A Million Little Pieces

[uksparkle]

Has anyone else read this book? I thought it was a pretty good book. Now theres all this talk about it not being completely accurate. James Frey the author is on Oprah now discussing the book. It doesn't really bother me that he embellished parts of it. I always assume even when I'm reading non-fiction that parts of it are altered. I bet all this is going to do is make more people buy the book to see what all the talk is about. Oprah seems pretty upset over it though. Any thoughts?

[AUDeltaGam]

I read the book, and loved it.

What bothers me about the Oprah episode (I just finished watching it) is that when he would say that he changed certain details about the people to protect their identities, she would say that that's lying (I'm paraphrasing here) and she didn't like that James put that Lilly hung herself instead of how she actually committed suicide.

Okay, maybe because I'm in grad school for counseling, but jeeze Oprah, does the whole world need to know everything about everyone? James changed facts about the people so no one reading it could go "Hey! That's my aunt/neighbor/grandfather/dogwalker!" He didn't want people to be able to identify the people. And I say, Bravo to him.

The jail part really doesn't bother me. If he "made up" 4% of the book, the other 96% is still absolutely incredible. One of my favorite books of all time. And I agree with his publisher- this is how JAMES remembered it. He was quite screwed up on drugs while he was in rehab- of course he's not going to remember everything perfectly!

[sugar and spice]

I've been following this since the beginning (I read the Smoking Gun article right after it was posted, before it even made national news). As a creative writing major who's taken a number of workshops in both fiction-writing and creative non-fiction-writing, I was really interested in the fallout, because I'm sure it'll have an effect on the publishing industry. Memoir is one of the fastest growing genres right now, and recent controversies could affect that.

It's true that no memoir is one hundred percent factual, but most of those that are altered to the extent that Frey altered his contain a disclaimer stating so. An interesting aspect to the "Million Little Pieces" story is that it was originally submitted to publishers as a novel. After it was accepted, they decided to market it as non-fiction, and Frey claims that it was published more or less as he submitted it.

Furthermore, Frey originally claimed that he did not make anything up -- when the Smoking Gun story came out, he admitted that he "embellished" -- now on Oprah, he is admitting that the "revisions" were more extensive than previously admitted. Honestly, at this point, I think he's doing it for the publicity. I don't think that was his original intent, but I certainly think it is now. His credibility is gone but the sales are still going up.


ETA: I also find the idea that he milked a tragedy that was unrelated to him (the girl who died in the car crash) for make himself more sympathetic especially repugnant. I would be able to buy the "Frey changed Lily's identity to protect her memory" idea if he had said that, but I don't think he ever suggested that. At this point, I would be surprised if Lily actually existed -- or, if she did, they were probably not as close as he claimed they were.

[Lindz928]

Originally posted by sugar and spice
His credibility is gone but the sales are still going up.

The exact reason why I won't read the book. I would have almost certainly read it if it had just been marketed as fiction... But the fact that he made up or "embellished" so much of it.... Nope, I don't think he needs my money.

[APhi Sailorgirl]

I bought this book a while ago for my sister who is currently battling substance abuse.

While I have not read the book myself and understand the importance of being truthful when relaying information, perhaps there are parts that he simply cannot remember.

My sister has told me numerous times that she cannot recall months of her life while she was high. Now I canont make that claim for Frey; however, he may have made things up b/c he cannot remember. This does not excuse the behavior, but could be one of the underlying reasons for lying and wanting to tell a story.

I do hope this affects the publishing and news world. People need to be held accountable.




Now if Oprah would only realize that Tom is crazy, she would be on the right track.

[jwright25]

As the publisher of a fairly large independent book publishing company, I have been incensed by this whole situation. First I must disclose that I have not read A Million Little Pieces. I did read the Smoking Gun article, and I saw Frey on Larry King Live. It just made me even madder. I had a physical reaction to it - my stomach was in knots, and I didn't know why. So I have come to the following conclusions:

1 - I am pissed at the publisher because they should have done a little more background research. Sure, it is a memoir, and they are claiming that in that genre, they leave it up to the author to fact check. I could not IMAGINE taking that line with any book. Especially one that I am putting significant advertising and publicity dollars behind. I have one of the most highly praised editors in the business, and he is speechless at the inaccuracies. Even after uncovering them, my editor would have insisted on a fairly lengthy and detailed disclaimer - and I would have pushed to call it something entirely different. Maybe "A Book Based on the Life of James Frey" rather than "A Memoir." As a reader it makes me wonder what other "non-fiction" books out there have been so lazily edited.

