When a new book comes out, we rarely see people live-tweeting it as if it were an HBO show. With Lena Dunham’s Famesick, we’re seeing exactly that. From the second the book came out, people were deciphering the characters and giving think pieces on the timeline.
As an avid memoir enjoyer, this is everything to me. But it also makes me think about how we used to interact with celebrity memoirs. In the past, when a celebrity released a book, most immediately viewed it as a cash-grab, a last-ditch attempt to cling to relevancy. But lately, it seems as if everyone is writing books about themselves, and audiences are starting to care.
From Julia Fox’s Down the Drain to Lukas Gage’s I Wrote This for Attention, today’s memoirs seem to deliver an exceptional mix of personal stories with just the right amount of untold stories and gossip to get audiences to care. With our generation being so “tea” obsessed, the memoir could be the perfect entry point to get those who don’t read to finally pick up a book.
Could this also be because this generation of celebrities is finally starting to write books? Most of the popular memoirs that have come out in the last ten years have been by celebrities who are slightly out of the range that Gen Z cares about. But with younger celebrities starting to give their tell-alls, it seems like this generation is finally starting to appreciate the art form.
Lena Dunham’s Famesick: A Memoir is available for purchase now.
Thinking Weekly 
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