How do Amazon, Barnes & Noble handle fakery?
The issue of embellished "memoirs" and downright fakes is troubling for readers -- do you blacklist the authors or simply read the books as fiction? Reasonable people can disagree on this. My wife, for example, read James Frey's A Million Little Pieces even after he acknowledged that some scenes were untrue; I refuse to read it.
So what's the responsibility of the big, online bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble when these situations arise? Is it ethical to ignore the controversy completely? Should they warn off unknowing consumers with a note? Should they leave it to consumer reviews to detail the problem? Or should they withdraw the books altogether? Consider a few examples:
Atop its editorial reviews, Amazon notes the controversy over Frey's book, and links to an author's note that he "altered events and details all the way through the book" and embellished criminal acts. Barnes & Noble refers to the "debate about the line between fiction and nonfiction" and points out the problem in its editorial review section. What I found most annoying was the "Discover Great New Writers" logo.
How about the faked Holocaust memoir Misha, in which a girl supposedly fled from the Nazis and lived with wolves? Amazon does not have an editorial review or note the hoax , though reader reviews do. At Barnes & Noble, the overview includes this sentence: "In the course of her travels she was befriended by wolves, and among their family she experienced the happiest moments of her troubled life;" there's no mention of a hoax. The few reader reviews do not mention it, either.
Love and Consequences, was another faked memoir. Amazon's editorial review calls it "A stunning memoir of a mixed-race girl growing up in gang-ridden South Central Los Angeles, where she followed her foster brothers into the Bloods before she hit puberty: what she witnessed, how she survived, and-against all odds-thrived." No mention of the fact that author Margaret B. Jones is a pseudonym for Margaret Seltzer, a white woman who grew up in a well-to-do part of the city. Customers reviews note the fraud. (I couldn't find the book at all on Barnes and Noble's site.)
I'm OK with the way both sites handled the Frey book; the problem isn't noted in 100-point type, but it's not hidden, either. As for Misha, I think the sites should have an official disclaimer by now; shame on them for ignoring the issue. And double shame on Amazon for touting a bogus story by a nonexistent author in Love and Consequences. (BTW, kudos for all the reader-reviewers who were not shy about noting the problems with all three -- even if they decided to read the books.)
Am I being too harsh? What's your take on these sites?
Comments
Dave, this is a bigger problem for librarians, as it will affect how a book is classified. Fiction or non-fiction--that will affect the call number and subjects assigned.
Posted by: Dahlink | January 12, 2009 6:57 AM
Dahlink, that's a good point. It creats havoc for everyone. I'll ask the local libraries how they reacted, but librarians, feel free to chine in.
Posted by: Dave | January 12, 2009 10:01 AM
I've not heard of any of the books you listed except for A Million Little Pieces. I worked at a Borders bookstore when the controversy began and Borders inserted a leaflet into the books already on in stock (there was an official one printed by the publisher in the reprints) and moved them to the fiction section beside his other book, My Friend Leonard. Returns were accepted although the store I worked for didn't have any returned -- in fact, more people were buying it because of the controversy.
As for the online sites, I would think they have contracts with the publishers banning them from making comments themselves. Perhaps they could move them to the "fiction" category though.
Posted by: Arleigh | January 12, 2009 10:04 AM
I agree with Arleigh. I believe it would make a strong statement to just move the books to the fiction section.
Posted by: Kristen M. | January 12, 2009 10:06 AM
I too agree with Arleigh's suggestion of moving these books to the fiction section. I would have much more respect and loyalty as a customer for the online book stores (and offline, for that matter) if they included a disclaimer concerning such books. It would demonstrate that not only do they care about their readers, but that they have current familiarity with the books they are selling.
Posted by: Carolyn | January 12, 2009 10:08 AM
I heard an NPR interview with David Sedaris a couple months ago about his latest book, and he said that in the post-Frey world, each of his essays are put under a level of scrutiny and fact-checking like never before. He said, "Of course," he exaggerates details when it would improve the narrative, so his stories are not 100% true, but they're not lies, either.
Should the characteristics that define "nonfiction" be re-written with a narrower focus? Maybe we're on the verge of a new genre for work that is not quite a novel and not quite true. The "fictitious memoir" or "embellished essay" sub-genres, perhaps?
Posted by: Gavin | January 12, 2009 1:10 PM
I work for B&N. When the Frey thing came out, we were sent "inserts" that the publishers came up with to insert in the book. We obviously knew about it because of the Oprah connections.
As for Misha, this is the first I have heard of fakery. ... It is completely possible that the powers that be at B&N know nothing about the "fake" accusations. And it could also be that the publishers just don't care enough to bother with an insert or statement.
Frey's book was HUGE only because of the Oprah connection. If not for that it is entirely possible that we would have never known of his embellishments.
Posted by: Charlotte | January 12, 2009 10:23 PM