Sure it's happened before, with Milli Vanilli.
posted by ibmcginty at 11:43 AM on January 11, 2006

Yesterday's NPR Story about the Frey Fraud
posted by kosem at 11:45 AM on January 11, 2006

Wait, is this another lie?
posted by Navek Rednam at 11:51 AM on January 11, 2006

Wow. That's a pretty big deal. All of this is from the TSG investigation? I feel kind of bad for Opra.
posted by delmoi at 11:53 AM on January 11, 2006

If he showed random house forged legal docs, I imagine they would have a good fraud case. Maybe now he will get to see the inside of a jail. Now that would be something.
posted by delmoi at 11:54 AM on January 11, 2006

delmoi, you have no reason to feel bad for Oprah. She'll probably cry over some comfort food, then go swimming in her giant pile of bullion. All better.
posted by brundlefly at 11:56 AM on January 11, 2006

Sure it's happened before, with Milli Vanilli.

Milli Vanilli wrote a bestselling memoir? And the publishing house offered refunds?! Where have I been??
posted by NationalKato at 11:57 AM on January 11, 2006

"delmoi, you have no reason to feel bad for Oprah. She'll probably cry over some comfort food, then go swimming in her giant pile of bullion."

Gold bullion, or chicken?

With Oprah it could be either. Or both!
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:57 AM on January 11, 2006

Rich people have feelings too! :P
posted by delmoi at 11:58 AM on January 11, 2006

If he showed random house forged legal docs, I imagine they would have a good fraud case.

In my (somewhat limited, I'll grant you) experience, publishers don't tend to scrutinize your primary sources. You deliver the final text, the various editors read for content and proof errors and then off it goes to press.

No fact checking or anything like that. Not here in the UK anyway.

Besides, even if Random have to refund a bunch of copies, it's hardly going to be many. I'm pretty sure they'll still be serious net winners overall.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:58 AM on January 11, 2006

Rich people have feelings too!

But it's rarely the bottom of their pockets.
posted by NationalKato at 11:59 AM on January 11, 2006

then go swimming in her giant pile of bullion

You mean those little cubes you put in water to make soup?
posted by secret about box at 11:59 AM on January 11, 2006

Isn't this reaction by the publisher equivalent to admitting they got duped? From what I understand he pitched it as fiction multiple times before it was printed in its current state. If this action doesn't go a long ways to discredit his tales (with his supposed legion of fans) I'll be pretty disappointed. At this point, I can't imagine what he could possibly say to defend himself on national television.
posted by prostyle at 12:00 PM on January 11, 2006

Schadenfreude, sch?ner G?tterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium...
posted by jouke at 12:02 PM on January 11, 2006

Catch Frey on TV tonight, if you're interested, as he'll be appearing on Larry King Live.

Oh, good. So his phony memoir with its phony incidents that he's phonily contrite about can now become fodder for a second act, where he's phonily contrite about being phonily contrite in his phony memoir.

I'm hoping Larry welcomes in "special surprise guest" Jayson Blair and they both climb up into each others' assholes in a nationally televised human ring of pious self-loathing, then roll out of the studio and into the street gathering other frauds and self-pitying liars into a katamari-like clump of douchebaggery that flies into the sun.
posted by mph at 12:05 PM on January 11, 2006

This is so sweet. Can I take credit for inspiring the TSG investigation? Or would that be too "frey-esque"?
posted by loquax at 12:06 PM on January 11, 2006

I just flagged mph's comment as fantastic.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:06 PM on January 11, 2006

But, you know, this is a strange strategy from RH. They don't have a huge direct-to-consumer sales program, and any bookstore can return any book to RH basically without explanation. So, the announcment of this is very strange, it amounts, in a way, to announcing a bigger mistake, since there is no reason to announce it for actual commercial reasons.
posted by OmieWise at 12:07 PM on January 11, 2006

Well shit,

Metafilter: a katamari-like clump of douchebaggery that flies into the sun.
posted by OmieWise at 12:08 PM on January 11, 2006

You mean those little cubes you put in water to make soup?

bul¡¤lion
1. Gold or silver considered with respect to quantity rather than value.
2. Gold or silver in the form of bars, ingots, or plates.
3. A heavy lace trimming made of twisted gold or silver threads.

