"A Million Little Pieces" - part fiction? [Archive]

ejs

01-08-2006, 10:17 PM

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html

"Book Club" author's best-selling nonfiction memoir filled with fabrications, falsehoods, other fakery, TSG probe finds
JANUARY 8--Oprah Winfrey's been had.

Three months ago, in what the talk show host termed a "radical departure," Winfrey announced that "A Million Little Pieces," author James Frey's nonfiction memoir of his vomit-caked years as an alcoholic, drug addict, and criminal, was her latest selection for the world's most powerful book club.

In an October 26 show entitled "The Man Who Kept Oprah Awake At Night," Winfrey hailed Frey's graphic and coarse book as "like nothing you've ever read before. Everybody at Harpo is reading it. When we were staying up late at night reading it, we'd come in the next morning saying, 'What page are you on?'" In emotional filmed testimonials, employees of Winfrey's Harpo Productions lauded the book as revelatory, with some choking back tears. When the camera then returned to a damp-eyed Winfrey, she said, "I'm crying 'cause these are all my Harpo family so, and we all loved the book so much."

But a six-week investigation by The Smoking Gun reveals that there may be a lot less to love about Frey's runaway hit, which has sold more than 3.5 million copies and, thanks to Winfrey, has sat atop The New York Times nonfiction paperback best seller list for the past 15 weeks. Next to the latest Harry Potter title, Nielsen BookScan reported Friday, Frey's book sold more copies in the U.S. in 2005--1.77 million--than any other title, with the majority of that total coming after Winfrey's selection.

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 36-year-old author, these documents and interviews show, wholly fabricated or wildly embellished details of his purported criminal career, jail terms, and status as an outlaw "wanted in three states."

remainder of story at: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html

Letter on James Frey's site: http://www.bigjimindustries.com/news.php

Katy

01-09-2006, 12:01 AM

You might want to post this in either news or books - as it's news about a well known and topical book.

littlemia

01-09-2006, 02:56 PM

Wow. That's really interesting. I haven't read the book, but I am familiar with it. I don't think anyone expects that everything in an autobiography is exactly how it happened, but to embellish that much and outright lie in some places. What an ass.

nylons73

01-10-2006, 07:14 AM

Totally rivited by the Smoking Gun piece! This guy has duped most of America! I mean, it's one thing to embellish a story, but to claim you did 3 months of jail time, when you have NEVER been incarcerated! Wow! To claim that you have warrants out for your arrest in three states, even though nobody in those states has any knowledge of this -wow! To claim that you were involved in the death of a teenage girl in 1996, when you had nothing whatsoever to do with it. WOW! I think this to be wayyy more than creative license! :rolleyes:

apoppy

01-10-2006, 08:04 AM

I really wonder what Oprah will do in response to this, if anything. After all it was her book club that propelled sales of this book and its sequel.

Myra

01-10-2006, 08:54 AM

This reminds me of when that book Sleepers came out several years ago, about the boys in a detention school who are abused and get revenge when they grow up. Much of that "memoir" turned out to be fiction.
Totally rivited by the Smoking Gun piece! This guy has duped most of America! I mean, it's one thing to embellish a story, but to claim you did 3 months of jail time, when you have NEVER been incarcerated!
I will spoiler tag this question: So what does that mean with regard to Lily, who allegedly committed suicide right befoe James got out of prison? Where was he really?

nylons73

01-10-2006, 09:18 AM

Myra - Here is what I think TSG is alluding to in regards to your question..The Smoking Gun seems to suggest that Lily is fabricated. She kills herself so there is no real evidence to corroborate her existence, and as The Smoking Gun points out, almost all of the characters that 'could' be offered up as proof of Frey's writing, are 'dead.' Lily seems to be one of a long line of Frey characters who cannot be proven to have ever really existed.

kugrrly

01-10-2006, 02:45 PM

quite interesting!

KarenS

01-10-2006, 06:32 PM

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html
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 36-year-old author, these documents and interviews show, wholly fabricated or wildly embellished details of his purported criminal career, jail terms, and status as an outlaw "wanted in three states."

In additon to these rap sheet creations, Frey also invented a role for himself in a deadly train accident that cost the lives of two female high school students. In what may be his book's most crass flight from reality, Frey remarkably appropriates and manipulates details of the incident so he can falsely portray himself as the tragedy's third victim. It's a cynical and offensive ploy that has left one of the victims' parents bewildered. "As far as I know, he had nothing to do with the accident," said the mother of one of the dead girls. "I figured he was taking license...he's a writer, you know, they don't tell everything that's factual and true."Does it change your perception of the book, if you've read it? Does it make you want to or not want to read the book if you haven't?

Karen

kugrrly

01-10-2006, 06:40 PM

I was a little irritated after I read the article from the site this morning. I went through so many emotions while I read this book. I became very attached to the people he met during the course of his stay at rehab., and I felt so much joy and pain after reading what happened to them. There were some times where I did question if that really happened, but I have never been in quite the same situation. Since he was pretty messed up, are the things that he "made up" something to hide or make his pain and suffering better? Was it kind of his own reality?? Kind of like an excuse to why he did these things?
Does tis make sense??

lawyergirl25

01-10-2006, 06:55 PM

http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?t=13785

Reenie

01-10-2006, 06:56 PM

In additon to these rap sheet creations, Frey also invented a role for himself in a deadly train accident that cost the lives of two female high school students.

I read A Million Little Pieces over the holidays, so it's recent enough for me to remember this error: the bolded part is inaccurate--- it was one female and one male high school student, and I believe that male student lived (but I cannot remember).

I saw that as well, and I wondered. I believe that there may be discrepancies, but I don't know that it changes the book that much for me. It does make me wonder where the line between acuality and embellishment exists.

