Unlike the autobiography, which is a chronological narrative of a person’s life, the memoir offers a season of life. Some memoirists write mainly about their faith, relationship changes, or a year-long project they undertook.
It takes courage to write honestly. As a memoirist, you should have insight into yourself and others. There is usually the proverbial journey from innocence to experience. Some liberties can be taken with facts and timelines, but no memoir should be without emotional truth.
Here are three memoirs that plumb the darker side of identity.
1.
A harrowing story about addiction and recovery, this riveting tale shows just how functional dysfunction can be. The author was a workhorse attorney on the partner track who began her mornings in a mad dash to bounce back from the drunken night before. She ends up in rehab for booze and cocaine. The writing glamorizes neither drinking nor recovery, but effectively puts you there.
2.
Empty without male attention, the author spent years engaging in casual sex in some emotionally dangerous places. Physically dangerous too: the author frequented the same Manhattan hangout as “Preppie Killer” Robert Chambers. The style is literate and highly readable. Therapy and a change in relationship status eventually see her through.
3.
An Aussie actress famous for a role on cult fave Arrested Development, DeRossi is probably best known for surprising the world when she revealed a relationship with Ellen DeGeneres. Their posh wedding was splashed across headlines.
She also struggled for years with anorexia and bulimia. This memoir is frank and graphic in its depiction of body image issues and controlled (and uncontrolled) eating. It offers an intersection of these issues with the lesbian identity, possibly the first book to do that. The ending is hopeful and, one hopes, earned.
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