A Million Little Pieces

[clarityat3am]

Has anyone read this book by James Frey? I've read back and forth reviews on it and was curious to hear the opinions here.

 

[Doozer61]

I am reading it right now. If you are familiar with addiction, it is an interesting read, although graphic at times. It goes pretty fast too. A friend of mine read it in 2 days!

He also has another book out, "My friend Leonard".

Although it tells about his time at Hazelden, Mr Frey is very anti-12 step programs.

 

[HelloAngel]

I have it but haven't read it yet. Can't wait! For anyone who has read "Leonard" is it good too?

 

[one4u2]

I was curious about this book as well since oprah had featured it on her show awhile back and hyped the hell out of it-

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I haven't read the book but I saw the episode of Oprah, I thought he was amazing

 

[Doozer61]

i actually found it by accident. saw it at Costco and picked it up.

 

[starsgoblue]

In the past two days I have seen three people with this book...now I'm curious to read it too.

 

[anadgemila]

I have it but haven't read it yet. Can't wait!

Me too

 

[joyfulgirl]

Although it tells about his time at Hazelden, Mr Frey is very anti-12 step programs.

What are his issues with 12 step programs? I wonder if they're the same as mine (I've never been in one but I still have an opinion, of course )

 

[anitram]

Is that the one which Brad Pitt bought the rights to?

 

[Carek1230]

I am always interested in a book Oprah recommends and then I see numerous people reading it....so I must know about this book as well.

And while on the subject of books.....has anyone read the Memoirs of a Geisha book? I hear it was written by a male author! How can it be?!!!

 

[~LadyLemon~]

"My Friend Leonard" picks up from where he left off at the end of "A Million Little Pieces".

AMLP is the last book I've read in a long time that left me sobbing at the end.

 

[VertigoGal]

My mom and at least 4 of my aunts have recently read this book and loved it.

 

[U2SavesTheWorld]

Interesting developments regarding this book:

Clicky

"Book Club" author's best-selling nonfiction memoir filled with fabrications, falsehoods, other fakery, TSG probe finds

 

[clarityat3am]

Yeah I just read that.

 

[redkat]

I'm only about 100 pages into the book but a lot of it has to be made up.

He portrays himself as the most addicted addict one could ever be blacking out on an almost daily basis for years yet he remembers in detail everything that ever happens to him. That doesn't seem possible.

Of course because it's a memoir and I was getting into it I wanted to believe.

 

[Doozer61]

i am about 170 pages into it.

 

[clarityat3am]

I think it's a good read, even with these issues.

 

[Catlady]

I loved both books. Read "Leonard" in one sitting in an afternoon. I thought it was even better than AMLP.

 

[Catlady]

OK. Just read TSG's report. WOW. Now I'm mad.

 

[Doozer61]

anyone catch him on Larry King tonight?

 

[Doozer61]

he defines his memoir as a selective memory of his life and basically only 18 pages of the 400 or so pages are embellished. since it is a small percentage he does not see anything wrong with it. as a result of this, he will never write another book about himself.

 

[onebloodonelife]

And while on the subject of books.....has anyone read the Memoirs of a Geisha book? I hear it was written by a male author! How can it be?!!!

Just finished Memoirs of a Geisha, it's really amazingly written and a great story. But it's a novel and not a real memoir, although it's based on research that the author did.

 

[RedRocksU2]

anyone catch him on Larry King tonight?

I saw it....

 

[carrieluvv]

there was a story in the chicago tribune about this guy....that alot of his stuff was made up..
i guess the town he was living at one time he said he had all these run ins with the police ..but someone researched it and found no records of him at that particular police station..
i didnt read the whole article...
but..some of the stuff was made up and its now..its a scandal man!

 

[RedRocksU2]

...Thesmokinggun.com...started it all for him.

 

[Doozer61]

yep. but Oprah is standing by her man.

 

[redkat]

I'm not even gonna finish the book. After reading the smoking gun thing...meh

It seems like many people could write an extreme story of addcition. The fact that this was real was the hook.

 

[RedRocksU2]

..and that is the reason why James and the publishers, opted to call it a "Memoir" and put it under a non-fiction label............both of them probably thought (After seeing Larry king last night) that if this was labeled a fictional character, it would not strike as hard as it did in the beginning.

 

[indra]

I'm not even gonna finish the book. After reading the smoking gun thing...meh

It seems like many people could write an extreme story of addcition. The fact that this was real was the hook.

I'm reading the Smoking Gun article now. I agree the thing that would make it really worth reading is that it was all supposed to be true. I wonder if he's told himself it's true for so long that he now actually believes it himself.

I thought this bit was interesting:

According to a February 2003 New York Observer story by Joe Hagan, Frey originally tried to sell the book as a fictional work, but the Talese imprint "declined to publish it as such." A retooled manuscript, presumably with all the fake stuff excised, was published in April 2003 amid a major publicity campaign.