Truth in Memoir

To be considered a non-fiction book I think the book should be 98% true. I think there can a small stretch; for example in A Million Little Pieces he claims he was in jail for three months when in reality was only a few hours. But if you were telling your friends how you went to jail you wouldn’t day you were only in there of 2 hours, you would say for a day or maybe even two. Three months is taking it a little too far. Another example from that book is how he says Lilly committed suicide by hanging herself when she actually cut her wrists. That ‘altercation’ was one that should not be messed with. That is taking it too far for me. Important details like that should not be changed but it think minor details can be to make things more interesting. Half-truths are ok as far as a book goes to write. But they should not be non-fiction. If an author is writing a half-truth then they should label it as a fiction. There is no harm in putting based on a true story on the cover though. If I see that I will know that this author had experienced some of the things in the story plot but may have made up the other half, I would be ok with that. I think most people would be too. Everyone starts to point fingers when the book is not the full truth. That’s why people get mad when an author lies in a ‘non-fiction’ story. If the author but it in the fiction side of the book store and put based on a true story on the cover it would sell just as well and there would be no fingers pointed over it. The only reason books should be labeled as fiction or non-fiction is for readers to find what they like easer.