MikeOnTheMic

I just finished this last night. My wife bought this book after it was recomended by Oprah (who else) and after she finished it she told me I just had to read it. I am glad she did. It has been a long time since I read a book that grabbed me like this one did. I could not put it down. Its the story the author who is a drug/alcohol addict going through rehab and the emotional and physical pain he goes through. It is very real and very raw. He makes you feel like you are right there going through it all with him. I have never read a book like this and wasnot too familiar with the subject matter, but now I feel like I've been through it all. Great read!!

Million Little Pieces - James Frey

Brian in Mesa

The author also did the screenplay for the upcoming film: A Million Pieces (movie)

I might check this out.

See how the other half lives.

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HONEY BADGER DON'T CARE

MikeOnTheMic

BIM, if you were offended by the use of language in Jarhead, I would not recomend this book/movie to you.

MigratingOsprey

I haven't read any of his books, but heard about this one on Oprah ... i also just saw in the stores that he released a book called "My Friend Leonard" which seems rather interesting as well

MikeOnTheMic

I can't wait to read "My Friend Leonard". I already ordered it from Amazon. You get to know Leonard quite a bit in "A Million Little Pieces" and I can't wait to read more.

Brian in Mesa

Web site debunk`s author`s claims

NEW YORK, NY, United States (UPI) -- James Frey`s best-selling memoir, 'A Million Little Pieces,' which was promoted by Oprah Winfrey, is full of lies and hyperbole, The Smoking Gun claims.

'Police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources have put the lie to many key sections of Frey`s book,' The Smoking Gun reports on its Web site.

Winfrey selected 'A Million Little Pieces' for her book club last year, catapulting it to the top of the New York Times bestsellers list.

The Smoking Gun said Frey, in an interview, admitted 'that he had embellished central details of his criminal career and purported incarceration for `obvious dramatic reasons` in the non-fiction work.'

Frey has reportedly threatened to sue The Smoking Gun over its expose.

'So let the haters hate, let the doubters doubt, I stand by my book, and my life, and I won`t dignify this (expletive) with any sort of further response,' Frey posted on his Web site.

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Brian in Mesa

Oprah confronts Frey about disputed memoir
By Carol Memmott, USA TODAY
CHICAGO —

Truth matters.

So says Oprah Winfrey, who made an about-face and apologized Thursday on her TV show for backing James Frey's not-entirely-true memoir A Million Little Pieces.

"I feel duped. But more importantly, I feel that you betrayed millions of readers," Winfrey told Frey, whose book soared to the top of the best-seller lists after Winfrey selected it for her nationwide book club last fall.

The veracity of his account of drug addiction and alcoholism has since been challenged by The Smoking Gun, an investigative website, and other news outlets.

Frey admitted to Winfrey that he made up details about characters in the book and, as the website claimed, had exaggerated the amount of time he had spent in jail (a few hours, not 87 days, in one case).

The immediate effect may be that book publishers will be more cautious in dealing with authors of memoirs, says Sara Nelson, editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly. "They (publishers) may not be asking for copies of police reports, but they will say the book is 'based on a true story' or some other caveat."

On Thursday's show, Winfrey also grilled Nan Talese, Frey's editor at Doubleday, who appeared with the author and claimed that she, too, was "dismayed" after learning about the book's embellishments. Said Talese: "I mean, as an editor, do you ask someone, 'Are you really as bad as you are?' "

To which Winfrey emphatically answered, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Winfrey — sometimes contrite, sometimes angry — said she was sorry she called CNN's Larry King Live on Jan. 11 while King was interviewing Frey about the controversy — a controversy that Winfrey, at the time, called "much ado about nothing."

"I regret that phone call," she told her viewers Thursday. "I made a mistake and I left the impression that the truth does not matter, and I am deeply sorry about that. That is not what I believe.

"To everyone who has challenged me on this issue of truth, you are absolutely right."

Winfrey wasted no time expressing her feelings to Frey. "It's difficult for me to talk to you, because I really feel duped," she told him.

"I think I made a lot of mistakes in writing the book and promoting the book," Frey said.

"Do you think you lied or do you think you made a mistake?" Winfrey shot back.

"I think probably both," Frey said.

Sitting side-by-side before a studio audience, Winfrey confronted Frey on details in the book, including his claim that he had a root canal without Novocain, and asked why he wrote that a girlfriend had committed suicide by hanging when in fact she had slit her wrists.

"All the way through the book I altered details about every one of the characters," including himself, Frey said.

Despite the controversy, A Million Little Pieces continues to sell well. It's No. 2 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list, displaced from the top spot just this week by Elie Wiesel's Night, the newest selection of Winfrey's book club.

William Bastone, editor of The Smoking Gun, praised Winfrey for her turnaround. "Despite all the criticism, she could have hunkered down and not addressed this any further because she's Oprah Winfrey. But I give her a lot of credit for apologizing and being so unrelenting on Frey."

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Pariah

I say "who cares." Is the book less enjoyable because it's been embelished?

Rivercard

If it is marketed and packaged as a true account memoir then yes it is "less enjoyable" when the lies are exposed. As a reader you are emotionally invested in the truth of the story. These weren't simple "embellishments", they were outright fabrications.

If it would have been sold as "based on a true story" then I would agree who cares.

MigratingOsprey

oprah came off looking very bad

especially when she set him up on the suicide and the audience oohed and aahed with contempt that the chick didn't hang herself .......... she slit her wrists

Rivercard

It was a CYA episode for sure, but Oprah seemed to come across pretty well to me. Apolgetic for her role yet not vindictive. She didn't really grill him or get angry with him.

MigratingOsprey

she didn't?!?!

she was seething venom

Rivercard

Considering her personal reputation has taken a large beating because of this man I thought she was rather reserved (assuming she wasn't in on the scam from the get go). She didn't over-react and go ballistic on him.

MigratingOsprey

oh yeah .... her reputation really took a nosedive.........

she needs to get over herself ... this was very similar to when she had the store people from paris come on so she could kick them a little bit

not saying she doesn't do a lot of good, but she went out of her way to brow beat the guy without acknowledging the simple fact that the book is still relevant and has done a lot of good to a lot of people

Pariah

How 'bout the time Jonathan ... arrgghh, I'm forgetting his last name...Krantz? The author of The Corrections, said he didn't want to be on her list. She got so bent out of shape about that! Oprah really does need to get over herself, IMO.