly, LeRoy's book, "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things," is about to come out as a movie. (How's that for a fitting title?) So the marketers have had to repackage it as a "controversial" film based on a "seductive" story, and add the new tagline, "behind the greatest hoax of our time is the heartbreaking story that started it all."
Seems any popular story written as autobiography is going to get a fresh look and an extra dose of skepticism...
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