JT Leroy, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (2001)
On the page: Jeremiah, son of a West Virginia truck stop hooker who passes him off as a girl and tutors him in turning tricks.
In the flesh: Laura Albert, a literary hoax artist and Brooklyn-born mother of one who passes off her boyfriend’s sister as the androgynous LeRoy for public appearances.
End-game: Sued by film company, book deal dropped, movie adaptation by Asia Argento sees limited release.
Realish-ness rating: 0/10

Margaret B. Jones, Love and Consequences (2008)
On the page: Half-white, half-native foster child who becomes a gangbanger in South Central L.A.
In the flesh: Margaret Seltzer, a Caucasian suburbanite raised by biological parents in ritzy Sherman Oaks.
End-game: Book taken off shelves after the author’s sister contacts The New York Times and denies the story.
Realish-ness rating: 1/10

James Frey, A Million Little Pieces (2003)
On the page: Violent criminal with a dozen stints in the slammer under his belt and a penchant for anaesthesia-free root canals.
In the flesh: Alcoholic, check. Drug addict, check. Jailbird, not so much. Though prison might have seemed like a cakewalk after his televised mea culpa to an enraged Oprah and her book club.
End-game: Sits at number one on The New York Times best-seller list for 15 weeks. Follow-up memoir sells well.
Realish-ness rating: 3/10

Augusten Burroughs, Running With Scissors (2002)
On the page: Quirky adolescent sent to live with his crazy mother’s even crazier psychiatrist and his kooky clan.
In the flesh: Quirky adolescent sent to live with his apparently crazy mother’s apparently even crazier psychiatrist and his kooky clan, turned booze-swilling ad exec, turned sober scribe.
End-game: Strong-armed by the family to have the memoir reclassified as a “book.” Vindicated when it gets a silver screen treatment starring Gwyneth Paltrow.
Realish-ness rating: 5/10

David Carr, The Night of the Gun (2008)
On the page: Freeloading crackhead and first-time dad living with dealer-slash-girlfriend in late-’80s Minneapolis.
In the flesh: Cleaned-up and cautious New York Times columnist who interviews friends and family to corroborate his recollections.
End-game: Carr admits memory, especially that of an addict, is a fickle mistress. Still, glowing reviews, brisk sales and no proven discrepancies.
Realish-ness rating: 9/10