Comments on: The Debate

By: Lindsay Brown

Lindsay Brown — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:17:29 +0000

I just had a conversation with a co-worker regarding Wallace, and James Frey came up. We had a heated and healthy debate regarding memoirs. I felt compelled to say something in the hopes that the author may see it and even possibly respond. Regardless, I read “A million little pieces” little by little when visiting Barnes and Nobles(my home away from home) and was extremely fascinated and interested by the style of writing…choppy, direct, and without a whole lot of quotations. It was kind of like reading an ongoing thought process, if that makes sense. However, perhaps, I am naive, but I never expected everything to be exactly true. That is the debate of memoirs…do you read them for absolute truth or for entertainment value? Anyhow, I cannot leave this post without saying Oprah was overly dramatic and exploited James Frey on her show for self serving purposes, in my opinion. As an aspiring writer myself, I can certainly understand writing in an idealized “self” and have learned alot from this controversy.

By: Tee

Tee — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:10:14 +0000

we had a president say he never had sex with that woman, and he said it to the whole world
so this guy james frey wrote a story about him self and jazzed it up , soooo what!!!!!
the book is inspireing to those of us that are new to recovery !!

By: Jeanette Krohn

Jeanette Krohn — Sun, 23 May 2010 03:59:51 +0000

My friend Hiske and I have absolutely devoured James books since we found them. I agree that he will be recognized as an utterly original writer of the early 21st Millennium, with a vital and immediate humanity that scans the full range of our depravity, vulnerability and love. The beat poets and writers of the last century are echoed in James writing, even though I think that they could not have imagined the substances and opportunities for self destruction that are available on planet Earth today. Most of all, it is the endurance of human love in all its fragility and fierceness that shone through in all the books – bright and shiny.

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:03:31 +0000

Fuck the haters all your books are great, I just finished a Bright Shining Morning and was not suprised that it was original, funny, and heart breaking. Keep up the good work and give us another book soon! And remember fuck the haters.

By: vanessa rodriguez

vanessa rodriguez — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:50:15 +0000

i havent read your book yet(a mllion little pieces)but ive heard its a peartty good book . actually im a drug addict myself i smoke weed every day!!!. i dnt now y people say its bad did you now that mostley every thing they say about weed is a myth. and wat really pisses me off is that people say bad things about it when they havent even tryed it. i mean i understand if u did try it and u dnt like it watever thats ur loss.ever since i starded smoking weed in fifth grade my life has been more i dnt now better i guess.the only affect ive gotten from weed is shortterm memorie loss but i was already bad at remembering stuf in the first place.and supposibly weed makes u hav bad grades in skool and u just dnt giv a fukk any more thats bullshit! i hav perfectly good grades right now. i dnt think its the weeds fault for your grades thats ur fault u made that decision.my goal is to proof all that shit that they siad about weed wrong im going to smoke through my high school years and graduate ill proof them all wrong youll c . oh yeah back to the book i dnt now why but i just hav a lot of interest in things that hav to do with drugs. like dr phil celebrity rehab haha that shows good. and have your read under the wolf,under the dog if u liked a million little pieces i recommend that book its peartty darn good

By: Paul Devlin

Paul Devlin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:41:57 +0000

Just read a few comments about A Million Little Pieces….who gives a flying f**k about truth or non truth, the story, the writing is so brilliant, emerse youself in the tale, feel the pain, put youself there, is that not what reading books is all about, I don’t care if things where made up, it took me in and rattled me, give it to me again James I need more!!!!

By: Paul Devlin

Paul Devlin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:35:20 +0000

Read all 3 books, AMLP absolutely gobsmacked me…brilliant, MFL made me cry, and I don’t cry much, the only writer that has EVER stirred my emotions, we need more James Frey books, an addiction that is good for once!!!

By: addicere77

addicere77 — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:58:01 +0000

This is the second post I’ve made about A Million Little Pieces. I think that the most upsetting part to most people was how easily they’d been duped. The same people that had felt inspired by a pretty thin piece of fiction now wanted their money back from this literary snake-oil salesman. I’m a writer and recovering junky. One of the only redeeming aspects of addiction is that it destoys so much of the extraneous parts of life that what remains are only the essentials. Addiction, if delved into deeply enough, strips away alot of vanity. I wonder at the core experience of anyone that got clean at twenty-three. Of course I’m happy that he has a life and isn’t vomiting on himself or wrestling bottles of Thunderbird away from winos. But Frey wrote this book for the wrong reason-he wanted to a famous writer. He’s achieved that but I wonder at the costs. This whole idea that truth should be subjugated to happy sentiments is of questionable merit but says something about us. We’ll believe those things that hold up a rosy mirror to ourselves, even if we suspect at some level this image is false. I’m not sure that the aim of fiction is to help its readers sleep better at night. Good fiction should scare the shit of the reader. It should get inside the self and move things around a bit. It shouldn’t work on the mind and heart like a narcotic. That’s the real irony here, Frey has written the textual cousin of crack cocaine. The book begs to be binged on. One can pour over a hundred pages without ever stopping to think. His attempts at cosmology “theres is nothing higher, I will do it with me” are narcissistic and laughable. The only real experience to Frey is a constant moving forward, a sort of blind dynamism that draws the reader on through landscapes as flat and lifeless as a plasma screen T.V. The book forces the reader to ask the question, “What is the meaning of this experience?” Frey answers, “To be annihilated.” Even the glowing blurbs on the books back cover call the book an addiction, which is meant as the highest form of praise. I’m glad that James Frey isn’t smoking crack anymore. It’s been my experience that speed addicts talk and talk without saying much. Of course he desrves to make a living. Of course he should have a good and comfortable life. Of course he should continue writing books. Like everybody else, he’s just doing his able best with the talents he has. But you won’t catch me reading him. I’ll do that the way you’re supposed to smoke crack, in a locked room with the shades drawn.

By: Valerie

Valerie — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:35:40 +0000

I read his book over the past few days as part of a book club. I loved it. Much of it resonated strongly. I didnt’ look the author up until I finished and got to this page. A good book is a good book and this is a good book. I was truly moved.

By: Zoe

Zoe — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 07:44:16 +0000

a million little pieces and my friend leonard are both the most powerful, moving and emotional books i have ever read.
to me, they are expert. i’ve never read a book that can make me feel what the author wants you to feel while reading as much as i did with your books. sometimes i would throw down the book and say “i hate you james frey! how dare you make me cry like this.”
if the books are true, they are brilliant. if the books aren’t as true, they are still brilliant. it doesn’t matter because either way i was moved by your writing.
evening standard review got it so right “frey can really write. Brilliantly, and if you don’t think so, fuck you”