James Frey is on the stand, or sofa, being questioned by the strongest black woman alive, Oprah, who feels lied to about believing in his memoir "A Million Little Pieces". I read it. First, I will give you two reasons why I read books. One being the, I'm deeper than I really am reason, and the other being the real reason. You decide which is witch. Number one reason - I have no idea what I'm doing in life and maybe reading between other people's lines will help me figure this whole thing out. Number two reason - books are perspectives and I'd like to have more perspectives of this world than what happens in Southington, CT. Aight. So that's why I read books and I chose to read Frey's memoir - -?
Oprah endorsed it, she was in love with it and placed a sticker on the cover, her stamp of approval. Frey started drinking at 10 years old. From what I remember, and what he remembers, by around 18 years old he was getting drunk everyday and using other drugs everyday - mostly an alcohol / crack diet. The Frey Diet Guide in stores next Christmas. Makes for great celebrations. Finally by 23 his parents took him to a drug clinic to get clean. He agreed to go and said this was his last chance at life.
Again – reading books are about gaining perspectives. To think about the life of a drug addict is disgusting and you can’t help but think of the scum of the Earth. However, as my old pal Anne Frank said something like “Generally speaking, there is good in everyone”. And after reading “A Million Little Pieces” you can’t help but think there is good in James Frey. That is how convincing his memoir is. But wait. It’s a memoir so I didn’t need to be convinced this was a true story. Our perception of memoir is – true story. Not based on a true story, but all true, as far as the writer recollects. Didn’t need convincing.
In short, Frey recovers from addiction, writes a book and it becomes a best-seller. I need to get one of those. Oprah endorses book, Smoking Gun? does research and claims Frey’s a liar. His pants were on fire today, January 26, 2005, live on Oprah’s show. Yeah, Judy, down the street, she taped it for our fam. What a lady. She’s got a memoir coming out soon by the way – but back to Frey. Oprah didn’t hold back. She brought up all the questions. Was the dentist story true? Was Lilly real and did she hang herself? How long did you really spend in prison? Why if you recovered from such tragedy did you need to embellish anything? The last question is the one I’m concerned with. If the overall story, recovering from drug addiction, is true then I still recommend reading this book. That is what the book was about – how he recovered. Drug addicts go to clinics, do the 12-steps, and most find a higher power. However, Frey claims all throughout the book, he denies God’s existence, the 12-steps and AA. He beat the addiction, in which he does not believe is a disease, by making a choice. To use or not to use, that is the choice, and is how he told readers how he recovered.
The truth came out in the other questions. Lilly did exist, she did commit suicide, but she cut her wrists, opposed to hanging herself as the book sells. I’m over that lie, or embellish. And Frey couldn’t really tell the Oprah audience about the dentist episode. He didn’t really remember, but reluctantly said there are documents. I won’t lose sleep over that. Nobody still understands why he would embellish those little details because the rest of the book did not revolve around any of that. Lilly did exist and commit suicide. She was a girl he fell in love with in the clinic, also a crackhead. And I’m sure the love story captured many female hearts who gained the perspective that even crackheads can find love and I CAN’T? Damn bitch. This is not the story. Well, the story in the book. The story that he lied, or embellished, is the after story; afterward (maybe his next memoir). The story in his book is about recovering from drug addiction.
I am not trying to let Frey off the hook. I’m just like all of you (except superior), I go to the book store, I find a book I love and I read that shit. Like I said, to gain perspectives. I gained a few with this motherlover. Publishers need to define what a memoir is and consider what journalists do not do – and the journalists do not do and they do not do for a living. Fact checking people.
I think little James Frey started writing this book, and I do believe he wrote the book, in a sense, to relive the horrid of being and recovering from being a drug addict. He wrote it and somehow got it published. The publisher said it should be a memoir and Frey agreed for he believed THE STORY was true. He wakes up and he’s on Oprah. He’s on the best-seller list. The publishing company qualified it as memoir; he believes it’s memoir. Anyone that thinks Frey wrote the book to make millions and doop or lie to the American people (I hear Asians are reading it too) is wrong – or maybe I’m still entrapped by the story of someone overcoming drug addictions.
Still, the story was about HOW he overcame the addiction. No God, no AA, no 12-steps. He made the decision to not use and that is what I thought was the inspiring part to all readers and especially to former drugs addicts. I don’t understand how even Oprah did not ask the question of whether how he got sober was true or not. That is the question. I want it answered by Frey and the publisher. And if the answer to that question is that his recovery method is true, I still recommend reading it.
Don’t BUY it. Libraries still exist. Look in the Fiction section. I think? Because there is still some truth to “A Million Little Pieces”. And I have to believe “generally speaking, there is good in everyone”. Maybe even in James Frey.
(This controversy is very new. This is my observance of the whole brew ha ha right now. Let's see how it plays out. I'm sure the media will fall in love with it like say a crackhead falls in love with Lillies)
Check out another recently read memoir: "A Million Little Mountains" - a recollection of an asian gym teacher and her struggle with lesbian porn
Thursday, January 26, 2006
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