Weird. Nothing about soup cubes.
posted by StickyCarpet at 12:08 PM on January 11, 2006

What can I get if I just took the book out of the library?
posted by you just lost the game at 12:09 PM on January 11, 2006

Nothing, you already lost the game.
posted by OmieWise at 12:12 PM on January 11, 2006

Some fascinating questions from Oprah's Book Club - Reading Questions:

2. A Million Little Pieces is a nonfiction memoir, but does it also read like a novel? How does Frey create suspense and sustain narrative tension throughout?

3. James is frequently torn between wanting to look into his own eyes to see himself completely and being afraid of what he might find: "I want to look beneath the surface of the pale green and see what's inside of me, what's within me, what I'm hiding. I start to look up but I turn away." (p. 32). Why can't James look himself in the eye? Why is it important that he do so?
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 12:13 PM on January 11, 2006

StickyCarpet:

Archie Gates: Sit down. What do you see here?
Chief Elgin: Bunkers, sir.
Archie Gates: What's in them?
Troy Barlow: Stuff they stole from Kuwait.
Archie Gates: Bullshit. I'm talking about millions in Kuwaiti bullion.
Conrad Vig: You mean them little cubes you put in hot water to make soup?
Archie Gates: No, not the little cubes you put in hot water to make soup.
posted by secret about box at 12:13 PM on January 11, 2006

This is becoming a much bigger deal than I thought it would. I just can't imagine that I would care that much if I had read a book about someone that I had never heard of and then found out that it was mostly or partially fabricated. I can understand why some people would have a big problem with him inserting himself into actual events (namely those people who were actually involved), but otherwise not so much. Am I wrong?
posted by squarehead at 12:13 PM on January 11, 2006

Weird. Nothing about soup cubes.

That's because the soup cubes are spelled bouillon. It's French.
posted by NationalKato at 12:14 PM on January 11, 2006

Damn you, NationalKato. I wanted to be that guy.

This is good news, though. I hope he's publicly humiliated - I know, you say he already had been, but getting lauded on Oprah ends up reaching an audience somewhat larger than that which reads The Smoking Gun. Now with any luck he'll be skewered on network television at the height of popularity.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:19 PM on January 11, 2006

That's because the soup cubes are spelled bouillon. It's French.

Those French! They have a different word for everything.
posted by 327.ca at 12:19 PM on January 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

mph got it : it's a scam in the scam, a matrioska scam that boggles teh mind !
posted by elpapacito at 12:21 PM on January 11, 2006

Those French! They have a different word for everything.

Yeah, it's 'tout.'
posted by NationalKato at 12:22 PM on January 11, 2006

squarehead writes "This is becoming a much bigger deal than I thought it would."

Well, I think the problem here is two-fold:

1) I've not read the book, but enough about it and excerpts to know that the guy bases his credibility on his tough drug and street chops. If you claim that it's your authenticity that allows you the insight to write something, and then you have no authenticity, well, there's a problem for a lot of folks who bought into your first argument. He seems to be pretty macho about his stance of knowingness.

2) People felt an emotional connection to the guy based on what it was that he went through, only, he didn't go through it, so people feel betrayed.

I'll bet if The Perfect Storm had been discovered to have been largely fabricated, a lot of people would have been pissed. (Not me, the book was tripe.)
posted by OmieWise at 12:24 PM on January 11, 2006

I think the ghost scene at the end of "The Perfect Storm" was bogus. You know the one I'm talking about? Where he appears to the kid? I would like to see Jungers notes on that one. It rounds off the narrative way too neatly.
posted by Faze at 12:30 PM on January 11, 2006

Does this mean there won't be a Reader's Digest condensed version?
posted by HTuttle at 12:32 PM on January 11, 2006

And yet, I still enjoyed the book.

