The truth can often be a subjective thing and that is never more clear than when you read memoirs. The style of writing is so attractive, and easy to read. Usually by the first or second chapter you are drawn in just like you would be with a novel. So inevitably the questions come with every memoir written after the James Frey debacle is it true? Did that really happen? How reliable is the author and therefore the narrator?
I thought of some of these questions when I was reading Farewell to Manzanar. Not because I thought that she was the James Frey of her time but because she was a child. Looking back most things in childhood are surrounded by a haze at least for me and yet she seems to remember things so clearly. Now that being said I am in no way doubting her or her story I just can’t help but wonder if anyone else picking up this book looked at it and thought about what they were doing at age 10 and if they could remember this much.
I guess the bottom line is whether she remembers every detail or not her voice is strong and her story is based in reality and that is what matters most. Knowing that we could go to the broken concrete in the desert jut as she and her family did. We too can see the rocks that lead to nowhere and the faucets sticking up like weeds out of the sand. And we can see the little girl she once was and the woman she becomes and we trust her. In the middle of all the uncertainty of memoir and childhood you trust her and her voice and you overcome any doubts about an unreliable narrator.
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Anne, You've made some good points here about this specific memoir and the genre of non-fiction in general. It is impossible for us, as readers, to know how much of "the truth" Houston is relaying and how much is embellished, hazy memories. Considering this is written from a child's perpespective, it does make one wonder just how Houston could possibly recall entire conversations or detailed descriptions from her past. However, let's remember that it is the adult Houston who is writing the actual piece. As a mature writer, perhaps she has chosen which memories and details best fit the theme to her story. Perhaps this is not necessarily her "actual" life story, but the one she has constructed in order to tell others about the Japanese internment experience. It's hard to know what is the best or real way to read such a text...Erinn
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