Dunham's memoirs read much like a story; a collection of moments woven together into one narrative. The level of detail in each moment allows one to really put themselves to connect with Dunham. Personally, I was able to closely connect with her on multiple aspects, like when she tried to impress her therapist with her poetic desire to be alone by a river. For the cousin's memoir, as I have close bonds with my cousins I believed I would be able to connect with it easily. However, the excessive vagueness in all of the details lead to me being unable to understand much of the story. There was a fight, but what was the fight about? They had a close relationship and it ended abruptly, but how are we to be saddened about it if we don't see how close they really were?
The laconism ultimately plays against the memoir as it is impossible to get invested in such a brief tale. Not even names are given, only a generic "her and me". The bare minimum, in stark contrast to Dunham's story that extrapolates every possible detail. To some extent, I feel some sort of exaggeration in both stories, especially in the rather dramatic rendition of the cousin's goodbye. But for the most part I do not doubt they are retelling true events.
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I agree that Dunham's memoirs read like a story. I think that is what makes it so captivating to read. Although I could not necessarily relate to what was being said in the memoir, I felt like I could picture what was taking place in her own life. I could feel the emotions she was feeling during this time. The other memoir did not mention any names, which could take away from the credibility of the piece for readers. I think this was an excellent point to mention. I agree with you on some level that the stories are a little exaggerated, but overall I feel as if they are telling real life events that actually happened to them. I really enjoyed your explanation of these two memoirs.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well that Dunham's memoirs had a much more whole-yet-too-much type of writing while the other is so vague and exaggerated. Personally I think that Dunman's "Growing up in Therapy" is far more truth "feeling" if only by how very blunt and without flowery exposition it is; the writer sits down and tells you how they felt, what was happening in vivid and excruciating detail.
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