I'm going to file it under Who Gives A Shit, which is right beside a section labelled Writers Are Often Lying Assholes on my bookshelf.
posted by theinsectsarewaiting at 12:33 PM on January 11, 2006

one thing is for sure, that lying fucker doesn't know a thing about proper capitalization.
posted by quonsar at 12:35 PM on January 11, 2006

Does this mean that Random House will be suing Frey for damages

Plaintiffs in civil suits have a duty to mitigate, as much as possible, damages incurred by a defendant's action. It would be hard to imagine that offering customers full refunds for a book that they purchased, read, and enjoyed would be construed as minimizing damage.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 12:41 PM on January 11, 2006

There's no such thing as bad publicity. He'll sell thousands more copies now.
posted by gottabefunky at 12:43 PM on January 11, 2006

(jouke and NationalKato made me laugh. Audibly.)
posted by ltracey at 12:44 PM on January 11, 2006

Smart move by Random House. I bet the number of books that get returned, is massively outweighed by the number of new copies they sell. This is a great publicity stunt, which highlights all the outrageous elements of the book, and brings it to the attention of people (like myself) who had never previously heard of Frey or his book. Cha-ching! I shan't be buying a copy though, he sounds like a dick.
posted by Joh at 12:46 PM on January 11, 2006

I remember how surprised I was to find out that most, if not all, of the "Chicken Soup For the Soul" stories were fabricated and fictional. And remember when it was revealed that the Blair Witch Project was *gasp* fiction? People hate being duped. Still, this refunding of the books seems really unprecedented....
posted by Rubber Soul at 12:51 PM on January 11, 2006

Well, they did get an extra publicity boost through this (inadvertent) "stunt". I for one am Dutch, had never heard of Frey before, and don't watch Oprah (we get it though). However, now I'm kinda interested.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:53 PM on January 11, 2006

A rasher of snarky new reviews on Amazon since the story broke.
posted by missmobtown at 12:59 PM on January 11, 2006

If only people cared this much about fact vs. fiction in something more important than some memoir.
posted by agregoli at 1:01 PM on January 11, 2006

I'm gonna link to the Pollack parody again, just in case someone missed it.
posted by mr_roboto at 1:03 PM on January 11, 2006

A somewhat similar, but much more tragic, hoax. The "Fragments" author seems truly disturbed and pitable, while it looks like Frey is just a swaggering frat-boy scammer.
posted by vetiver at 1:07 PM on January 11, 2006

That's great, mr_roboto. Thanks! I want a tub of acid as deep as the moon, too!
posted by brundlefly at 1:09 PM on January 11, 2006

What did you expect from a guy with FTSITTTD* tattooed on him?

*[fuck this shit its time to throw down]
posted by NationalKato at 1:11 PM on January 11, 2006

You eat with your hands and call yourself a savage, Frey? Well, I eat with my face. I just plunge my face into a bowl and eat like a beast.
That's hilarious roboto. Did not know Neal Pollack was that funny.
posted by jouke at 1:15 PM on January 11, 2006

According to CNN, this is not a special case:

"Contrary to erroneous published reports, Random House is not offering a special refund on 'A Million Little Pieces.' It has long been standard Random House Inc procedure to direct consumers who want a refund on any of the tens of thousands of books we publish back to their retail place of purchase, unless they purchased the book directly from us in which case we refund it," said the statement from Doubleday vice president and publicity director Alison Rich. -- 'Pieces' buyers offered refund
posted by knave at 1:16 PM on January 11, 2006

In other news, Tom Wolfe didn't actually ride with the Merry Pranksters.
posted by bingo at 1:28 PM on January 11, 2006

I just skimmed through a bunch of the Amazon reviews and what I found really interesting is that the one star reviews yelling BS/Fraud/Liar are getting ~40/50 "Was this helpful to you?" votes and the 5 star reviews saying that the book is still good are getting ~2/50 helpful votes. It's like the Frey bashers are more vigilant about their feelings.

Me, I voted for a couple of funny ones. Cause you can't have enough funny reviews. The 1 star ones just happen to be funniest.
posted by like_neon at 1:29 PM on January 11, 2006

Frey rejected the Twelve Step approach and considers addiction a weakness, not a disease (cancer and Parkinson's are diseases, he points out). Frey's reported post-Hazelden recovery was unorthodox, hinging on his ability to continually surmount temptation, thanks to a superhuman will that helped him avoid using at the same time he was purposely placing himself in situations where alcohol and drugs were prevalent.

