Holy smazole! Book controversy

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absolutewrite

One of our readers just pointed me to info about Norma Khouri, who one of our writers interviewed last year. My head is spinning. Take a look at the interview and the new note I just put on top.

www.absolutewrite.com/nov...khouri.htm

My question is, if they should find it's fiction (and it certainly appears to be!), what kind of punishment would/should she get? I'm betting there was a clause in her contract saying the material was true...
 

bolshywoman

Crikey dick.

She deserves to be sued by the publisher, or charged with obtaining money by a fraudulent document.

This sort of thing should not happen! It may raise doubts in some minds as to the veracity of other such memoirs. The saddest consequence, of course, is that many of those who were touched by her book and contributed towards the effort to rescue women from "honour" killings, may feel so used and disillusioned that they stop caring about what is still an all too real problem in many countries.

Sniff. Down with this sort of thing.
 

spooknov

As a woman who has always believed in equality of rights, I am outraged that a fellow "women's rights" activist could ever concoct such atrocious, malignant behavior. She should be charged with fraud! And I agree the publisher will no doubt receive repercussions from would-be buyers, so hopefully they will sue her for misrepresentation.

It is sad to see those that feel the need to take advantage of such serious situations as "honour killings". And I am sure that by her disillusions, the women that are truly suffering will receive the worst consequences. Those that fight against the "honor killings" may feel misled and stop fighting for the women that cannot fight for themselves.

I hope she is brought to justice for this behavior. I don't know the laws in regards to a case like this, but IMO she should receive punishment.
 

mammamaia

whoa!... major mess for random house, huh?... glad to see you put it right w/ your interview, jenna... at least you are far from alone in being scammed... what a terrible thing to do to all the REAL suffering women in the world!
 

HollyB

Re: Holy smazole, Batman!

Stolen from Publisher's Lunch, July 28:

______

Khouri May Call Conference Soon; Papers Find Multiple Court Cases in Chicago, Along with Allegations that She Was Being Sought By FBI When She Left America
Embattled author Norma Khouri has indicated through her Brisbane lawyer that she will call a press conference Friday or Saturday to present evidence to support the veracity of her book. The call to her attorney, however, came after she didn't appear for two meetings at the firm's office. Khouri and her two children have left their Bribie Island home in Queensland, Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald says Khouri has been unreachable by her Australian publisher, and alleges that she "fled" the country for the U.S.

A publicist hired by Khouri over the weekend quit by Monday, "after trying unsuccessfully to contact Khouri when the Herald published further evidence that the writer had been living in Chicago with her husband and children."

An additional investigation from The Australian found numerous court cases against the author in the United States. They say that her mother-in-law, Zoi Toliopoulos charged her with battery in 1998, but the case was dropped when Ms. Toliopoulos did not appear at trial. Another case seeking to recover rent allegedly due from Khouri was dropped when the plaintiff's lawyer was told she had left the country.

In a third case, Ms. Khouri's mother is said to have alleged that her daughter fraudently transferred ownership of a family home, which was then mortgaged. An attorney for a bank in that case said in an affidavit that her firm had been contacted by the FBI, claiming that the agency had been seeking Ms. Khouri for questioning, and that an agent said she had "fled the country in an effort to avoid prosecution." An FBI spokeswoman was looking into the reporter's query about the case.

The Chicago Sun Times repeats this account, saying she "May have feared the FBI more than Jordanian Muslims. It was not clear what the alleged fraud was, and an FBI spokesman could not confirm the probe."

_________

What a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive...

I also read that both her US and Australian publishers have withdrawn her book.
 

maestrowork

Re: Holy smazole, Batman!

She will and should be charged with fraud.
 

Greenwolf103

Re: Holy smazole, Batman!

I agree that she should be punished for this fraud. It is sad that things like this can happen but what a relief it is that we now know the truth.

Khouri quote from AW interview:

Please remember that Dalia represents the millions of other women that are still struggling in Jordan.

If she wanted to write a book to speak out against these honor killings or to have some kind of perspective on this atrocity that is a very real horror, I think she should've approached this differently.

People will remember her more for her deceit than they will for the message she tried to convey.
 

Yeshanu

Re: Holy smazole, Batman!

If she wanted to write a book to speak out against these honor killings or to have some kind of perspective on this atrocity that is a very real horror, I think she should've approached this differently.

I agree, Dawn. The book, properly written as fiction, would have been on the bestseller lists for weeks.

What a shame that she would try and pass it off as non-fiction just so she could be in the book.
 

Jamesaritchie

Book

My guess is that nothing will happen to this woman, except maybe getting very rich. The controcersy should sell an awful lot of books.

There's nothing new in passing off fiction as nonfiction, especially when it could be nonfiction. Is it right? Probably not. Is it effective? Absolutely.

Just who would charge her with fraud? Random House? Only if they give back all the money they've made off this book.

The worst that will likely happen is that no one will trust anything she says from now on.
 

maestrowork

Re: Book

Didn't someone say the publishers are already pulling her book? Also, it'd be naive to think Random House would continue to sell this for a profit -- they have their credibility to think of. Sure, they can remarket it as fiction instead of non-fiction, but I think it's not worth their troubles. They have so many other books and authors.
 

Jamesaritchie

book

If Random House doesn't remartket the book, someone else will. They have to pull the book now because the cover says it's nonfiction. This doesn't mean they won;t remarket it, but as I said, if they don't, someone else almost certainly will.

