Memoir Observations

Having listened to dozens of memoir presentations this past week, I have realized how similar most memoirs are. Each presentation, while with different details has one of two or three plots. One of which is the classic 'comeback sports' memoir. Jose Conseco's memoir, for example tells his story of baseball while using steroids. Sports memoirs usually tell the story of the athletes young career, their struggle, and finally their resolution. RA Dickey's memoir goes through his troubled childhood, into his early baseball career, to his missing ucl, and ends with his resolution. Ironically, many professional athletes have struggled with drug abuse. The athletes put so much into their game that every set back is near death in their minds, and eventually the pressure proves too much. Maradonna was  a short tempered soccer player was addicted to cocaine. Sports memoirs while similar, describe different events and athletes.

The other memoirs seemed to describe some strange childhood occurrence. The stories were never the same, but they were all equally as 'out there'. For example, Kacey Dugard's A Stolen Life tells of her experience of being kidnapped and contained for 18 years. Kacey had opportunities to escape but she never tried; she was so brainwashed that she actually started to enjoy her kidnappers' company. The other memoirs were not quite as dark as this one, but they had events that seemed fiction. The Liars Club was about a family where the kids had to raise themselves while taking care of their crazy parents. Mary Karr's parents were both alcoholics, and her mother tried to kill herself and the family multiple times. While this story is also depressing, there were other memoirs that were just crazy. For example, Running With Scissors was about a boy who is adopted by his mother's therapist who was equally as crazy as she was. The events were so strange that at first I thought there was no way it could be a memoir.