KarenS

01-10-2006, 06:59 PM

Oops. Sorry about the duplicate thread. I am subscribed to the Book board, but I didn't see the post about this. I was kind of watching for it too. *eyeroll* Obviously I'm not paying enough attention.:)

Karen

Emilie

01-10-2006, 07:12 PM

I am going to go ahead and move this to books!

Miriam

01-10-2006, 07:14 PM

I saw the book around, but I didn't know what it was about. Now that I know, regardless if it's the truth or not, I kind of really want to read it.

I don't see why it's such a big deal that he fabricated it all. As they were saying on the radio today, if he were to have pitched his real life story - that of a well-dressed frat boy who drank too many pabst blue ribbons and accidentally ran over a sidewalk curb - not too many people would be interested in reading....

melones

01-10-2006, 07:48 PM

[QUOTE=Reenie]I read A Million Little Pieces over the holidays, so it's recent enough for me to remember this error: the bolded part is inaccurate--- it was one female and one male high school student, and I believe that male student lived (but I cannot remember).

The accident involving a male and a female is the way he portrayed it in the book but in reality the real accident involved 2 female girls and Frey was not involved in the accident at all.

I wouldn't have been annoyed if the book was prefaced as based on real life events what i find unsettling is his steadfast pledge of truth and as he puts it "transparency" about his life when in reality (if allegations are true) the veracity of his life and the accounts in his book are seriously in question.

KarenS

01-10-2006, 08:04 PM

I don't see why it's such a big deal that he fabricated it all.Really? You don't see it as a big deal that he wrote a book, went on talk shows, swore it was the truth, made a huge big deal out of how true it was, and made tons of money - and then find out that he lied about huge parts of it?

I do. It'd be one thing if he said it was fiction based on his life ... but he didn't.

Karen

TracieB

01-10-2006, 08:08 PM

I just got done reading the whole entire Smoking Gun document and the train crash involved three people - two girls who died and a boy who lived.

Myra

01-10-2006, 09:05 PM

RobynScott

01-11-2006, 06:01 AM

Really? You don't see it as a big deal that he wrote a book, went on talk shows, swore it was the truth, made a huge big deal out of how true it was, and made tons of money - and then find out that he lied about huge parts of it?

I do. It'd be one thing if he said it was fiction based on his life ... but he didn't.

Karen

Agreed. I just started the book on Sunday (before knowing about the TSG article) - and I want to read the article - but I don't want to spoil everything in the book. I am definitely finding the book less 'readable' as I wonder where the separation is between fact and fiction. And I totally agree with Karen I would have a lot less issues with this if he said that it was fiction based on his life.

The fact that he tried to sell it as a fiction book, couldn't - & then 'toned it down' to sell it as non-fiction just doesn't quite wash right with me either. Nor does the fact that he now admits he dramatized some of the events for the book where previously he represented this was all fact.

Just doesn't leave me with a good feeling. (well, neither did reading about his unmedicated root canal - yikes! - which may not have even happened).

nylons73

01-11-2006, 06:33 AM

Really? You don't see it as a big deal that he wrote a book, went on talk shows, swore it was the truth, made a huge big deal out of how true it was, and made tons of money - and then find out that he lied about huge parts of it?

I do. It'd be one thing if he said it was fiction based on his life ... but he didn't.

Karen

Karen - I totally agree with you! It is a HUGE deal, in the publishing world and outside of it. This man sold 1.77 MILLION copies of this book last year, selling them on the premise that this was the 'all true story of his life.' It's clearly NOT the 'all true story' of his life. Huge deception, huge deal.

And...it's not like he just 'embellished' some things about his life. Spoiler follows: He wrote, for a large part of this book, about his time 'in prison.' GUESS WHAT?- HE'S NEVER BEEN IN PRISON!

Asha

01-11-2006, 06:42 AM

i am really surprised oprah didn't discover this. i know that her show does a lot of research on their guests to make sure they are not fabricating things. i am especially surprised bc she chose this as one of her book club books.

they replayed portions of his appearance on the today show a while back, and he adamantly claimed that it was all true and he only left out the boring stuff.

though, i have not read the book, it does color my view on the book. a big part of the way you approach a book is recognizing the genre of book it is. the way you read a fiction or nonfiction book is completely different. yes, his writing style might still be good, but writing style is not the be all and end all of the quality of a book.

amberfiddles

01-11-2006, 06:47 AM

FYI---
http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/2006/01/10/ap2441837.html

frey to appear on larry king tonight.

kugrrly

01-11-2006, 06:52 AM

I agree with Karen. He has been everywhere promothing his "true story", and now we find out that half is falsified. it kind of pisses me off since who knows how much is ACTUALLY true. I read that Lily may not even be true either. I am planning on readng the next book My Friend Leonard, and I guess I should realize that half of what he wote is probably fiction.

I am glad though that the book has helped many people who do have a problem with drugs and alcohol.

nylons73

01-11-2006, 08:29 AM

from today's ny daily news : http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/381953p-324165c.html

Oprah's book flap flip-flop

Oprah Winfrey appeared yesterday to write off the author whose addiction memoir - which she helped turn into a mega-seller - now looks like a tall tale.
Winfrey's Web site, Oprah.com, dropped a notice seeking viewers willing to go on her TV show to discuss how James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" changed their lives.

"Did you ... get inspired to overcome your own battle with drug or alcohol addiction?" the Web site asked as late as Monday night.

For a second day, Winfrey's office in Chicago had no direct comment on the serious doubts about the book raised by The Smoking Gun Web site.

It reported Monday that Frey "wholly fabricated" or "wildly embellished" his account of drugs, crime, rehab and redemption, which moved Winfrey to tears last fall and earned a spot in Oprah's Book Club.

