Lena Dunham’s memoir “Famesick” is a New York Times best seller rated 4.4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads with almost 25,000 reviews. But are celebrity memoirs really that good? Or is “Famesick,” with Dunham’s vulnerable and unfiltered storytelling, an exception?

“Famesick” details Dunham’s life with her start in the TV industry, creating and writing the HBO show “Girls” in her early 20s. Throughout the book, Dunham explores her drug dependencies, criticisms, toxic relationships, mental and chronic illnesses and fertility issues.

Colin Wilber, a DePaul senior studying film and television, described it as “introspective.”

“I really think that anyone in a formative or transitional stage of their life will find really sage wisdom in it,” he said.

Dunham’s book doesn’t hide from the fact that she didn’t always make the right decisions. That awareness and honesty are important to a good memoir, according to Michele Morano, an English professor and director of the writing and publishing graduate program at DePaul. 

“The best-written memoir is complicated. It doesn’t allow you to easily go guilty and innocent,” Morano said. 

Oftentimes in memoirs, celebrities like Elliot Page and Jennette McCurdy, take liberties in order to protect or respect the privacy of others, according to Morano, who has met ghostwriters that have worked on celebrity memoirs. But Dunham doesn’t hold anything back with sharing her story.

“There’s nothing she won’t write about,” Morano said. “She’s not intimidated by anything. So if anyone seems surprised that her memoir is telling all, I think that they haven’t been paying attention.”

Celebrity memoirs are not a new thing. But they have become a wider trend the past few years. 

Maybe it’s to diversify their market. Maybe it’s to correct a narrative and tell their side of the story. Or maybe it’s because consumers have shown a unique interest in their life, what they’ve gone through, and how they got through it — like in the cases of Page, McCurdy and Trevor Noah.

“Regardless of the intention, I do think that memoirs really can be self-serving,” said Lily Addington, a graduate student at DePaul for creative writing and publishing.

Morano said that she doesn’t read memoirs to learn about celebrities, but instead to understand how they are “making sense of their experience” in life.

These stories can touch on themes many people have experienced.

“It’s much better if the aim is to try to discover something true that’s larger,” Morano said. “I hate to use the word universal. But a sort of larger truth about life and human behavior and how difficult relationships can be.”

But it is difficult to discern the intention behind these memoirs, according to Addington.

“Whether people think it’s good or bad writing, or they think that the person is good or bad, it is going to do something profound for the person who put their name on that memoir,” she said.

Sometimes, people can become disillusioned with celebrity privilege. Addington gave the example of celebrities marketing their skincare brand when they have access to expert dermatologists. But celebrity memoirs can still cut through this disillusionment and invite online discourse and a plethora of reviews from magazines and newspapers.

This is currently the case for “Famesick.”

“Ultimately, with celebrities, and with public figures, our attention is their currency,” Addington said. Regardless of whether Dunham is liked or disliked after sharing her story, she had more to gain than lose from publishing her memoir.

While some people are genuinely interested in the behind-the-scenes lives of celebrities, what else do readers receive from this transaction?

“There’s a voyeuristic pleasure in looking and peeking into someone else’s life,” Morano said. “We Americans revere celebrities in general, and so it’s always titillating and exciting to have glimpses of their actual lives.”

One of “Famesick’s” acclaims was its exposing and revelatory nature, which is bound to catch people’s interest.

“It’s fascinating and invigorating to a lot of people. And in some ways, it can inform and influence people in what we do in our actual lives,” Addington said.

They added that for some readers, memoirs allow them to learn more about celebrities and feel closer to them.

More than that, they can also be inspirations. 

“As a writer, Lena Dunham is a person that’s really shaped and inspired my own voice, or rather, the path to finding my voice as a young person,” Wilber said.

Like with fictional forms of media, Addington thinks escapism is a driving factor in parasocial relationships and an invested interest in the personal lives of celebrities.

Not only is it about a connection to the celebrity, but it is also a connection to others who feel similarly to you.

“Especially with fandom culture, there’s something that if you really love this person, or you really love to hate this person, you find connections with people through that,” she added.

Some may scoff at celebrity memoirs, unsure of their genuineness and quality. But others argue they contribute cultural value to the creative nonfiction realm. 

“Ultimately, people will be the judge of whether they think it’s PR or they just wanted to have ‘New York Times Bestseller’ next to their name,” Addington said. “Or if they’re just genuinely trying to share a potentially interesting perspective on life.”

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