Third-Person Autobiographies???

[Fishface]

I really don't get why some people write their memoirs in the third person, the way the girl in the mental hospital wrote her diary in the movie SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER. Nevertheless I have come across more than one of these. I was correcting tags on my bookshelf and it reminded me of two of them: Who Will Cry for Staci?: The True Story of a Grieving Father's Quest for Justice, who wrote his wrenching story in the third person, and Betrayal: The True Story of the First Woman to Successfully Sue Her Psychiatrist for Using Sex in the Guise of Therapy.

What I notice is that both of these autobiographers have co-authors. I wonder whether they just handed their life stories to these people and said "write it any way you want"? In the first book I mentioned, there were a few points where the third-person approach made it easier to understand what was going on from more than one POV, but I can't say that for the other one.

Oh, I just thought of another: Nightmare: Uncovering the Strange 56 Personalities of Nancy Lynn Gooch. This one reads very much like Betrayal: The True Story of the First Woman to Successfully Sue Her Psychiatrist for Using Sex in the Guise of Therapy. It came across as if Nancy Lynn told her story to someone and said "leave me out of this."

Wait, there's even another one: When Rabbit Howls. Now, this one makes perfect sense to me: again authored by someone with multiple personalities, the authors are listed collectively as "The Troops, for Truddi Chase." Truddi herself seems not to have been in evidence for many years and her various other personalities collaborated on the book. Which is an amazing read, by the way.

Have any other people here found books like this? What are your thoughts on the usefulness (or otherwise) of writing your own life story in the third person?

[Selina]

Don't know about my own life story...but most of these would be 'as told to' memoirs.

Trevor Rees-Jones book about being the bodyguard for Dodi and in the car crash was one I recall. I think its mostly for people who can't really write their own stories. Maybe they don't have the literary flair, or their memory is patchy, or just don't have the time to write.

[Fishface]

True enough, but I wouldn't want to cede too much editorial control to a co-author. A few pieces left out here or slanted there could completely change the way I came across...

[Selina]

Are you writing one or considering writing one?

I think people have their reasons. But nothing gets published without the author or subjects approval.