The Truth About Stories

Thomas King's book, The Truth About Stories, was by far one of my favorites that we read in this class. There were lots of points that I enjoyed reading. His writing was more of a conversation which made it very easy to follow and understand. I loved the Afterword. He wrote "If we change the stories we live by, quite possibly we change our lives" (153). I love this quote. I think it is absolutely true. We tell stories all the time. There are some people who only tell sad stories, people who only tell stories to "one-up" the other person, some people who tell funny stories all the time. I don't know which one is better or worse. I think that some people who only tell funny stories are, at times, avoiding bigger things in their life. Using humor to avoid the situation. People who only bring up sad times can not be very happy in their life. I think the best combo is when people tell truthful stories. Ones that can teach other, ones that can share something with others.
We often go out with friends and the conversation revolves around stories. Stories are a part of us. They are in our history and in our future.
Some more quotes that I loved from the book:
"For once a story is told, it cannont be called back. Once told, it is loose in the world" (10).
"We both knew that stories were medicine, that a story told one way could cure, that the same story told another way could injure" (92).
I think these two quotes are so related, which is another reason why I loved this book. Stories are powerful. We need to be careful with them and treat them well so that they will treat us well in return.