A Million People...

I just finished reading James Frey's A Million Little Pieces.

I'm not sure if you remember this book, but it stirred up quite a bit of controversy back in its day.

The book sailed to the top of all sorts of bestseller lists and nabbed a coveted spot in Oprah's Book Club. Oprah bragged on it, tons of women bought it and James Frey was heralded as the new tough poet of our generation.

Not long after all the buzz started, an investigative website uncovered some inaccuracies in Frey's account of his criminal background. Eventually, Frey conceded that he had embellished the criminal record, but everything else was true.

Frey went on Larry King to defend himself and even Oprah called in to defend him on the air! It looked as if Frey was the real deal.

Eventually, Frey's publisher discovered that many of the details of the book had been fabricated. Frey appeared on Oprah where he was blasted for lying after he admitted to many lies within the book.

Frey ended up losing some some money, the publisher offered refunds for anybody who wanted one (not too many did,) and Frey is now back with a new book that is already getting good reviews.

Now that I've read the book, I'm a bit confused.

I'm willing to admit that the whole scandal may have already colored my opinion, but as I read it, I thought...

"How could so many people believe this was real?"

The characters are just too big, too sad and things time out just a little too perfectly for me. I can't imagine reading this book and thinking it was true. Maybe if I hadn't seen Oprah or Larry King or any of that jazz I would have been fine. I don't know hardly anything about addiction. I can only guess how truly nightmarish it really is, but the book was just a little too extreme to ring true.

With all that said, it's a great book. It's well-written, it's got some great things to say about self-preservation and the futility therein, and it's a dramatic read.

Anybody read it? Thoughts?

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Unrelated note: for those who read the blog in a reader, I posted a quick poll on "Best Indiana Jones Movie." Go directly to the blog and chime in!