A Million Little Pieces

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A Million Little Reasons to Read James Frey

December 02, 2011

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3.0

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I highly recommend this book for anyone of any age who wants to be inspired.

Good Points

James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces, caught headlines in 2006, three years after his book was released, subsequent to an interrogation on the Oprah Winfrey Show about the truths, and non-truths, of his acclaimed memoir. Winfrey, who had recently made the book a “Book Club Choice” in 2005, retracted her praise for Frey’s work and vituperated him on national television, forcing him to apologize for embellishing on the details of his beautifully written memoir. ??A Million Little Pieces recounts James Frey's journey to sobriety in a rehabilitation center in Hazelden, Minnesota. Frey, then a 23-year-old drug and alcohol addict, meets many people in the program who ultimately change his life, specifically Lily and Leonard. While the twelve-step program proved successful for Frey, his determination throughout the memoir is inconsistent, but he finds the will to persevere. A Million Little Pieces is awe-inspiring.??After many malicious reviews surfaced about A Million Little Pieces, Frey responded, “..So let the haters hate, let the doubters doubt, I stand by my book, and my life, and I won’t dignify this bullshit with any sort of further response." (Seaman,2008,34) However, James Frey did not adhere to his statement. On his final interview with Oprah Winfrey on May 17, 2011, Frey apologized for exercising his creative freedom and even expressed, "I had no respect for form." Undoubtedly, the stylistic conventions that Frey utilizes throughout A Million Little Pieces are what encourage the reader to continue turning the pages. The repetition, lack of punctuation, vulgarity, and shifty sentences allow Frey to illustrate the angst he experienced during his time in rehab.??Yes, Frey does alter some details about the people he met in rehab as well as the events, but does it really matter if he was or was not numb during a root canal? The actual occurrences are true, and so are Lily and Leonard. Lily, the woman who Frey falls in love with during his experience in rehab, truly did commit suicide, although Frey alters the method by which she dies. Frey alters the characters of Lily and Leonard to respect their identities in the real world.??James Frey should not apologize for writing A Million Little Pieces, but instead be proud that his piece encouraged many other addicts to seek sobriety. His memoir also resonates with those who have no addiction, but who simply need to be told, "Never give up." A Million Little Pieces is courageous, confessional, and even crude, but most importantly, it is inspirational.

Amanda Borelli

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Eh...

June 04, 2010

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Reader reviewed by Randi

I don't know what to say about this book really. I don't really know how I feel about it. I had a hard time with his writing style. He repeats himself, he repeats himself, he effing repeats himself. And yes, by the third repeat, he would drop an eff bomb. I thought it was great that this guy over came him drug addiction. I did not like how the book seemed to promote the disregard of the 12 step program that really does help a lot of people.

However, I did get wrapped up in this book and did want to keep reading it. I don't think there was a time where I was like, ugh, when is this book going to be over.

ETA: I also did not know much about the controversy of this book until I started reading it. Then I googled (yes I googled) and found that he did embellish parts. Whether he did it because he was an addict and that is just how he remembered it, or if he did it because (according to Wiki) he wrote about how he wanted to see himself, is no never mind to me. I enjoyed the story whether it was fiction or non-fiction. I think though the added hype about him and his truthfulness is what really made this book as famous as it is currently.

In the long run, I am glad the book was only like 10 hours listening time. I originally had My Friend Leonard on my list to read too, but after this book, I am not really too interested in reading further about James and his life, or his friends, mainly because I do have a hard time with books about drug addiction. Probably because I have a hard time relating considering that I have never had drug problems.

There were parts in this book that I was just utterly disgusted with because of what he says he did in the past. I literally wanted to throw up in parts. I guess it's hard for me to think that some people are just this effed up.

I am having a hard time wrapping this review up. I liked the book, but I am sure I will never read it again. Not because I hate it, but just because it is one of those books that I just don't want to relive, but not because it's bad.

Guest #1 Reviewer

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Good story telling

May 19, 2009

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4.0

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Reader reviewed by lilwolfmisty

I read this book and I was very impressed with the authors facing his demons and giving up on drugs. Then I read that all of it wasn't true. So I thought and thought, what he was saying about recovry didn't change and is called a memoir so he took poetic license with some of the incidents in the book it still did not change the message that being clean and sober is hard but worth it. Then I loaned the book to one of my friends who is a recovering addict. He said he was very impressed by the fact that God wasn't so in your face in the book, in the treatment program that the main character goes to they don't do the 12 steps, and my friend told me that in his case the 12 steps never worked and he felt like the kind of recovery program that the author was in would be better for someone like him.

All in all it was a good read, and gave me good insight in to how an addicted person thinks and feels which was good for me since I have never been addicted. The message of the story was not changed by learning that the author did not tell the whole truth and took poetic license, but the book would have been much better if he would have been more up front about which incidents that he embellished.

Guest #1 Reviewer