Creativity with Facts

Don't worry, this post is not about the "alt facts" (a.k.a untruths) being spread by the Trump administration. This post is about creative nonfiction; if January is any indicator, 2017 is going to be my year of nonfiction.

Last month I read two compelling nonfiction books. 

The first was The Night of the Gun by David Carr. In this book, a journalist investigates and comes to terms with his own story. That story is at times deeply disturbing, as Carr spent years desperately addicted to drugs and alcohol, the outcomes of which included regrettable violence and neglect towards people he loved. At other times the book is hopeful, as Carr eventually gets clean, grows into parenthood, and ascends from working at a Minneapolis journal to the newsroom of the New York Times. Carr is highly self-aware and pulls no punches; the book is not framed as a story of redemption -- it confronts and holds all aspects of David Carr (the good, the bad, and the ugly) at the same time. For me, therein lies its integrity and its value. 

The second book I read last month was Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. I realize that I'm not saying anything new when I say that this book is absolutely riveting, as the book is a bestseller and has been around for two decades. This book hooked me immediately; I read the last 200 pages in one day because I could not put it down. What makes Into Thin Air particularly absorbing, not unlike The Night of the Gun, is that it tells the story of a unique and perilous journey written by a direct survivor. While I really like Krakauer's descriptive-yet-straightforward writing style, certainly the story of the Everest disaster is what makes the book so compelling. I'd say that the opposite is true for The Night of the Gun, as it is really Carr's creative approach and writing style that make the book a worthwhile read. Overall, I loved them both.

I'm looking forward to digging more deeply into nonfiction and better understanding the distinctions between narrative nonfiction and memoir and the different devices/techniques/approaches used by creative nonfiction authors.