What's all the hub-bub about?

[Lilith]

Has anyone read James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" ? There seems to be cotroversy regarding the fact he labeled it a memoir yet has taken fictional liberties. The Smoking Gun website (http://www.thesmokinggun.com)seems to have exposed his truth stretching. I was just curious if anyone has read it.

[jbh3]

no

[imaginewithme]

NO, I haven't but a friend of mine is. I saw him a few months ago on Oprah and he seems pretty incredible. My friend said the book is almost addicting and can't put it down.

[BIBI]

I haven't read it. I have no intention of doing so either.

I just wonder who he pissed off for them to have done this investigation.....

:p

[Stolen Kisses]

Hi Lil,
No I never heard of it. But I went to the SG web link you put in and now I want to read it.
Hugs,
Barb

[Steph]

I saw him on Oprah & he seemed a bit holier-than-thou to me so I really wasn't surprised to see this investigation.

"The Smoking Gun" has many sources & I think a prelim. investigation showed holes in his story so they continued to dig.

Like my b/f said last night, "If it's helping people, what's the big deal?"

The only big deal I see is that Frey kept insisting it was true which takes away some credibility.

[wyndhy]

i hadn't even heard of it before, but after reading that (lengthy :p) report (and assuming it's true) the guy sounds like a fraud.

[Aqua]

What I heard was that a lot of things seemed incredible. As in they lacked credibility. Root canal sans anesthetic and getting on a plane wearing a shirt covered in blood, vomit, and snot, to name the two most glaring examples. Other people had questioned these (and other) 'facts' from his book and some had written SG to have them look into it. I'd say they looked into it rather deeply.

I'd also say 'What's the big deal' except for his oft proclaimed sincerity in spilling his guts and being completely transparent to the public, hiding nothing and baring all. He has purported these events to be factual occurences not only in his book but in the interviews he has done as well. The SG article certainly seems to expose several events as greatly embellished, at the least.

[BigBear57]

Well I read the book and saw him on Oprah and I'm still impressed. Sorry if the mainstreamers who wouldn't know shit about being an addict don't approve his literary approach at telling his story. Knowing the little I do about the lifestyle I'm sure if he went into recovery in the shape he indicated, certain details had to be foggy to say the least and big damn deal he spruced the story a bit hoping for an offering that people would read. The story is in his approach and success in beating a serious addiction and if there are those who benefit from his story why do these shitheads feel the need to condemn? Sorry if I seem a little short in my reply but bear in mind my Dad spent 20 years telling his story in AA helping people and this sort of hits home. I admire anyone who can step up and say I used to be a fuckup and now I'm better and I'd like to help those of you I can.

[Aqua]

It's not about literary approach, it's about fraud. He attempted to get this book published as fiction before changing some of the content and shopping it to publisher's as non-fiction. According to SG there is still a lot of fiction left in it. If he's a former fuckup trying to help people out great. If he's fabricating most of the fucked up parts of his life and making millions in the process pretending to be someone he's not... that's deplorable.

[wyndhy]

i agree. ^^^

[Steph]

Like someone on other message board said, "It'd be different if he said he was driving a Jag when he actually had a Chevette."

When you get into a little fender bender and turn that into a story about running over cops, fighting them off and spending weeks in jail, that's well past any little "embellishment", that's a completely different story that is factually false.

It's perhaps unprecedented but Random House is offering refunds to anyone who purchased the book from them.

[BIBI]

[QUOTE=BigBear57 Sorry if I seem a little short in my reply but bear in mind my Dad spent 20 years telling his story in AA helping people and this sort of hits home. I admire anyone who can step up and say I used to be a fuckup and now I'm better and I'd like to help those of you I can.[/QUOTE]

Well BigBear....don't put your father who beat his demons and then went about helping others by sharing with them on the same level as this guy. This guy is a fraud. Your Dad helped people with his actions, words and experiences. He performed selfless acts for his own reasons, not money and fame.

[Lilith]

So true BIBI. BigBear57, your dad is the real hero here ((hugs))

[Steph]

A true he said/she said from today's NY Times:

Mr. Talese, a renowned author of nonfiction books and a former reporter for The New York Times, said in an interview yesterday that he believed it was unacceptable for an author or a publisher to present as nonfiction a work that contained any composite or fictional characters or events, or that otherwise blurred the lines between truth and fiction.

"Nonfiction takes no liberty with the facts, and it should not," Mr. Talese said. "I think all writers should be held accountable. The trouble with book publishers is that they don't have the staff or they don't want to have the staff to ensure the veracity of a writer. You could argue that they had better, or they're going to have more stories like this one. My wife is going to hate me for this, but that is what I believe."

His wife, Ms. Talese, whose Nan A. Talese imprint at the Doubleday unit of Random House published Mr. Frey's book, disagreed, saying memoir cannot be held to the same standard as history or biography.

[wyndhy]

interesting counterpoint, except almost any major dictionary's definition of memoir includes the word "biography".

[Steph]

interesting counterpoint, except almost any major dictionary's definition of memoir includes the word "biography".

I love you! I thought about that, too!