In a new statement, Frey's publishers, Doubleday/Anchor, said yesterday, "By definition, [a memoir] is highly personal.

"In publishing Mr. Frey, we decided 'A Million Little Pieces' was his story, told in his own way, and he represented to us that his version of events was true to his recollections."

The book, which is No. 1 on The New York Times paperback best-seller list, also was No. 1 yesterday on Amazon.com.

Nicole Bode and Paul D. Colford

Originally published on January 11, 2006

nylons73

01-11-2006, 09:06 AM

From today's Minneapolis Star and Tribune...

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/175790.html

MINNEAPOLIS - ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA

Last update: January 11, 2006 – 6:41 AM

Is Minnesota memoir a million fabrications?
Bestselling author James Frey's credibility scrutinized
Deborah Caulfield Rybak, Star Tribune

A brutal addiction memoir by James Frey, set mostly in Minnesota and anointed by Oprah Winfrey, has become one of the biggest publishing success stories in years. But Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" took a major credibility hit this week when the Smoking Gun website published a lengthy investigation that challenged Frey's account of his drug addiction, criminal past and subsequent rehabilitation at a Minnesota clinic.
"A Million Little Lies: James Frey's Fiction Addiction," said that events throughout the book were "wholly fabricated or wildly embellished."

Similar discrepancies were pointed out in a 2003 Star Tribune story. Frey responded then by saying, "I've never denied I've altered small details."

No surprise locally

Twin Cities public relations executive Jon Austin said he was hardly surprised when he read about the Smoking Gun findings this week in USA Today.

"I remembered that there were problems about the veracity of his story when the book came out," said Austin, a former spokesman for Northwest Airlines.

July 2003, shortly after the book was published, Austin told the Star Tribune that "no way, no how, nowhere" would Frey have been allowed to board a commercial jet covered in blood and vomit, with a hole in his cheek and four front teeth missing, as the author claimed in the first paragraph of "Pieces."

Joining Austin in his skepticism at the time were other Twin Cities professionals. inneapolis police captain said Frey's description of the Minneapolis bus station and of a search through nearby crack houses to locate his girlfriend didn't ring true. president of the Minnesota Dental Association called Frey's account of visiting a dentist near the Minnesota clinic, which he acknowledged was Hazelden, to have two root canals and four teeth capped without anesthesia "absolutely false."

At the time, Frey brushed aside questions about his book's accuracy. "I wrote what was true to me," he told the Star Tribune. "If people want to pick apart the facts, they can."

Although the Smoking Gun website claims Frey admitted in an interview that he embellished details for dramatic reasons, the author posted a heated denial of the latest accusations on his website, calling them "the latest attempt to discredit me." Though Frey hasn't talked to reporters this week, he is scheduled to appear tonight on CNN's "Larry King Live."

Memoirs as profit centers?

The discrepancies and Frey's reported admissions of falsifying details of his life raise questions about the publishing industry's increasing reliance on nonfiction memoirs as a fast track to the bestseller list. The debate over fictionalizing in memoirs has raged recently about other books, from Augusten Burroughs' bestselling "Running with Scissors" to Minnesota writer Nicole Lea Helget's "The Summer of Ordinary Ways."

Many books marketed as nonfiction contain notes to readers saying that the author has altered the time sequence of events, created composite characters, changed names or otherwise made up details of a memoir. "A Million Little Pieces," however, contains no such disclaimer.

Nan Talese, whose Nan A. Talese Doubleday imprint first acquired the book, told the Star Tribune in 2003 that the lack of the disclaimer was "a total slip- up."

However, the "slip-up" was never corrected, through numerous hardcover printings of the book, or in the just-released paperback version.

Although Doubleday issued a statement supporting Frey, Talese has issued no comment. Winfrey has made no public comment about the revelations, though her website continues to carry a number of links to Frey.

Lorri Rice, 49, of Minneapolis just finished reading the memoir. Though she found it "gripping, raw and compelling," she was troubled by news of the embellishments.

"I don't care so much about the surrounding details: I care about the core truth," Rice said in an interview Tuesday. "When I think about how it's sold as a memoir, it bothers me more. We learn from each other, and in order to learn from each other we have to tell the truth."

The Smoking Gun (www.thesmokinggun.com), founded in 1997, made its reputation posting celebrity mug shots, police reports, corporate memos and other legal documents relating to the rich and famous. It began investigating Frey after it failed in its attempt to get a mug shot from his arrest to post on its website.

If there is any repercussion from the revelations, it may be even more sales for "Pieces," which topped Amazon.com's bestseller list Tuesday.

Staff writer Claude Peck, the New York Times and Associated Press contributed to this report. Deborah Caulfield Rybak • 612-673-4996

©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

melones

01-11-2006, 09:54 AM

I will definately be watching him on Larry King tonight but i wonder if anyone from The Smoking Gun will be there to tell their findings...Larry isn't typically a tough investigative interview so i am interested to see what transpires.

I started reading My Friend Leonard but i just can't pick it up again because i am doubting if Lily was a real person.

msnicolea

01-11-2006, 10:07 AM

The Smoking Gun editors have been all over the news--I saw some of them last night on MSNBC--they definitely have the goods on him!

StephB1170

01-11-2006, 10:11 AM

oh, read My Friend Leonard anyway. It was SOOOOOO good. Even if Leonard isn't real, the book was fantastic. I cried my eyes out. Just don't think of it as non fiction!!

njdiva

01-11-2006, 10:57 AM

Steph - I found the Leonard character in Frey's book was the most interesting... but my disappointment with the overall book has put a negative light on any future books for me...

nylons73

01-11-2006, 12:15 PM

From www.cnn.com (just posted!)