Here may be the most harmful thing about this whole affair: alcoholism and addiction have been considered diseases by medical authorities such as the AMA for years. One of the biggest steps towards handling these problems with compassion and dignity was when they were not considered moral failings, but sickness. Now here comes this guy, who to sell a few books (and make himself look like a strong and "steely" hero) is willing not only to lie, but to turn this whole model of treatment upside down. What a greedy creep.
posted by birdhaus at 1:30 PM on January 11, 2006

A rasher of snarky new reviews on Amazon since the story broke.

The top one at the moment is by Trixie "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE":

HEY! GET A LIFE! I read this book for my book club and thought that it was one hell of a read and now that I know that Frey has embellished his "memoirs" I COULD CARE LESS. It is STILL a good book. Seriously people, think about something else to brood over and GET OVER IT!!!

You tell 'em, Trix! The hell with those haters!
posted by languagehat at 1:33 PM on January 11, 2006

And remember, a lot of folks don't care that Bush "embellished" the whole WMD thing, either.

Embellish apparently means lying.
posted by birdhaus at 1:36 PM on January 11, 2006

Yeah, birdhaus, if it was just him being exposed as a tough talking braggart that would be pretty funny, but he's fucking shit up for a lot of people who don't really need the notion that addiction is not a disease reinforced or to be steered away from AA which works better than most other things even if it doesn't work for everybody. What a sucker.
posted by Divine_Wino at 1:41 PM on January 11, 2006

Tonight's television dilemma: Watch a pretend recovered addict, or watch a pretend recovered addict?
posted by gnomeloaf at 1:57 PM on January 11, 2006

Those reviews in defense of him seem very willing to absolve his fabrications based on the fact that he wrote something they "enjoyed". Well, sorry to break it to you but if you find out something is complete drivel and then defend your experience with it than your opinion isn't worth very much. Why should your (already misguided) enjoyment excuse you from being intellectually honest and perceptive of the nature of the material you so willingly digest?

I wouldn't really care about any of this except the core stage of his tales really hits home. People with serious chemical dependencies and mental disorders are complex individuals that deserve more time and attention than you could devote to reading this piece of shit novel end-to-end for the rest of your life. To suggest this book is an "enjoyable" expose of that lifestyle is beyond despicable. If you're going to "enjoy" it, read it as the smut it is and leave it at that. The rest of the world will continue to pick up all of the "pieces" left behind by the real issues that face it every day.
posted by prostyle at 1:58 PM on January 11, 2006

"For, if bad novels make, as we have seen that they can make, a bad nation, the question remains, what makes bad novels? Clearly, a bad nation." (G. B. Shaw, Pall Mall Gazette, circa 1890)

Let's face it: truth or baloney aside, the guy should go to jail for his prose style alone.
posted by Zo d'Axa at 2:02 PM on January 11, 2006

And remember, a lot of folks don't care that Bush "embellished" the whole WMD thing, either.

Bush didn't come up with the WMD thing for artistic purposes, the expectation (ostensibly, anyhow) is that people in his job will be honest with the public, and his dishonesty has led to a war that has gotten a lot of people killed unnecessarily.

Someone who writes a memoirs has a completely different set up obligations.
posted by bingo at 2:03 PM on January 11, 2006

Frey rejected the Twelve Step approach and considers addiction a weakness, not a disease

Well, this part of the book is positively harmful, as it's BS pure and simple. That said, all memoirs are embellished to one degree or another. Just try to write one that is 100% "true." You'll find you can't remember everything important and that you'll want to add clever little things just to make the story better. The past is gone, and we can't go back to investigate. Moreover, the truth or falsehood of *some* of the claims in the book in no way takes away from its overall power. You shouldn't make things up, but we're not talkin' about a perjury or anything. It's a *book* about *recovery*, not a legal filing. File under "BFD."
posted by MarshallPoe at 2:12 PM on January 11, 2006

I don't usually watch Oprah, because it's on during the daytime here and during that time I'm usually not at home. But a few weeks ago I happened to be at home and I did happen to catch that day's Oprah, and it just so happened to be the episode where Frey was promoting A Million Little Pieces.

I remember that during one particuarly melodramatic part of the episode, Oprah talked about how some woman who had had similar experiences to the one Frey claimed to have had in his book had posted a message to the Oprah Message board about how she can't go on. But as Oprah and the woman explained during a voice over set to images of Frey, message board posts and sad music, Frey responded to her post and saved her life. This woman then said that it was Frey's kindness in reaching out to her that helped her to hold on and seek similar treatment to fix her alcoholism and whatnot.

