Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival

by Margaret B. Jones

A former child gang member who followed her foster brothers into the Bloods at the age of eight reveals her participation in drug activities and violence before finding the strength within herself to graduate college and break free.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2008

About the author

Margaret Seltzer (pseudonymously Margaret B. Jones) (born 1975) is an American writer. Her first book, Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival, about her alleged experiences growing up as a half white, half Native American foster child and Bloods gang member in South Central Los Angeles, was proven to be fictitious. She actually was fully white, grew up with her biological parents in the upscale San Fernando Valley community of Sherman Oaks and attended Campbell Hall, an affluent Episcopalian day school in North Hollywood.

While promoting the book in radio interviews with WBUR's On Point and NPR's Tell Me More, Seltzer spoke with an African American Vernacular dialect and frequently referred to alleged gang friends as "homies" and "my home girl."

Reviews

[TheTyee.ca]

Say you meet me at a party and I tell you that when I was 7 years old, I killed a full-grown military officer, then ran off and was nurtured by a pack of wolves. Would you believe me or begin edging away quietly, keeping the snack table between us at all times?

Or say I'm a healthy-looking, articulate young white woman, and I tell you I used to work for the Bloods in L.A. -- a full-time gun-strapped gangbanger. Would you believe me or laugh in my un-bruised, orthodontured face?

If you said you would believe these stories, then please stand by -- the process of natural selection will be along for you in a moment. More likely you scoffed at the idea you'd fall for such obvious crap.

read more ...
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2008/03/10/Li...

[Elevate Difference · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the spring of 2008, Riverhead Books received a call concerning their popular new memoir, Love and Consequences, by Margaret B. Jones, whose real name is Margaret Seltzer. After reading an article about the book in The New York Times, Seltzer’s sister told the publisher that the memoir is a fake. It seems Seltzer (Jones) had not told the truth at all; her memoir, about growing up as a foster child in gang-ridden Los Angeles, is a complete fabrication. Unlike recent memoirs where portions of the work are untrue, Seltzer’s entire story is made-up.

Riverhead Books was caught completely off-guard. Jones had provided them with documentation, old photos, and even paraded friends from her old gang in front of the publishers. So, to say that this was unintentional would be a lie. The truth is that Margaret Seltzer came from an upper-middle class family. She never lived in south central Los Angeles as a child nor was she ever a ward of the state.

Love and Consequences is the story of a young, racially mixed (Native American and White) girl named Margaret, who lives with a black foster mother in a gang-ridden neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles. Big Mom, the foster mother, is strict and overworked. She is raising four grandchildren for her absent daughter, and Margaret is right there among them. The bonds of friendship within this work are well-crafted. The character of Big Mom rings true to life. The cloud of hardship and danger written into this storytelling lends sympathy to some of the book's toughest characters.

The opening is a scene that takes place in the street. Margaret is twelve and selling drugs. She watches a rival gang come into the neighborhood and gun-down several members of her gang, including the gang leader she looks up to. These images are vivid and brutal. The author is truly dedicated to the authenticity of her creation—especially to the Bloods and Crips, two rival gangs in Los Angeles. The opening section on language and "kontent" also seems to be real. I never would have questioned her knowledge of the subject, which is a testament to her ability to write true characters and scenes.

Seltzer (Jones) falters in that I found the dialect cumbersome and tough to understand. Reality or not, this technique slowed my reading and took me out of the narrative. Had the author presented this as a novel to the publisher, they certainly would have said something similar. If Margaret Seltzer had chosen to publish this book as fiction, she still would have succeeded. Her story keeps you engaged until the very end. While the author's actions may cause difficulty for writers who attempt to write an honest memoir in the future, I did find the book worth my time.

Review by Ann Hite

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, I read the "fake memoir." I read the entire thing in one day when I was home sick from work. And you know what, it was damn good. Obviously, I read it in one day so I couldn't put it down. I think it stands alone as a piece of literature much better than other "fake" books of late, James Frey's book for example.

[Joe]

I have not read this book, nor have I heard of it before it was exposed as a fraud reminiscent of James Frey's A MIllion Little Pieces and JT LeRoy's books. I just feel the need to vent in a public forum. So here it goes. This kind of thing always PISSES ME OFF. Some talentless hack from an upper middle class family with a bullshit english degree and an exaggerated sense of self importance decides to "speak for the voiceless" and write about: A) a drug addict, B) a prostitute, C) a single mother, D) a metally ill person, or the ever-popular E) all of the above. Then they either get themsleves a penname or entirely make up a fictional persona (the name of this one escapes me, but she was exposed a couple of years ago). They then get in contact with a naive and/or blindly greedy agent or editor and the book is inevitably published to the accolades of brain dead literary critics who think anything about "struggling with adversity" MUST be good because it's so "real", and deep down they feel guilty for their silver spoon-in mouth lives of private schools and cocktail parties and walking past homeless on the streets averting their eyes and sighing about the futility of it all. So, the literary circle-kerk society once again creates it's own flawless hero who allows them to write a bland, unimaginitave tale of a fake life so they can continue to look down their snobbish noses at science-fiction and horror and fantasy and, oh ANYTHING with a drop of imagination.