'Pieces' buyers offered refund
Move believed to be unprecedented

Wednesday, January 11, 2006; Posted: 1:56 p.m. EST (18:56 GMT)

Programming Note: "A Million Little Pieces" author James Frey is scheduled to appear on CNN's "Larry King Live" Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Random House will refund readers who bought James Frey's drug and alcohol memoir "A Million Little Pieces" directly from the publisher, a move believed to be unprecedented, after the author was accused of exaggerating his story.

Readers calling Random House's customer service line to complain on Wednesday were told that if the book was bought directly from the publisher it could be returned for a full refund. Those who bought the book at a bookstore were told to try to return it to the store where it was bought.

"If the book was bought directly from us we will refund the purchase price in full," one Random House customer service agent told Reuters, noting readers would have to return the book with the original invoice. "If you bought it at a book store, we ask that you return the book to the book store."

Asked why the publisher, which normally sells books directly to consumers as nonrefundable, would offer refunds, the agent said, "because of the controversy surrounding it."

Several customer service agents called by Reuters reporters also agreed to pay refunds. A Random House spokeswoman said the company would issue a formal statement about returns later.

Frey's memoir of alcohol and drug-induced mayhem sold 1.77 million copies last year after being chosen by Oprah Winfrey's book club in September. But investigative Web site The Smoking Gun on Sunday reported the book, published by Random House's Doubleday division, was full of exaggeration and inaccuracies.

Frey, who will appear on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Wednesday to discuss the controversy for the first time, has called the accusations "the latest attempt to discredit me."

"I stand by my book, and my life, and I won't dignify this bulls--t with any sort of further response," Frey wrote this week on his personal Web site bigjimindustries.com.

Asha

01-11-2006, 12:21 PM

well, i don't consider that to be very generous of them bc who buys there books directly from the publisher anyways unless you are kid who buys from scholastic.

Secret_Squirrel

01-11-2006, 12:36 PM

well, i don't consider that to be very generous of them bc who buys there books directly from the publisher anyways unless you are kid who buys from scholastic.

But bookstores do. And RH also urged consumers to return their books to the store, then the store can return them to the publisher and get a refund.

Integrity seems to be regarded as an increasingly unneccessary attribute.

KarenS

01-11-2006, 01:47 PM

Good for them. I hope enough people return the book that Frey winds up owing them money against his royalties.

Karen

mgrace

01-11-2006, 01:56 PM

Totally rivited by the Smoking Gun piece! This guy has duped most of America! I mean, it's one thing to embellish a story, but to claim you did 3 months of jail time, when you have NEVER been incarcerated!
I haven't read the book, but I admit I am intrigued in the Smoking Gun piece. How can someone write a book and say that they were in prison and weren't? I mean, wouldn't someone he knew call him on it? Wow.

melones

01-11-2006, 04:00 PM

I haven't read the book, but I admit I am intrigued in the Smoking Gun piece. How can someone write a book and say that they were in prison and weren't? I mean, wouldn't someone he knew call him on it? Wow.

You would think so...and maybe they did but were friends or his parents and didn't want to blow the whistle on him and his success.

My guess is that at the time it was originally published he never thought it would be such a runaway hit let alone an Oprah book club selection and as such never thought the book and the embellishments and fabrications would reach such national attention and scrutiny.

kugrrly

01-11-2006, 04:01 PM

I am looking forward to the interview on Larry King tonight.

kugrrly

01-11-2006, 06:07 PM

so far in the interview it seems as if James is full of BS

He is claiming that when he first wrote the the book it was a novel, and the publisher who bought it did not know how to present it. So they decided it would be non-fiction. TOTAL BS.

so annoyed

msnicolea

01-11-2006, 06:15 PM

He is so full of it. "Uh, it's what everyone does--I took like 5% poetic license and the rest is true. It's the literary tradition."

BS--he shopped it as though it were a memoir, not a "semi-memoir." I am annoyed.

Now he's playing the memory loss card.

kugrrly

01-11-2006, 06:16 PM

I will agree with everything that he has said about how his book has helped people with similar addictions. I do think that his whole message of the book has helped numerous people.

KarenS

01-11-2006, 06:30 PM

I will agree with everything that he has said about how his book has helped people with similar addictions. I do think that his whole message of the book has helped numerous people. Yeah but how many of those people ar going to feel emotionally betrayed by this. I'm just waiting to hear of someone committing suicide because of it.

And besides, he can't justify theft by "but it did some people some good". Because basically that's what he's done - steal from everyone who bought his book by lying to them about what it really was.

Karen

kugrrly

01-11-2006, 06:34 PM

Yeah but how many of those people ar going to feel emotionally betrayed by this. I'm just waiting to hear of someone committing suicide because of it.

I know this.. i am not backing him up. I am still irritated about his whole attitude towards this and how he used his disease to sell books.

kugrrly

01-11-2006, 07:00 PM

Oprah called into the show. She is backing him up.

melones

01-11-2006, 07:12 PM

Blech

Larry was as usual too soft an interview...don't know if he had agreed upon parameters but how hard is it to get a straight answer on whether or not he has seen the inside of jail for any period of time...and uhh if James doesn't remember don't you think his mother would ...uhh ask her. same with the train incident how hard is it to get him to nail down the facts...

I personally think James Frey comes off as dumb....if he said UHHHHH LARRY YA KNOW one more time i was going to throw the remote at him.