With this revelation about the authenticity of his book, I bet she's feeling really good right now.
posted by Effigy2000 at 2:14 PM on January 11, 2006

then go swimming in her giant pile of bullion

Oprah dives through it live a porpose! She burrows through it like a gopher!
And sometimes she throws it up and letting it hit her on the head!
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:15 PM on January 11, 2006

Refund? The guy from Milli Vanilli killed himself. Obviously wanted to go that extra mile for his public.
posted by fire&wings at 2:17 PM on January 11, 2006

Isn't twelve step basically a cult, and the whole "alcoholism is an incurible disease requiring the intervention of a higher power" thing a method of furthering the cult?
posted by Artw at 2:18 PM on January 11, 2006

Thank god. When I worked at a bookstore about a year ago, this and the Da Vinci Code were the hot books that the Oprah/Whatever book club were just astounded to find out that I hadn't read. I can still hear the disgust dripping from their words as they tried to determine how I could possibly not read what I was told to. Bastards, all of 'em.
posted by rollbiz at 2:20 PM on January 11, 2006

Above should be book club *people*, my bad.
posted by rollbiz at 2:22 PM on January 11, 2006

The past is gone, and we can't go back to investigate.

Apparently The Smoking Gun was able to go investigate. Why couldn't Frey do the same thing if he had any interest in all at his story being accurate, instead of just being a good story?
posted by birdhaus at 2:28 PM on January 11, 2006

Frey actually used the Tao Te Ching as his Big Book, rather than the one Bill W. wrote. He wasn't without a philosophy and approach to handling his addictions--he merely eschewed the 12-step method used at Hazeldon. Whatever gets you through the night.
posted by gsh at 2:35 PM on January 11, 2006

Isn't twelve step basically a cult, and the whole "alcoholism is an incurible disease requiring the intervention of a higher power" thing a method of furthering the cult?

You're right, actually. Also, everyone laughs at you behind your back.
posted by puke & cry at 2:41 PM on January 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

Amazon says that A million little pieces attained the sales rank of 258 for today. Yesterday's rank was 550. I doubt many of them new-sold copies will be going back to Random House. So, I am going to slide with the clever publicity stunt crowd.
posted by blindcarboncopy at 2:52 PM on January 11, 2006

A follow-up: amazon's best selling books page (updated hourly) currently puts Frey's creation at #1. That's right, 1.
posted by blindcarboncopy at 2:54 PM on January 11, 2006

If I recall correctly, Penn and Teller were only able to obtain one AA report on membership and success rate for Bullshit! and it dated from 1989. The report stated that AA had a 5% success rate, which is apparently the same success rate as people quitting on their own.

Further, they haven't issued (or made available?) a report since. And these people seem to agree.
posted by birdie birdington at 2:56 PM on January 11, 2006

A follow-up: amazon's best selling books page (updated hourly) currently puts Frey's creation at #1. That's right, 1.

Whoever JT Leroy is must be kicking themselves.
posted by bobo123 at 3:22 PM on January 11, 2006

Yes. Yes it is. AA is the last place I'd recommend anyone going to if they have a substance abuse problem.

so, how'd ya end up fixing yours, pie? don't bogart the health baby, recovering drunks need to know these things! spit it out...
posted by quonsar at 3:46 PM on January 11, 2006

Also, everyone laughs at you behind your back.

not only that, they meet covertly in church basements to talk about you.
posted by quonsar at 3:47 PM on January 11, 2006

Isn't twelve step basically a cult, and the whole "alcoholism is an incurible disease requiring the intervention of a higher power" thing a method of furthering the cult?

Some people think so. However, people can definitely become physically dependant on various substances from caffeine to morphine to alcohol, and those should be considered a medical condition. It's far from 'incurible' though.

I'm not quite sure, though, why people think it's required for people to 'erase' rather then 'manage' their addictions. I mean if person A drinks and has no problems, and person B drinks, has problems, sobers up, and then drinks occasionally, why is B an alcoholic and A not?
posted by delmoi at 3:51 PM on January 11, 2006

At this point, I think showing up drunk on Larry King would be the best career move.

