The Hazy Line Between Fact and Fiction

If asked where a writer may draw the line between fact and fiction, I would reply, "Anywhere they want to." It is not only their right to draw that line, but to cross it as well. In This Boy's Life, Tobias sets a sort of standard of impartiality by revealing every side of his changing personality during the most influential years in his life, his childhood. Still, the validity of his claims is irrelevant to this metamorphosis, because it does not affect the impact of the events on the author, but rather it affects the impact of the events on the reader. Readers may not take the author's story as seriously if they find out that much the story is a fallacy, but if the author's goal is truly self expression, then it should not matter.