Oprah calling in at the end i really wonder if she has read all the details because as i see it there are two incidents i can recall that are blatently exagerated or false and they really are central to so many other themes, emotions and feelings about James and the book.
1) the police incident in Granville, OH with the police and the alleged crack and felony DD and mahem and
2) the way he inserted himself into the train accident...while those are two incidents he uses them and the feelings they created in him as central to his fury, feelings out being an outcast...if you take those things away what if left

...he was just a teenager aciting out who eventually goes to rehab and sets his course in the right direction....think how many people there are who succeed at that sans book sans international praise...he is put on a pedastal because we thought we read a book about a guy who surrmounted obstacles but the guy we think we are looking at is not James Frey its a character in his book that should have been a novel.

He kept saying he "stands by his book" well he can come stand by my copy of it b/c i don't need it anymore.

He did a piss poor job defending his defenseless actions but i bet he comes out smelling like a rose b/c Miss O annoited him with her blessing at the end.

kugrrly

01-11-2006, 07:24 PM

I also read that the character Lily was fabricated also. No one can prove that she was real since she has passed away. I also read that other characters in the book were false. NOne of this was brought up.

I am really irritated with him. He seemed very egotistical and seemed that is was okay that he "fabricated" some stuff.

Myra

01-11-2006, 07:32 PM

Hey, if you think about it, he just did the opposite of what many writers, esp. chick lit writers do, which is write their lives and pass it off as fiction.

KarenS

01-11-2006, 07:32 PM

Wow. I just lost a boatload of respect for Oprah.

Karen

kugrrly

01-11-2006, 07:37 PM

Wow. I just lost a boatload of respect for Oprah.

So did I. It seemed like the call was planned.

ejs

01-11-2006, 08:51 PM

Here's a link to a rush transcript of the interview on Larry King tonight: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0601/11/lkl.01.html

msnicolea

01-12-2006, 09:06 AM

Oprah Supports Frey

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060112/ap_en_ot/books_disputed_memoir;_ylt=Aoh84YyE3iRdUv6nAgoBBP1 xFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

NEW YORK -
Oprah Winfrey broke her silence about James Frey's disputed memoir of addiction, "A Million Little Pieces," dismissing allegations of falsehoods as "much ado about nothing" and urging readers who have been inspired by the book to "Keep holding on."

"What is relevant is that he was a drug addict ... and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today and to take that message to save other people and allow them to save themselves," Winfrey said Wednesday night in a surprise phone call to CNN's Larry King, who was interviewing Frey on his live television program.

Frey has been under intense scrutiny since
The Smoking Gun, an investigative Web site, posted a story last Sunday alleging the author had substantially fabricated his criminal record and other aspects of his past.

Publishers, writers and readers have offered their opinions, but none mattered so much as Winfrey's. Her selection last fall of "A Million Little Pieces" for her book club made the memoir a million seller and Frey a hero among recovering addicts. She might have fatally ruined Frey's reputation by condemning him.

Frey, in his first interview since The Smoking Gun story came out, acknowledged he had embellished parts of the book but said that was common for memoirs and defended "the essential truth" of "A Million Little Pieces."

"The book is about drug addiction and alcoholism," he said. "The emotional truth is there."

Frey received another endorsement Wednesday night, from his mother, Lynne, who appeared with him during the latter part of the program.

"I believe in James," she said. "The book stands on its own."

Frey's book continues to top the best seller list on Amazon.com, as it has much of the time since Winfrey endorsed it. His publisher, Doubleday, said Wednesday that it had received a small number of calls to its customer service line about "A Million Little Pieces."

Frey's book was first published in 2003. He has been challenged before about passages describing such things as him receiving root canal surgery without anesthesia and boarding a commercial plane covered in blood and vomit.

But The Smoking Gun's story was by far the most thorough. Relying on extensive documentation, The Smoking Gun disputed everything from Frey's claim to having served three months in jail to being blamed for a car crash that killed two fellow students while he was in high school.

"Police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources have put the lie to many key sections of Frey's book," according to the article that appeared on http://www.thesmokinggun.com.

Wednesday night, Frey said that only a small percentage of his 430-page book had been challenged and offered a defense similar to that of his publisher: Memoirs are by nature imperfect and subjective and should not be held to the standards as other nonfiction books.

"In the memoir genre, the writer usually takes liberties," he said.

On Tuesday, Doubleday issued a statement that "in publishing Mr. Frey, we decided `A Million Little Pieces' was his story, told in his own way, and he represented to us that his version of events was true to his recollections."

Winfrey herself acknowledged the vagaries of memoirs, saying Wednesday night she knows that maybe "the names and the dates and times have been compressed." She said she hoped the controversy would inspire further debate.

"I rely on the publishers to define the category that a book falls within, and also (for) the authenticity of the work," she said.

nylons73

01-12-2006, 11:35 AM

A really good article, published on Slate.com, about some reasons why Frey would exaggerate his 'criminal past,' etc. Written by a former drug addict. Very interesting read.

http://www.slate.com/id/2134203/

melones

01-12-2006, 12:07 PM

That was a really good article.

I keep trying to figure out why Oprah did what she did...
I think Oprah probably didn't throw James Frey under the bus last night b/c having selected Pieces as her book club book she is in the thick of it as well. If people start crying foul and falling off the wagon or committing suicide b/c this book is exposed for all its not..she is holding half the bag having used her influence to incite poeple to read the book. She needs to get them to continue to beleive in the "message" of the book because she was the catalyst that got them to read it.

Her claim of holding the publishers responsible is weak in my opinion...the publisher having the responsibility to uphold the genre of a book not the author is like saying the bookstore is responsible for making sure the ink in a book is dry before they sell it. If the AUTHOR doesn't know if his book is fiction or nonfiction how is the publisher supposed to know

Rose

01-12-2006, 01:53 PM

As someone who has an addict/alcoholic in their life I do feel betrayed by the lying. I really wanted to understand where they are coming from and now I don't know what was truth and what wasn't.

