Cornell Notes for “Best-Selling Memoir Draws Scrutiny”
Key Points/Questions Notes List what you know about ● The writer tells a personal story based on truth memoir as a genre. ● The text is written in the first person ● The story is significant; it shows what the author learned or valued from an experience/ set of experiences
James Frey says that his book is Embellished means that some of the details in the text were exaggerated or true, but also admitted that changed in order to make the book more dramatic. This suggests that the memoir “events were embellished in includes some details that are false. the book for obvious dramatic reasons.” What does embellished mean in this context?
How did James Frey portray his In the book, James says that he was arrested on felony charges for fighting with arrest and jail time in the police officers and hitting an officer with a car, which could have led to an eight book? What actually year jail sentence. He also says that he served a three-month sentence in jail. In happened? real life, documents show that Frey was held for a few hours after an arrest on a drunken-driving charge and that he eventually paid a small fine, but otherwise spent no significant amount of time in jail.
Summary The article, “Best-Selling Memoir Draws Scrutiny,” explains why James Frey’s memoir, A Million Little Pieces, came under fire when it was discovered that aspects of the memoir were falsified for dramatic effect. Although Frey claims that his best-selling book is true and stands by its publication, documents have shown that he lied about his arrest and jail time. In the book, Frey states that he was arrested and jailed for three months for fighting with a police officer and hitting an officer with his car; in real life, he was arrested for a period of hours and charged with drunk driving but had no jail time. As readers discovered some of these discrepancies, some felt that they had been lied to while others felt the book’s message still had merit even though parts of Frey’s experience were fabricated. In an interview, Frey shared that originally he intended to publish the book as a novel, which suggests he knew the book did not fully qualify to be published as a memoir.
Grade 8: Tell-Tale Heart
Cornell Notes for “Best-Selling Memoir Draws Scrutiny”
Key Points/Questions Notes The author states, “Mr. Frey Wyatt (the author) makes the claim that Frey fabricated details of his memoir has repeatedly stated that his despite saying it was a truthful account of his life. Wyatt supports his claim by book is true.” How does the citing evidence from the Smoking Gun website. He uses transition words, such as author develop a counterpoint “but” to provide evidence contradictory to Frey’s claim and “in particular” to to Frey’s claim? provide an example of evidence which support his claim that Frey is falsifying details. Wyatt also provides evidence from Frey’s book, My Friend Leonard, to prove that Frey is making up details, but this evidence isn’t disproven by any public records or about his memoir A Million Little Pieces. As such, this evidence seems irrelevant to Wyatt’s claim.
Record words from the video Synonyms: truthiness, real, true, honest, facts, memoir, truth which relate to “truth.” Explain Antonyms: fabricated, duped, conned, betrayed, not fiction,lies, invented, how they relate. fictionalized, idea of it, unbelievable
What are the advantages and Answers will vary, but students may include some or all of the following points: disadvantages of each medium ● The article indicates that many of those contacted did not provide a (text and video) in presenting comment while the video provides firsthand accounts from those involved the controversy surrounding in the controversy (James Frey and Oprah). Frey’s memoir? ● It is easier to locate and cite evidence in the article. This is more difficult with the video because there is no written record that can be read repeatedly. ● The video is more visually engaging than the printed text.
What is a central idea of “Best-Selling Memoir Draws Scrutiny”? How is it developed?
Grade 8: Tell-Tale Heart