Apparently some people are coming forward to say that she exaggerated lots of parts of her story so that she could win the New York Times scholarship.
She grew up poor, so do lots of people in New York. She wasn't really homeless in the traditional sense. She had A LOT more support that she writes about.
This is more fictional than reality.
Exaggerated? I agree 100% with you there. Don't get me wrong, I think that Liz accomplished good things but so do many others who have a lot less than her. In interviews she implies that she isn't a miracle. That was smart of her to behave humbly.
Liz DID get a lot of support and encouragement to succeed. That New York Times scholarship fund actually receives lots of applicants who faced worse obstacles than Liz did, but there was just something about her that the people on the committee liked.
I think that a lot of these stories about other people are exaggerated. You are bound to meet someone who knew the famous person from their school, work, etc. Then you find out that the movie or story exaggerated the "saving angel" and "saintly" image. In real life, the conditions weren't that bad as the movie made it sound and the famous person who is famous wasn't even that nice in real life.
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I agree that a good bit of her story seemed to be exaggerated. And Liz is not quite the 'innocent' that she is shown as in the film either.
She wasn't homeless most of the time, she bounced from friend to friend and even hotel room/apartment with a 'bad boy' type of boyfriend at one point.
I felt really bad for her in having such troubled, somewhat selfish parents but she really messed things up for herself...over and over. If you read the book, she did a lot of dumb things.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
Can you blame her doing the "dumb things"? I do agree though that movies like this have a knack for painting the life as an absolutely horrible struggle; they'll bounce from one horrid aituation to another, and life isn't like that. Even with terrible experiences, mosg days will be "typical." Movies like this often have trouble conveying this, and with time constraints, I get it.
I do have to say some people are mixing up "homeless" with "street person." Liz was indeed "homeless" even when she got motel rooms and crashed with friends. She just wasn't literally homeless and living life and sleeping in the streets.