I think that because an addiction is so hard on everyone involved, I might take it more personally than someone who read the book just for "fun". To them they might what's the big deal, it still sounds pretty close, but I do feel very let down. JMO.

Cali_Katy

01-12-2006, 06:45 PM

If the AUTHOR doesn't know if his book is fiction or nonfiction how is the publisher supposed to know.

Because as a non-fiction book, the publisher's responsible for fact-checking it. I used to work as an editor, and if the author made a factual mistake, it was just as much my fault as hers because I was responsible for catching it.
It was a big, big mistake on the part of the publisher not to have a disclaimer.

I do understand his argument that it's a memoir, not an autobiography, and the mere fact that certain things have been altered for the sake of the narrative doesn't surprise or bother me. For instance, I don't think that it particularly matters that the details about the train accident were changed; that doesn't change it from being a central event in his life that triggered drug and alcohol abuse.

However, the whole thing about never being in prison really pushes the line for me. It sounds like My Friend Leonard is much looser with the facts than AMLP is.

Jenean

01-13-2006, 11:05 AM

I started the book on Monday after hearing such wonderful things about it from friends who had read it (I don't pay attention to Oprah's book club, so I didn't know it was a selection until I saw the sticker on my copy). I was about 30 or so pages into it when I heard about the Smoking Gun article, but I ignored that because I didn't want it to color my interpretation of the book.

Yesterday, with only a few pages left in the book, I finally read the article and then finished the book with the allegations in mind. I found, as I read the last section about his last 2 days at the center, that I kept questioning everything - did Leonard really say the things he did as he left; did he really say goodbye to Lilly as written, if there even was a Lilly? Did he actually test himself the way he wrote immediately upon his release? etc., etc., etc. I was very disappointed because I had believed that this was his true story (or at least as close as possible, obviously the dialogues between "characters" and other things were drawn from memory, so not exact recordings of events).

I think that even if the book had been marketed as "inspired by a true story" people would still have been able to get the point. Whether totally true or just based on truth, it's still an amazing presentation of what it's like to be an alcoholic/addict and what recovery can be like for some. I feel sad that this guy, who obviously fought a number of demons in his life, was too cowardly (or so it seems) to just tell the truth about this.

That being said, I'm on the waitlist for "My Friend Leonard" at the library and will read it when my copy comes in. But this time, I'll keep in mind that it's probably just a semi-autobiographical story and not "the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

ducgal

01-24-2006, 04:49 PM

I liked the book when I read it (I didn’t know that Oprah had endorsed it). When I first heard that there were some factual mistakes, it didn’t bother me. But, after reading the Smoking Gun article, I feel like I’ve really been deceived and betrayed.

The betrayal is not that he got a couple of the facts wrong, it’s that he isn’t the man he portrayed himself as. The character in the book was unbelievable, so it was the fact that he really existed that made him interesting. I found it compelling that someone could come from a middle class suburban upbringing and plunge himself so far into alcohol, coke and crack abuse by the time he reached 23 that he was just days away from death and was wanted in 3 states. That he could have grown to be so hardened by the street that he could impress an experienced mobster by his toughness. That he could physically have taken the amount of alcohol and drugs that he said he had.

In reality, it seems like he is just some frat boy who drank too much, experimented with drugs a couple times, drove up onto a sidewalk while a cop looked on and had delusions of being a thug. I don’t believe the tough guy persona is anything more than bravado and a lie, and I feel betrayed -- he’s not who he said he was, why should I care about anything he says.

I also wanted to add that I hated that the Smoking Gun article’s portrayal of feeble-minded females swooning over the book.

icedwhite

01-26-2006, 09:32 AM

Oprah says Frey ‘betrayed millions of readers’

Winfrey apologizes during live show for initial indifference to controversy

here's the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11030647/

i'll have to keep a look out for that episode.

MaineBelle

01-26-2006, 11:12 AM

I saw that the Oprah episode where she confronts James Frey about his lies is going to be on today - is anyone going to be able to watch it? If so, fill us in on the details.

RobynScott

01-26-2006, 11:56 AM

wish I knew in advance to DVR it. There are a lot of articles about how betrayed she feels. He is now admitting that much of the book was made up (he made something up about every character) - unbelievable!

I think I would have enjoyed it more if he had just called it fiction to begin with.

houseblend

01-26-2006, 12:49 PM

I have it set up to TIVO, so I'll be watching. I have not read the book and would not pay to support his lies. It's too bad, because it sounds like it could have been a good book if it had been portrayed as fiction or even altered.

Rippy1010

01-26-2006, 12:55 PM

I just wanted to add my $.02. I myself also have someone with an addiction in my life. I read the book first and really liked it, and then, later found out about the accusations of fabrications. I wasn't affected by it at all, because it still got across a message that was important. Also - whether the events happened or not - through support groups, I know that these things do happen IRL to actual people ... therefore, it can still help.

After reading it, the addict in my life wanted to borrow it and read it. He has been able to identify with the book and has enjoyed it.

I understand that some people feel betrayed. But, I always read everything with a grain of salt anyway. To me, reading the newspaper or a news magazine is as much risk to being deceived as reading Frey's book.

Myra

01-26-2006, 04:32 PM

So, who else is watching Oprah today? He's really coming off as a prick.