Suree, there are lots of other books by other writers. Trouble is, four out of five of those books lose money for Random House, and only a tiny percentage generate any real profit.

If this book is any good, if it tells a story people want to read, it will be republished, and will make a lot of money for whoever does it.

I can even see a number of ways any good publicity department could use what's happened to generate a lot of positive publicity and huge sales.

If you're looking fdor morality and justice, the publishing world isn't where you're going to find it. It's about the money.
 

Fresie

Re: book

Another thing about it is, don't publishers have some sort of fact checkers or somebody? Especially for non-fiction. If women at the what's-its-name organization immediately saw it was a fake and that the author didn't know the country she was writing about, and warned the publishers (and I agree with James, probably at that point the publishers sensed that a big scandal also means big money), the publishers could've noticed it themselves had they taken care to check the facts.

And this author is just weird. A typical Jerry Springer Show character. And she got her ignorant book published! No justice in this life!!! :eek :lol
 

LiamJackson

Re: book

What should happen is swift litigation and designation as a literary pariah.

However, I'm afraid James R. may be right in that the only real misfortune that will befall her is that her suitcase won't be large enough to carry all that money to the bank.
 

absolutewrite

Re: book

One of the things I hate about cases like these is that it makes it even harder for the rest of us. I don't know about you, but since the Jayson Blair stuff, my editors have been even bigger pains in the butt about fact-checking material. I'm ALWAYS careful and detailed with my fact-checking stuff, but now I have to turn in even more "evidence" for every fact I write, no matter how obvious or minor. I'm crossing my fingers that McGraw-Hill doesn't start asking us to produce evidence that Jamie (the subject of my latest book) lived in Sweden, played pro basketball, had social anxiety disorder, etc.
 

nellfenwick

Khouri

I agree with all of you, but the sad fact is she'll most likely get off with little or no punishment. People forget so quickly! I just saw Doris Stearns Goodwin on Tim Russert's show today, giving her political insight, advice, etc. etc.

Wasn't it around two years ago that she was found to have plagiarized another author extensively? As I recall, she blamed it on too many researchers not checking their facts. Etc. Etc. It doesn't seem to have hurt her reputation at all.
Except maybe for those of us who value integrity.

:b :b
 

aka eraser

Re: book

Jenna if my experience with M-H is typical you can expect to be fact-checked up the wahzoo. I had to satisfy 2 in-house experts and 2 hired guns, each of whom did line-by-line edits of my ms.
 

Greenwolf103

Re: book

What, are they sending fish wrapped in newspaper now?

"Hired guns" sounds awful scary, Frank! :gone
 

absolutewrite

Re: book

Boy oh boy. What did you have to prove? That fish really do think worms are tasty? ("Please have two expert fish nutritionists verify that statement.")
 

James D Macdonald

Re: book

1) There's usually a clause in the publishing contract called "author's waranties" or something similar. I expect that's what's been violated.

2) Remember that "non-fiction" is a publishing category, not the publisher's assurance that every word is true.

3) This isn't the first or only time such a thing has happened.
 

Yeshanu

Re: book

Just saw Troy last night and realized that fiction has been marketed as non-fiction for as long as human beings have been writing (or perhaps longer...)

James said:

The controcersy should sell an awful lot of books.

I'm only one person and I can't do much, but I can do something. I might have bought the book had it been marketed as fiction, or if it had actually been true, I won't buy it now.

(Oh, and James -- glad to see you've progressed from "New Friend" to "Board Elder.")
 

maestrowork

Re: book

I agree with Ruth. Maybe "that's just how it is..." but as a writer, I'm going to call for us to boycott the book. I mean, we have to have integrity. Otherwise, every other writer would try to pull a stunt like that because they know it's easy to break into the non-fiction market than fiction...
 

Jamesaritchie

boycott

Writers try this stunt on a regular basis. They're usually caught sooner or later. Sometimes much, much later. Often after they're dead.

I'm big on my own integrity, not so big on that of anyone else. I think Random House can handle the situation without me.

Right now I have no intention of buying the book, but boycotts are something I don't need, and something that usually promotes sales, rather than inhibiting them.

As they say, if you ever want to get rich from a book, find a way to get it banned or boycotted.
 

Greenwolf103

Re: boycott

The story itself has me interested. (I've read similar "true story" books -- and I say "true story" because they were marketed as nonfiction.) I am grateful I can now approach this book with the knowledge that it is not true but, in some way, represents the truth (what is really happening).

All nonfiction books should be read with a grain of salt. Look at Chariot of the Gods? by Erich Von Daniken. It's labeled nonfiction but I didn't believe a single word of it. (It actually had me laughing too hard to even think it might be true.) The author's "artifacts" were later exposed as a fake. He even admitted they were fakes. Guess no one can ever really know if something is true unless the author gets caught.

Oh, and I won't buy the book. I'll just check it out at the library. :)
 

nolabohemian

Re: book

The book was being sold on amazon.com. They use the US Postal Service to ship orders, so her claims in the book, and requests for aid for the women of Jordan, could be considered mail fraud and a federal crime.

Hopefully, someone will follow up on that.

One of the articles said the books were being pulled and relabled as fiction. I just hope, if anymore are sold, she doesn't get a dime for them. It should all go to the people she was claiming to help.
 
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