2 - I have heard and read accounts of readers who say the book "changed their lives." And "If James can do it, I can do it." JAMES DIDN'T DO IT. I'm not saying he didn't have a substance abuse problem. Many people do. But the fact is, he didn't overcome what he said he overcame. His life wasn't as bad as he put it out to be. He didn't spend weeks in prison. He spent hours in the drunk tank. So when people with legitimate problems (like the ones he purported to have) read and take inspiration, that inspiration is based on LIES. It's like reading romance novels and believing that "yes, you too can marry a prince and live happily ever after."

3 - Even James's fiction sucks. WAR AND PEACE?? In prison? With an inmate whose actual name he can't even remember? That bit would have been more believable if he suggested that they read Stephen King or John Grisham. Seriously. Even if James is an educated, well-read man, what are the odds that he finds another educated, well-read "criminal" in jail to enjoy Tolstoy with? And then can't even remember the guy's real name.

4 - There's so much that seems to be financially-driven about all of this. This publicity is selling books, he's selling another "non-fiction" book that has questions as to its authenticity, he's sold the movie rights, and now he's writing novels. He could be giving his money to charities that work with substance abusers - I don't know. But to substantially profit under false pretenses just doesn't seem right. He's spending millions and making big plans for his new empire. From money spent by people thinking they were reading a factual story. I don't begrudge talented authors any cash. I just hope that it is earned.

I just have no tolerance for liars. Even if it is 4% (which is HIS figure - so who can trust that) that is pure fiction, it's an awfully important 4%. Sure, as a writer, he can write whatever he wants and the publisher can publish whatever they want. But without a proper disclaimer, and with repeated denials until he couldn't possibly deny it any longer, I can't take ANYTHING this man says as truth. His appearance on Larry King was pitiful. He kept repeating the same three sentences from his talking points sheet over and over no matter what question Larry asked. He sure didn't come off as a reformed hardass.

But of course this is all my opinion. I've just never had such a reaction to something like I did to this!

[SOPi_Jawbreaker]

http://www.slate.com/id/2134203/

This is a very interesting article by a former addict who thinks that Frey may have "embellished" his story to make himself out to be more of a tough guy. The columnist is critical of Frey saying that it perpetuates the image society has that drug addicts are messed up people and easy to spot. And he says that because of this, addicts who seem normal (live in the suburbs, have jobs, are in school, etc.) aren't going to be getting help because they'll think they aren't really addicts (because they haven't yet gotten arrested, gone to jail, or become homeless). It was very interesting reading an addict's take on the whole controversy.

[Dionysus]

I don't really see what the outrage is about. According to millions the book was good. What was true and what was false seems irrelavent, content wise. Yes, the lying he did was wrong, but there's probably a hundred other injustices I would be more concerned about than some guy passing a semi-fiction book as non-fiction. All of this controversy actually makes me want to purchase the book even more. I guess I'm falling into his trap.

[wrigley]

Originally posted by Dionysus
I don't really see what the outrage is about. According to millions the book was good. What was true and what was false seems irrelavent, content wise. Yes, the lying he did was wrong, but there's probably a hundred other injustices I would be more concerned about than some guy passing a semi-fiction book as non-fiction. All of this controversy actually makes me want to purchase the book even more. I guess I'm falling into his trap.

Because he lied, the presentation of his content totally changes. His book crosses the border into fiction the minute his facts are proven false. He's insulting anyone who's ever had that kind of addiction. I wonder how many people are going to lose their jobs over his lies. I'm glad I never read it.

I was quite surprised to see Oprah apologize and take the author to task. There is a additional rebroadcast of the Oprah show at 11pm in Chicago. It annoyed me that he kept referring to people in his book as "characters", when this was supposedly a autobiographic account. His publisher just appeared like she was a deer caught in the headlights. I would rather pay a little bit more for a book if I knew that additional fact checkers in place so that this doesn't happen again.

I wonder if and how teachers are going to use him as an example in their classroom.

As for the money originally made on this book, there are many people who are taking their copies back for refunds.

[AGDee]

I'm reading the book now. In fact, it's the reason I'm so sleepy. It's hard to put down once you get into it. I looked carefully at the book today, in light of all the controversy, and found that nowhere did I see him call it a memoir. The reviews on it say it's a memoir (you know, the trailer type blurbs from all kinds of agencies) and the author biography blurb says that it's his account of his 6 weeks in rehab. The things that he says he embellished are all things that had the potential to cause legal trouble for someone. I can understand changing some of those facts for that reason. I think that Federal Judge he was in treatment with fixed a lot of stuff for him and he didn't want him to get into trouble. I don't know how you could be that screwed up on drugs and alcohol and NOT have a lot of legal issues. (after working in mental health for 13 years). The things I like about the book are his dialogues with others, his introspection and his beliefs about what will keep him sober. Seeing how his thought processes changed over time is what I find fascinating. I don't care if some of the details are accurate or not.