Cali_Katy

01-26-2006, 06:37 PM

To me, the publisher came off worse than Frey, honestly. She's every bit as culpable as he is. And while Frey finally admitted (albeit reluctantly) to lying and expressed some regret, the publisher wouldn't admit that she played any role in it. It's too awkward to question an author on some of his facts? BS. That's part of your job description.

riley

01-27-2006, 01:06 AM

i hope Frey doesn't turn back to drugs after having Oprah rip him a new one on national tv.
i didn't read the book but was curious about it and started to read the reviews on amazon back when oprah made the selection. just from those reviews, i knew something wasn't right. how could the book be so detailed when he was addicted to drugs and so messed up and it made him look like some super human.

i was wondering if Oprah would mention his other book that picks up where Million leaves off. guess she didn't want to give him the publicity to sell that book too.

i just finished reading Night and if i were to find out that it was based on lies and that the guy only stayed in the concentration camp for a few days as opposed to a whole year, man would i be mad and demanding a refund.

Asha

01-27-2006, 06:12 AM

i hope Frey doesn't turn back to drugs after having Oprah rip him a new one on national tv.

you know i was thinking the same thing, but that is life. that is part of the struggle of being a recovering addict. you have to learn to face difficulties and stress without relying on drugs and alcohol to relieve the pain.

i saw the show, and thought i was excellent. i am so glad she admitted to her mistake for endorsing him bc i was disappointed in her for calling in on larry king and backing him up. it was hard to watch bc frey looked very uncomfortable, but he put himself in that situation so he needs to deal with it. i agree that i didn't like the publisher at all.

MaineBelle

01-27-2006, 08:17 AM

Oh - can anyone give us details on the show? What kind of things did Oprah ask him and how did he defend himself? What was the publisher saying? Did they flashback to things he said in his previous Oprah appearance at all?

kugrrly

01-27-2006, 08:44 AM

here is a link to an article from cnn.com about the show yesterday.

He really pisses me off. He is so full of it.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/books/01/27/oprah.frey/index.html

jen

01-27-2006, 08:50 AM

http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200601/tows_past_20060126.jhtml

good stuff!

TaterBaby

01-27-2006, 08:56 AM

I KNEW they wouldn't do the dental surgery with no novacain!

icedwhite

01-27-2006, 09:08 AM

this show was the first time i've ever seen oprah treat a guest that way. she was admittedly p*ssed off and very embarrassed by the whole situation. the one thing she didn't do, which some people were speculating she might, was pull the book from her book club. maybe it's too late at this point anyway.

the link posted by jen covers most of the interview. thanks, jen!

MaineBelle

01-27-2006, 10:18 AM

Thanks for the links. I feel like I have to give him some credit for going on the show and facing his critics.

msnicolea

01-27-2006, 10:37 AM

Thanks for the links. I feel like I have to give him some credit for going on the show and facing his critics.

I agree. It would be a lot easier for him to hide away for a few months/years.

Wrighty26

01-29-2006, 05:38 AM

I feel like this whole thing got blown out of proportion. He's a writer - he's creative - What 'memoir' is 100% factual? I think everyone has a different perspective of what they go through in life. The things he lied about were so minor in the scope of the story.

Bottomline - I still thought it was a good book and he still put out a good message, regardless of what was fabricated.

Rippy1010

01-29-2006, 07:34 AM

Wrighty26 ... I agree 100% with you.

Clubqueen

01-29-2006, 08:56 AM

I wished I had seen this episode of Oprah. Does anyone know where I would be able to watch it?

lawyerlee

02-01-2006, 10:22 AM

If anyone thought the situation was blown out of proporation before, get this:

SHERA PAGLINAWAN, ET AL., V. JAMES FREY, ET AL. (http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/oprah/pagfrey13006fac.pdf)
January 30, 2006

Readers of James Frey's book, A Million Little Pieces, have filed suit in federal court in Seattle seeking class action status based on allegations of breach of contract, unjust enrichment, misrepresentation, and violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act. The suit was filed against Frey and his publisher after Frey disclosed that much of this book, sold as a memoir, was fabricated.

msnicolea

02-01-2006, 10:26 AM

A Social Worker filed suit, too, because she had been referring her clients to the book--she is suing for 10 MILLION DOLLARS.

STFU.

lawyerlee

02-01-2006, 10:29 AM

A Social Worker filed suit, too, because she had been referring her clients to the book--she is suing for 10 MILLION DOLLARS.

STFU.
Wow. Way to go for the gusto with the damages!

CindyLouWho

02-01-2006, 10:33 AM

"Damages" huh? I wonder how many people who read the book, regardless of their prior situation in life, are really damaged now that they know part of it is fictionalized? And if they are, how much "damage" was done?

This whole thing doesn't quite rise to the level of offense that it seems to have for some people, including Oprah. :confused:

msnicolea

02-01-2006, 10:54 AM

You know, I don't think the fact that he lied about being in jail has any bearing on the story. The "no novacaine" part-maybe. But it's still a book about healing and redemption--even if the whole damn thing is fiction, so what? (Though I do think he should have been open about this) I found it quite moving. Underneath it all, he (in the book) is a person who struggled with addiction and won--that's what matters.

msnicolea

02-01-2006, 05:36 PM

NEW YORK - In a rare and dramatic author's note, James Frey acknowledges alterations and embellishments throughout "A Million Little Pieces," writing that narrative mattered more than truth in his admittedly fictionalized story of addiction and recovery.

"I wanted the stories in the book to ebb and flow, to have dramatic arcs, to have the tension that all great stories require," writes Frey, whose three-page note will be included in future editions of the book, to be shipped later this month, and was posted Wednesday on the Web site of his publisher, Doubleday, an imprint of Random House, Inc. (http://www.randomhouse.com.)

Memoirs have traditionally included brief disclaimers warning that names and events have been changed, often to protect identities. But Frey's book, which until now carried no note of any kind, is unlike other memoirs: It is a million-selling story enshrined, then eviscerated by Oprah Winfrey, who had initially supported him against reports of alleged fabrications.

