Would you read...?

Question

..the autobiography of a normal person? Some pretty cool stuff happens to joe average - would you read an autobiography of their life?

Answer 1

Not unless I was convinced that Extraordinary things happened to this ordinary person.

Answer 2

You need to define "normal". I mean, an average joe may go to prison and break out like in "Shawshank Redumption". An average Joe may win a lottery, blow it on sweet nothings and have a pretty dramatic end. An average joe may do/find/become anything. That is worth reading. Because even if the person is normal, the circumstances aren't. And even if nothing extraordinary happened to him but he's got a good sense of humor (is a philosopher, an existentialist) we can enjoy reading about his life and be better people because of it. But if it's "average Joe got up in the morning, and washed his face, went to work and nothing happened and..." i doubt we'd be awake enough to know what happened in the end. Not that zat won't be interesting. Depends on who is telling it. So i guess yeah... i will :)

Answer 3

There are a lot of very well regarded autobiographies and diaries published of ordinary people - e.g. The Diary of Anne Frank, Belle De Jour, Angela's Ashes, Desert Flower, etc. Although sometimes very different to our own personal experiences, when you consider it in a cultural context, these people have lead fairly ordinary lives. Anne Frank was not the only person to hide out in an attic during the Holocaust, Belle de Jour was hardly the first prostitute or blogger and Frank McCourt was not the first to have a poor childhood and a drunken dad. I guess the way you tell your story is equally important to the story itself.

Answer 4

Yes, and a good one is called "Blood, Sweat and Tea", I forget the authors name, but it's basically the published blog of a London based paramedic. Quite an interesting read.
Also read 'The Farm' - forgotten the name of that author too, but it tells the story of his family's life as farmers and how things have changed for his family and the farming industry from the 70's to present day.
Yes the average joe does lead an interesting life!!

Answer 5

Yes. It helps me get my own life into perspective. Many people have said I ought to write my autobiography, but, since it's the story of my life, I think it's been normal up to now. Normal for me. Others might find it extraordinary. Maybe I'll do it, one day.

Answer 6

If you think about it, all biographies are of normal people, some might be famous but most have had something amazing happen to them to make their story stand out from the crowd. Think A Child Called It, Million Little Pieces, Stuart a Life Backwards etc.

Answer 7

I probably would, there are tons of normal people on the outside, but what they have been through adds so much character to them. You would not even believe the things a normal person has gone through, the experiences, the life unless you sat down with them time and again over coffee and just got to know them better.

My grandfather is one of them, I love taking him out to breakfast and seeing him tease/hit on the waitresses. He means them no harm, (but I admit, those waitresses put up with a lot from him.) I love hearing stories from him, or things I wouldn't have guessed that he did.

Normal people are the best, they don't flaunt themselves around like the famous people do.

Answer 8

how does this work again to tip tap the key to blank screen to pain this dull and life sapped brain to drain some thought or dredge this murky seep from deep within those narrow crevices and spark to life that thought that once inspired nonce to ream of life's loves or woes this emptiness action-packed throes to find some rhythm that listless beneath this cascading hair once flounced so dear but now lanks motionless in monotonous moan and hangs on that unringing phone.....mmprobally best to stick to the academicz

Answer 9

I'd skim through the first bit, and if the person wrote well enough, I'd definately have a read. Everyone's got a story to tell and most of them are interesting.

Answer 10

If it was written in such a way as to convey their thoughts and feelings well, yes. Everyone sees life differently, we all have our own point of view and it often surprises me how differently we see things. I wouldn't like a boring 'diary' like account thought. It would have to be very well written too, good vocabulary etc.