Well played, literati, well played. When you 're reading in your Paris Review about the latest memoir by a reformed junkie/prostitute/stripper/single mom/ethnic/downtrodden/bag lady/ with a heart of gold and indomitable will, I hope you choke on your Earl Grey and scones JUST A LITTLE BIT.

[Lesley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the book that almost made me lose faith in the memoir genre. Not only is the author's claim to the story false, her writing style is terrible, too.

The description of the book is intriguing: an abused and neglected little girl (who was supposedly half-white and half-American Indian) is placed in foster care in South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s. She gets involved with gangs, despite her wonderful foster mother, who is a loving but overextended single parent. The author finally manages to extricate herself from gang life, but the majority of the book is about her gang activity.

The author uses the slang of the gang members throughout most of the book, which makes for a really irritating reading experience. However, believing as I did that this was a true story, I could look past that and still be interested in what the author was trying to say.

To find out that the author was lying about her Indian background, had never lived in South Central L.A. or much less been involved in a gang, was never in foster care and grew up apparently in either the lap of luxury or near it was way too much for me. I have become extremely selective about memoirs since reading this fiasco.

My recommendation: Don't waste your time on this one. Even taken as a fictional story, it's not worth the effort.

[Kia B · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, I was totally unaware of the fraud claims against the author. I was simply browsing at my local library at thought this sounded interesting. I did have a many unanswered questions and many things just 'didn't add up'.Loaded down with stereotypes. I was actually moved by the tale since I had not had this point of view from the female perspective. Now I simply feel as if I wasted a few hours of my life. What a slap in the face to those that struggle daily in this lifestyle. So what next? What happens with her Internationa brotherhood/sisterhood organization which she created to help youth in gangs? Also what about her plans to help build a community center in south central? Ask yourself also if the publishers, agents ect. would have been so excited and put funding and clout behind Ms. "Jones" if she had not been white. . .

[Troy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is awesome.

Absolutely awesome that another fraud is exposed, ad so many people keep feeding into the adulation that usually feeds a publishing monster looking for a bestseller, no matter how sketchy.

What's sad is that we all become more and more cynical about our reading material, which is unfortunate, but altogether human.

I read the first two chapters, and two things jump out at me. One factual, one subjective.
Factual - Wrong gang affiliations, customs, and even a mention of a product that simply didn't exist then triggered my BS alarm.
Subjective - The "I was eight, and decided I wasn't going to take it anymore" rings hollow to anything but someone simply hoping to believe that the conditions change enough to realize this fundamental change in psychology. People want to believe that one can merely refuse to take it anymore; reality laughs at that.

WHile we shouldn't jump on our high horse and demonize the laudations of this thing before it was exposed as fiction (and not very well-written fiction, at that), we also must not fall into the trap of wanting proof and documentation when a memoir like this comes out.

[Momo29]

I couldn't in good conscientious finish this book. I didn't have a good feeling about the author and I doubted the authenticity of her experience so I googled her and sure enough it was all made up. I tried to keep reading it but I couldn't do it. This book illustrates a culture thief. How dare this priveleged white women write about experiencing life as a white/native american young girl growing up as a foster child in a black family in South Centeral. This book was out of pocket and the author deserves to be slapped. Exploitation to the 10th

[Irene · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grabbed this from my library. Read it when I'd lost my laptop charger so I didn't find out it was a fake until after I'd read it in it's entirety. Had big questions after I'd finished and it being a fake makes sense actually.
People are insane. I can't believe someone faked this memoir. I could have and should have been reading my friend James new book Silent Fear instead!

What a waste of time...

[Anneke de Jonge · Rating 1 out of 5]

To quote listverse, "If there were a literary version of blackface, this would be it." A slow contemptuous clap to you Margaret Seltzer.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is fiction, not a memoir.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/boo...