"SEE ! I TOLD YOU I WAS F*CKED UP!"
posted by R. Mutt at 4:09 PM on January 11, 2006

I'm a bit disappointed Frey stretched the truth, but you know what?

The end result of Frey writing this book is that thousands of people with problems have been inspired to find the help they need.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 4:20 PM on January 11, 2006

delmoi: I'm not quite sure, though, why people think it's required for people to 'erase' rather then 'manage' their addictions. I mean if person A drinks and has no problems, and person B drinks, has problems, sobers up, and then drinks occasionally, why is B an alcoholic and A not?

I'm not sure B would be considered an alcoholic. Since he managed to sober up and still drink occasionally- isn't the working definition of an alcoholic someone who can't manage their drinking, i.e. someone who can't drink at all without becoming dependent on it? I've had periods where I've had problems in the past with drinking too much, and felt like I needed to in order to cope, but I straightened up on my own, still have a couple beers or glasses of wine a couple nights a week... I don't think anyone would consider me an alcoholic.
posted by Meredith at 4:25 PM on January 11, 2006

Looked on Oprah's website to see if the contrition has spread there yet and saw that she's already onto the next big thing:

Born with Two Heads!
The Miracle Baby you'll Want to Meet!!!

Oprah - an Exemplification of Cultural Integrity and Quality Entertainment!!!!
posted by squalor at 4:37 PM on January 11, 2006

Perhaps you should stop complaining, get out there and read an honest, self-destructive memoir.
posted by subaruwrx at 4:41 PM on January 11, 2006

Front page of my local paper (Southwestern Michigan) had an article about this book. Frey went to high school in this town and wrote about some things that happened here that are being disputed by people who knew him and the things he wrote about. They had a picture from his high school yearbook. Oddly, my wife just finished the book and had no concept that part of the story took place right here at home.
posted by UseyurBrain at 4:43 PM on January 11, 2006

THIS is the sneery direct quote that proves Frey a total creep:

"For some people, having God along makes quitting drugs easier."

I happen to be atheist. But it revolts me that he uses his lying book to make a distinction between "easier" quitting of drugs - and the tougher way - as he apparently managed.

That's Frey's whole bloody angle: I'm one of the strong. I'm different. I've done it the really hard way. Not like you pussies with 12 step or a higher wussy power.
That's why he needed all the objectively tough guy, fabricated, "Criminal" antics to prove his thesis.

(It is also my personal hunch Frey has huge issues with impressing his dad. But it's just a hunch. Anyway, roll on the inevitably disappointing Larry King!)

Quote above from long UK interview at
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/biography/story/0,,958162,00.html
posted by Jody Tresidder at 5:04 PM on January 11, 2006

Ditto the "BFD" comments. I didn't read it, however, nor do I care to.

A follow-up: amazon's best selling books page (updated hourly) currently puts Frey's creation at #1.

Hilarious. God bless America. OMG!!1! Look at #2. LOL.
posted by mrgrimm at 5:19 PM on January 11, 2006

"It is also my personal hunch Frey has huge issues with impressing his dad."

One more thing, it turns out that his dad worked and retired from the same company I work for. Go figure.
posted by UseyurBrain at 5:25 PM on January 11, 2006

#2 is currently The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent : Living the Art of Allowing which does look dorky as all hell, I must say.
posted by selfmedicating at 5:47 PM on January 11, 2006

One of the biggest steps towards handling these problems with compassion and dignity was when they were not considered moral failings, but sickness.

Wow, when did that happen? I must have had my back turned. By and large, pious moralism and stigma shoot underpin the philosophy of a good 90% of treatment providers and philosophical models of addiction treatment - including the various 12 step programmes.

If you happen to achieve abstinence via that particular programme, they might pay lip-service to some disease model, primarily as a form of self-validation, but if you don't happen to be 'recovering' from this chronic and relapsing condition as quickly as these people might like, then you can go fucking die on the streets as far as the most of the medical and addiction treatment professions are concerned.

