MovieChat Forums > The Astronaut Wives Club (2015) Discussion > Confused about the genre of the book

Confused about the genre of the book

posted 9 years ago by ddoyle27
7 replies | jump to latest

I was interested in the show because when I was in junior high in Bethesda, I met some kids who had gone to school with Candy Carpenter. I like the show a lot, so I am now reading the book. I was amazed how faithful to the book the TV show is! There are scenes in the TV show straight from the book. I also believed the book was non-fiction, and that what was written in it must have really happened.
People have commented they were disturbed by the cookout the day JFK died. I posted that yes, it seems odd to us, but it really happened! It is on the bottom of p. 120 in the book, right down to the men wheeling their grills down the sidewalk.
A couple weeks ago, Mrs. Carpenter was quoted by the Washington Post saying “Every segment of the show is fiction! Every segment!” As I got further into the book, I noticed Lily Koppel was actually writing the way a fiction writer does, telling what a character feels, thinks, and says. She interviewed many of the wives (definitely not Rene, though), but there is no way elderly women are going to remember details of what they wore and said from 50+ years ago, let alone remember those details about the other wives who were not interviewed.
Kris Stoever, Rene and Scott’s daughter, who is depicted as a child on the show, live-tweeted during an episode that the “impromptu picnic” the day JFK died never happened. She said everyone was home watching the news coverage of it. She also said Rene had to turn in three manuscripts to her would-be editor, not the twenty noted in the book.
I still am enjoying both the show and the book. But the book is historical fiction. “True story” really is an oxymoron, isn’t it? A “story” is a tale that is not necessarily true.

[–] the1armedman 9 years ago

Yeah, I had wondered if part of the production issues and delay had to do with some legal issues and story clearance. The book was a reasonable success, but it wasn't a huge bestseller. Had it been a gigantic hit book I wonder if the publisher would have seen any lawsuits from the surviving characters or their family. I think there may have been genuine worry on the part of ABC that there could be legal ramifications from the families regarding some of the claims the book and show makes about them and their families, especially given the finances of a tv series and revenues generated from ad sales. I think in some ways they're lucky that many of the characters have passed and the rest would like to live their years in peace and just let it go. While I don't think it's all untrue, it definitely seems quite embellished at points.

And Yvonne Strahovski admitting that she never met or spoke with Rene Carpenter gave me pause and I thought "uh oh, doesn't sound like they're behind this show." And at this point I don't think that's a meeting she'd like to have, not given Rene's personality. And then later they admitted to using quite a bit of "artistic license" with the show in many regards. Nonetheless, it is quite a problem these days as Hollywood continues to take many of its ideas now from the real world and quite liberally change things to suit its tastes, especially when many of those people are still alive. And unfortunately it doesn't sound like those ladies or their children are receiving any financial benefit from the book or series, save any possible anonymous source for the book, though that itself seems dubious - as you said, the book seems to be mostly hearsay.

[–] johnston.scot 9 years ago

Some reviews and sources classify the book as a novel, i.e. historical fiction, though the publisher categorizes it as biography and history. Many nooks in the historical fiction genre (though not all) hew closely to known events, and become fiction only insofar as they fill in unknown details, such as thoughts of the characters and unrecorded conversations.

As far as the legal concerns go, the fact that most of the people portrayed are dead eliminates the bulk of them (along with the fact these particular dead people's rights of publicity don't have any value). Their only concern is libeling the few people who are still alive - and that's further diminished with respect to John Glenn by the fact he's very definitely a public figure.

[–] wab-3 9 years ago

I checked up on the Wash. Post article the OP cited and in it Rene Carpenter admits that she's only seen a couple episodes of the series. So I think we can dismiss her opinion of the series out of hand, and the OP's posting with it.

Have you got a copy of the book handy? I don't remember the post-JFK assassination picnic story from reading it but I really doubt that the author would fabricate such an easily checked anecdote. I'm giving the benefit of doubt to the author over Carpenter's kids.

[–] wheelin176 9 years ago

This is not a documentary. Of course creative license was taken.

Grands...Glad to see you come and glad to see you go

[–] sunneyone 9 years ago

I am reading the book and I just read that in the book. Someone said they had a barbeque. Perhaps the Carpenters didn't go, but other families did?

[–] calamarisoup 9 years ago

I checked up on the Wash. Post article the OP cited and in it Rene Carpenter admits that she's only seen a couple episodes of the series. So I think we can dismiss her opinion of the series out of hand, and the OP's posting with it.

In the Washington Post article, dated July 11, 2015, the reporter says Rene Carpenter has seen "a few episodes" not a couple. By July 11 only 4 episodes had aired so it sounds like she had seen most if not all of the episodes. I don't understand why you would "dismiss her opinion of the series out of hand" for this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/meet-one-of-the-real-women-from-the-astronaut-wives-club/2015/07/11/00d00c4a-2644-11e5-b77f-eb13a215f593_story.html

If the author had cited her source for the story this could probably be cleared up. Since she didn't, I would give the benefit of the doubt to Mrs. Carpenter and her kids. I think the OP made some good points

[–] thsmdh 9 years ago

She interviewed many of the wives (definitely not Rene, though)

She did interview Rene (it's mentioned in the acknowledgements at the end of the book). But given how little Rene is focused on in comparison to Betty and Jo, the other Mercury 7 wives she interviewed, I don't think she got much out of her.