[Shealeigh Funni · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is what happens when I decide to trust humanity and pick up a random book from the library (without vetting it online). I read through the first third of the book before I became altogether suspicious. Sure enough, it is a fat hoax. Which is a horrifyingly trivial way to treat REAL children and parents in the foster system, those who have REAL lives in difficult urban neighborhoods, and those ACTUALLY affected by violence in American cities. Let alone the fact that she capitalized on her "white appearence" to gain interest and recognition for her lie. How offensive. I wish I could have that time back to read something real, educational, and formative.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author was taken from her birth family at age 6 and hustled through a series of bad foster homes before ending up in South Central LA for the rest of her childhood, where she lived among the Bloods. I wish she had written more about her family of origin, but that might be too difficult or painful and she does not owe that story to her readers.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only made it through about the first third of this book, if that before giving up on it. If you're not familiar it is one of the recent books quickly pulled by the publisher after it was discovered that the author was not in fact a half white/half Native American foster child growing up in South Central L.A. who became involved in gang life, but instead a completely white girl who grew up in an intact suburban family attending private school no less. She was outed by her sister. Why she thought she could get away with so public a lie I have no idea. At any rate when I first heard about this book prior to it's publication I was excited about it. It totally sounded like something right up my alley, which you should know if you've been following my book reading habits over the past several years. Then within a week of it being published the story broke and it was being pulled off the shelves. So I figured that was that and I would never read it. Cut to yesterday when I was dropping off some books at the Hampden library and I noticed that they had a copy of this book. They must have bought it right when it came out and before the publisher pulled it. So I was intrigued and decided to check it out. To start I don't find it a very well written book and since the author was a supposed Blood she refuses to use the letter c in many words replacing it with k's, which is super-annoying and highly prentensious in my opinion. If I had been reading the book thinking it was true I probably would have overlooked these things to concentrate on her story, but knowing that the book was a complete and utter lie I couldn't get past them. Not to mention the fact that everything in the book seems so cliched and she somehow seems to have such great insight into all these things that supposedly happened to her as a child. Knowing that she made it all I just couldn't keep reading because that just seemed so glaring after being aware of it. So I quit reading it. And it kind of makes me sick that this woman tried to get attention and profit off of telling people she went through things that she never had to suffer through, but that thousands of people in this country really do every day. Ugh! This book really didn't deserve the small amount of my time I spent on it.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book in a list done by USA Today about authors who overcame obstacles in their lives, then wrote autobiographies. This was the 3rd book on the list I was reading, the other 2 were excellent. Well, a third of the way into the book, which I was loving, I decided to research the author. Turns out, the whole book is a fake, another faux memoir. I could still enjoy A Million Little Pieces because it was largely based on fact.......this one was totally fabricated. I couldn't read another page. Very disappointing.

[Linda Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a really well written book. I did not know that it was fiction however, which made me kind of upset, ( was listed as a memoir !!)). but either way , I thought it was a very good read. I know nothing of gang life in LA so I thought it was very sad & informative. I'm amazed that it doesn't Need to be renamed as a novel ! I gave it five stars until I read reviews, but give her lots of credit for making me believe this was a true story!
( I usually don't read reviews before I read a book as we all have our own opinions & I like to form my own))

[Michaella · Rating 1 out of 5]

What I learned from this book? That some fake memoirs really shouldn't be written, no matter how well-intentioned the author is. I'm sure Margaret Seltzer, nee Margaret B. Jones, is a nice woman, but I have no earthly idea why she'd want to further marginalize the African American community in South Central Los Angeles for her own personal literary gain. I hope she turns to fiction and turns away from "trauma porn," as my MFA colleague Kathy once called this style of memoir.

[Sharon K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

publisher disclaimer:

"While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and ideas nor assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content."

It sounds like they were worried even before publication.

[G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

She may have lied about her life, but this book contains more truths than most books out there. Its sad to say that if she had put this out as YA fiction, she would have been hailed as a writer of true grit. Her portrayal of life in South Central is right on and she reveals a world hidden to most with great heart, tears and (ironically) honesty. A stunning piece of work that most will tragically never see. She could have been a great writer...

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Taken from: "In Love and Consequences memoir a fake By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles Last Updated: 2:40am GMT 05/03/2008 Ms Jones, whose real name is Margaret Seltzer, is actually white and grew up with her natural family in an affluent Los Angeles suburb 30 miles north of gritty South Central where she claims to have lived." This is so sad. It would have been a wonderful fiction book but they tried to pass it off as a Nonfiction. The nerve of some people.I must give it one star.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you teach in an urban poverty setting, this book will give you a lot to think about. You already know the challenges the students face within school, but a glimpse of their life "away from school" will give you something to think about. It is good to consider what your students may endure each evening at home.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

people lie/embellish everyday and get lied to everyday, we go to war based on lies... recalling a book is straight up silliness....
but since i read it...bleh... maybe this should be geared more toward juevy lit... too slovenly done for my taste

[emily]

Errr, I read this and wowed everyone with my gang knowledge and got outraged, etc etc, before I heard 2 days later it was a fake. Well, it makes decent fiction, altho probably the greater drama is the fact that the author's sister is the one who ratted her out...

[Shelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know that the author fabricated the story, but I also read "a millon little pieces" and was taken by it all the same.
There is someting about a persons distorted idea of self that is interesting to me.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't interested in this book but a friend gave it to me because she knew I would read anything. It was a good story that gives some insight to the gang lifestyle. I couldn't really relate to the experiences of the author but it was interesting to read anout her life.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite all of the controversy -- and the fact that it's not, in fact, a memoir, it was quite a good book.

[Rena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently found out this book is a fake memoir. It is still good and the poverty and desperation described in the book are real across America. This is a good story.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure I like this book and maybe it's because it's fake...I'm just reading it so I can know!

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please read this one. Especially Heidi...well maybe she gets enough of this at work. It is excellent.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, it's a gripping memoir of a girl in foster care growing up in south central LA in "Blood" territory.