Frey's note, itself a story of suffering and redemption, confirms much of what The Smoking Gun published in early January and builds upon his admission to Winfrey last week that he had lied: He invented a three-month jail term, exaggerated other run-ins with law officials and distorted his role in a train crash that killed a high school classmate. He also acknowledges making himself appear "tougher and more daring and more aggressive than in reality I was, or I am."

"People cope with adversity in many different ways, ways that are deeply personal," he writes in his author's note, offering a similar explanation to what he gave Winfrey on her talk show. "My mistake, and it is one I deeply regret, is writing about the person I created in my mind to help me cope, and not the person who went through the experience."

A Winfrey book club pick last fall, "A Million Little Pieces" was released in 2003 and its origins remain unclear. Frey has said the manuscript was offered to publishers as both a novel and as a memoir. His literary agent, Kassie Evashevski, has said there was only brief discussion of shopping the book as fiction, out of respect for his family's privacy.

In his author's note, Frey says that when he began writing the book, he didn't think of it as fiction or nonfiction, but as an inspirational guide for overcoming drug and alcohol addiction. In interviews before The Smoking Gun story came out, Frey often called the book a true story, even recalling how he had read "War and Peace" and other literary classics while in jail.

He describes the past few weeks as "shocking for me, incredibly humbling, and at times terrifying." However, as he told Winfrey, Frey believes that "A Million Little Pieces" remains of value and its "central message" intact. Although he says he made use of "medical records, therapists' notes and personal journals," he defends relying upon "memory," as opposed to documented fact, as his primary resource.

"I believe, and I understand others strongly disagree, that memoir allows the writer to work from memory instead of from a strict journalistic or historical standard," he writes.

"A Million Little Pieces" is "a subjective truth, altered by the mind of a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. Ultimately, it's a story, and one I could not have written without having lived the life I've lived."

One of Frey's toughest critics, author Mary Karr, said Wednesday that Frey's note was self-serving and evasive. "He's sticking to his talking points," said Karr, whose books include the memoirs "The Liars' Club" and "Cherry."

"He keeps saying there's a great debate about fact and fiction in memoirs. But the only debate is in his mind. It's not really that hard; you just don't make stuff up."

Despite Frey's humiliation on Winfrey's TV talk show last week, when she called him a liar and said he betrayed both her and his readers, "A Million Little Pieces" remained Wednesday in the top 10 on Amazon.com. and Barnes & Noble.com.

His future appears less promising. His literary agent has dropped him and his current publisher, Riverhead Books, is reconsidering a recent two-book deal. The first book, about contemporary Los Angeles, is scheduled to come out in 2007.

lawyerlee

02-02-2006, 07:44 PM

"Damages" huh? I wonder how many people who read the book, regardless of their prior situation in life, are really damaged now that they know part of it is fictionalized? And if they are, how much "damage" was done?
I can't possibly imagine how they can claim any damages. I wouldn't be suprised if the lawsuit is dismissed for that reason.

KarenS

02-02-2006, 07:51 PM

Underneath it all, he is a person who struggled with addictiona and won--that's what matters.Well, no. Because he didn't "win" if this is the result. As the child of alcoholics and someone who's dealt with substance abuse her whole life (not mine, others) when the addicts are still lying about their lives in such a public way to seek attention .. they're not dealing with it. They're merely substituing the attention they receive as liars for the feeling they crave as an addict.

Until they can be honest with themselves and others about their lives, then they're not recovered or dealing with anything.

Karen

gayle

02-03-2006, 12:33 AM

I KNEW they wouldn't do the dental surgery with no novacain!

I have to say, that originally troubled me as well when I read the book, and made me wonder if there had been some measure of embellishment in it.

I have had a few extractions and several root canals (one of which on a hot tooth that wouldn't numb) and can assure you that probably no one could bear the pain of a root canal without anasthetic.

I am pissed about the whole thing, and wish the bozo had just been honest about it being a novel based on his experiences. It still could have done tremendous good, been a runaway hit, and made him tons of money, without pissing anyone off. Maybe he really needs to rethink his dislike of AA, as one of the key tenets of it IS absolute honesty.

msnicolea

02-03-2006, 06:21 AM

Well, no. Because he didn't "win" if this is the result. As the child of alcoholics and someone who's dealt with substance abuse her whole life (not mine, others) when the addicts are still lying about their lives in such a public way to seek attention .. they're not dealing with it. They're merely substituing the attention they receive as liars for the feeling they crave as an addict.

Until they can be honest with themselves and others about their lives, then they're not recovered or dealing with anything.

Karen

I wasn't referring to him as an author, but as a character in the book--I meant that to me, the story would still have been powerful as fiction, because of the character's redemption. I certainly think Mr. Frey still has a long way to go.

icedwhite

02-03-2006, 09:16 AM

I wasn't referring to him as an author, but as a character in the book--I meant that to me, the story would still have been powerful as fiction, because of the character's redemption. I certainly think Mr. Frey still has a long way to go.

it was originally pedaled as a novel, but no publisher would take it. it was only when it got changed to a memoir that it got picked up. hmmmmm... maybe the idea of it being entirely true makes his story more powerful???

the one example i'm thinking of right now is "a beautiful mind." i knew the movie was based on his life and i loved it. i knew that movies do take a lot of creative license, but i thought the core message about him overcoming his mental disorder with the love and devotion of his wife was "real." but after i read the book, i found out that he cheated on his wife, had a kid out of wedlock, left her to travel through europe for a long time, and didn't even acknowledge her in his nobel prize speech. they completely changed his relationship so he didn't look like such a bad guy and to get that "happy ending." it changed how i felt about him and the movie. it lost something because it wasn't "real."