None of which alters the fact that Frey is a wanker, even if his story was absolutely true.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:19 PM on January 11, 2006

I'm watching the interview on CNN. Larry King continues his tradition of asking 'soft-ball' questions -- and even so Frey 'bobs-and-weaves.' What an asshole! He keeps focusing on the concept of 'memoir' as one's subjective truth. STFU.
posted by ericb at 6:25 PM on January 11, 2006

Oh, god -- his mother is going to appear on the King interview.
posted by ericb at 6:29 PM on January 11, 2006

Yeah, I'm watching too, and the guy's got nothing. He's making it painfully obvious that he lied without admitting to it, by repeating the same two things over and over and over again:

1. "This is a 432 page book, and only 18 pages are being disputed."

2. "A memoir is an individual's subjective perception of the events. It happened 15 to 20 years ago and I was on a lot of drugs at the time."

So, apparently, it neither matters what subject matter those 18 pages contain, nor how relevant they are to the rest of the story, and "subject perception" makes it okay to say you spent 3 months in jail, assaulted a cop, were ostrasized from your community because of your involvement with a woman's death, when in fact none of these things happened, because that's your "subjective recollection."

Uh huh.
posted by Meredith at 6:33 PM on January 11, 2006

er, subjective perception, that is.
posted by Meredith at 6:34 PM on January 11, 2006

It's fine, and I'm more interested in reading it now than before.

"A well-told lie is worth a thousand facts"
posted by exlotuseater at 6:40 PM on January 11, 2006

By and large, pious moralism and stigma shoot underpin the philosophy of a good 90% of treatment providers and philosophical models of addiction treatment - including the various 12 step programmes.

Well, I don't know where you got your experience of this, by I have found the opposite to be true in the recovery communities I have been a part of. I will also say that I have never been through any recovery home or similar treatment program---I just have gone to meetings and worked the program as suggested to me. And for me, it has worked. There are other ways to achieve sobriety that seem to work for other people.

But most recovering people don't seem to feel it necessary to write books that take great liberties with the truth. I've heard stories that put the fabrications that Frey has been accused of to shame, and yet they'll never get printed. Frey was out to make some money, pure and simple. If he inspires people to get help that's great, but at this point it doesn't seem to be his main motivation.
posted by birdhaus at 6:53 PM on January 11, 2006

everything that birdhaus said.
posted by exlotuseater at 6:57 PM on January 11, 2006

When I read Frey's book several years ago, I remember thinking that certain passages were improbable. And I was unsurprised to find out this week that he had embellished his story.

I am surprised people take the fabrications so personally. Frey doesn't have a responsibility to alcoholics or drug addicts to write something that helps them. He doesn't have a contract with his readers. Anyone who bloviates about how he "fucked things up" for people with chemical dependency problems is attributing way too much power to the book, and too much responsibility to the author.

I'm trying to understand why people care so much whether it is literally true. The millions of readers who have bought and enjoyed Frey's book don't know him; why, then, would they care whether these things actually happened to him? Should it really matter that he is not as tough as he claimed to be? Does it really matter that he didn't spend as much time in jail as he claimed to?

It seems silly to care--and I'm not convinced that anyone is harmed by it.
posted by jayder at 7:01 PM on January 11, 2006

Does it really matter that he didn't spend as much time in jail as he claimed to?

You mean, like, any? Only to people who care whether liars get rewarded for their lies, I guess. Not to you. Fine.
posted by soyjoy at 7:10 PM on January 11, 2006

I'm trying to understand why people care so much whether it is literally true. The millions of readers who have bought and enjoyed Frey's book don't know him; why, then, would they care whether these things actually happened to him? Should it really matter that he is not as tough as he claimed to be? Does it really matter that he didn't spend as much time in jail as he claimed to?

Jayder, it matters because people picking up a book labeled as a memoir expect (and rightfully so) that the work they are about to read is a true account of someone's life. Names, dates, and minor details may have been changed, for the sake of protecting the innocent or for dramatic flair, and this is accepted and fine- but outright lying and fabrication is a betrayal on the part of the author (and arguably, the publishers).

In this case it matters to so many people because a lot of addicts have taken this book and his story for inspiration to overcome their own addictions. In the sense that they read this book and thought to themselves, wow, look at this guy and the kind of life he was leading, he was so fucked up he was running into policemen with his car, arrested 13 times, in jail for months, the main suspect in an FBI investigation, even as a youngster the kid other parents told their children to stay away from. He was so deep in the shit that he should not have been able to find his way out, yet he did, maybe I can too. Now they find out that he made up so much of his past, had they known it was so exaggerated, would they have been so inspired? Should they feel betrayed and disappointed now? I'd think so.