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by AGDee
I'm reading the book now. In fact, it's the reason I'm so sleepy. It's hard to put down once you get into it. I looked carefully at the book today, in light of all the controversy, and found that nowhere did I see him call it a memoir. The reviews on it say it's a memoir (you know, the trailer type blurbs from all kinds of agencies) and the author biography blurb says that it's his account of his 6 weeks in rehab. The things that he says he embellished are all things that had the potential to cause legal trouble for someone. I can understand changing some of those facts for that reason. I think that Federal Judge he was in treatment with fixed a lot of stuff for him and he didn't want him to get into trouble. I don't know how you could be that screwed up on drugs and alcohol and NOT have a lot of legal issues. (after working in mental health for 13 years). The things I like about the book are his dialogues with others, his introspection and his beliefs about what will keep him sober. Seeing how his thought processes changed over time is what I find fascinating. I don't care if some of the details are accurate or not.

It's not just the "details" -- he turned a three-hour jail stay into a three-month jail stay. It would be one thing if, perhaps, the things that he got wrong were things that could truly be blamed on a fuzzy recollection due to the drugs. For example, the Smoking Gun pointed out that the police officer Frey claimed to have hit with his car remembers the incident differently. That's something I can see passing off to circumstances. But how do you invent an entire three-month jail stay out of thin air and still try to pretend that you told the truth to the best of your abilities?

As for the judge mentioned, the chance of him really doing those favors for Frey, for no reason at all? Pretty slim. The actual reason why Frey's sentence was so much lighter than expected was not because of some judicial interference, it was that, in reality, he wasn't arrested of half the things he claimed to be arrested for!

Dionysus -- I guess, for me, the problem is that non-fiction and fiction are judged on two totally different criteria. We read novels for entertainment, but non-fiction gives people that kick of "Wow, someone really lived through this." For that reason, it's funny, but you can actually get away with more implausible events in non-fiction. If you're writing a novel, it's a lot harder to sell a story filled with cliches or unbelievable plot twists, because people will put the book down and say, "That could never happen." If you're writing non-fiction, people will stick with those exact same cliches and unbelievable plot twists longer because they believe it DID happen.

As a work of fiction, AMLP (and My Friend Leonard) ain't all that great. They're full of stock characters (Frey's work in Hollywood certainly served him here) like the mobster with the heart of gold, the crackwhore with a heart of gold, the big bad negligent rehab staff. While some of you may have liked the writing style, I'm not a fan of overly precious stylistic devices, so that turned me off too. It's a gripping, well-told story, but it's one we've heard a million times before in either true or fictional formats -- its number one draw was not what a great story it was, but "See how much one person can really live through!" If it was primarily made-up, it loses that draw. (Although now it does have the additional pull of "see if you can figure out where James Frey is lying!" -- haha.)

[AGDee]

I'm on page 300 and something out of 403 and he's still in rehab so I haven't even gotten to the jail part yet. He just found out that he has to report to jail in 10 days and they just watched the fight. Perhaps that's why it seems to me that it's relatively unimportant, because I'm this far into the book and it hasn't happened yet. I'm enjoying it either way (and I borrowed it, so I couldn't ask for my money back anyway..lol).

[AOIIBrandi]

Originally posted by AGDee
I'm on page 300 and something out of 403 and he's still in rehab so I haven't even gotten to the jail part yet. He just found out that he has to report to jail in 10 days and they just watched the fight. Perhaps that's why it seems to me that it's relatively unimportant, because I'm this far into the book and it hasn't happened yet. I'm enjoying it either way (and I borrowed it, so I couldn't ask for my money back anyway..lol).

Funny we are both just about on the same page. I am in the middle of him writing his inventory.

FWIW I started reading the book before all the drama about the embellishments. I think it's a good read, and I don't really mind that he embellished some aspects. I was reading it as if it was a novel anyway...

[hoosier]

He's being described in the press as a frat-boy.

Has any GLO claimed him?

[AGDee]

He definitely didn't mention a fraternity in his book. I think he was too stoned through college to ever bother with joining a fraternity. He didn't sound like the kind of guy who would get a bid.