I've not read the book, and probably won't. I don't care so much as I just find it interesting, but I can see why there are so many people out there who do care, and I understand why they would.
posted by Meredith at 7:21 PM on January 11, 2006

Meredith, you make a good point --- that some readers who fixed their hopes of recovery on the book's truth will be sorely disappointed, disgusted, and angry.

I guess I have a different take on books. If I were a recovering addict, and I read this book and found its story compelling, it would probably inspire me even if I knew it wasn't true. To me, the fact that the story isn't true doesn't mean it couldn't have happened --- real people have turned their lives around just as dramatically as the protagonist of James Frey's novel.

The book doesn't lose its edificatory (is that a word?) value just because it is not literally true.
posted by jayder at 7:51 PM on January 11, 2006

Lovely that Frey clearly snorted Botox before the interview!His freeze-dried potato face sure added a lot of fun to his lively, frank answers!

Oh, why bother snarking.

Uncle Larry got the access. We got the close-mouthed, rich creep on the other side of the desk robotically drinking from an empty mug and trying to stick us with a new definition of "memoir".

What especially pissed me off is that Frey is not uneducated. The "memoir" is NOT a modern hybrid that no one has yet tried to figure out.
Sure, the first western "novelists" (Defoe/Richardson etc) were all mixing fact and fiction as they struggled to find a form.
But critics have been pretty smart sorting out which bit is which ever since.

There IS a consensus about when the line is crossed, based on the modern author's intentions. You just have to shove it in a preface - it's really not rocket science. I hated the way Frey acted as though it was all terribly new ground.
I hated the way King never asked him WHY all Frey's "embellishments" were calculated to make him look meaner and badder and tougher than anyone else who has ever gone through recovery.

The foolish fans are welcome to Frey. I actually never want to think about him again.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 8:29 PM on January 11, 2006

Check out Tim Carvell's "confession" in the NY Times today; I think it illustrates the situation quite well.

AA has its weaknesses, but I think that the methodology Frey recommends is quite dangerous for most people. Addicts usually need to enlist the support of others to conquer their disease; trying to do it all by yourself is far, far harder.
posted by spira at 8:42 PM on January 11, 2006

Addicts usually need to enlist the support of others to conquer their disease; trying to do it all by yourself is far, far harder.

If you're a pussy.

FTBSITTTD
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 8:53 PM on January 11, 2006

This one guy tried to get me to join AA but I kicked the shit out of him.

I was also high on crack at the time.

FTBSITTTD.
posted by billysumday at 9:07 PM on January 11, 2006

I love how making up a 3-month stay in prison now apparently counts as a slightly vague "personal recollection" issue to the "memoirs aren't true!" crowd.

Yeah, pull the other one.
posted by mediareport at 9:09 PM on January 11, 2006

To me, the fact that the story isn't true doesn't mean it couldn't have happened --- real people have turned their lives around just as dramatically as the protagonist of James Frey's novel.

Really? Do you know any of these people? I'm not trying to snark -- it's just that of all the people with even moderately fucked-up lives I've known, not one has ever made that kind of big dramatic turnaround. Or maybe there's a Big Dramatic Turnaround, followed by the realization that said BDT doesn't fix everything as expected, which makes it harder to keep up with the plodding everydayness of things, which leads to a backslide, followed by the usual misery and self-loathing plus new levels of shame at having failed yet again, all of which makes the idea of a BDT seem like a sorry joke.

That's the sort of sloppy, shapeless, aimless narrative real life tends to present.

Good memoirs have the documentary weight of an actual lived life, plus the satisfying narrative arc of fiction. Of course we expect the storyteller to skip over the boring parts to make it a better story. But Frey didn't just tinker with the shape; he made up the whole damn thing, including the BDT, including himself. (Jeez, limit yourself to MeFi and there are thousands upon thousands of people who've overcome far worse than being born the son of a corporate VP and feeling kind of isolated in high school and drinking too much as a frat boy, which apparently constituted all of Frey's real-life burden.) That invented self was how the book was sold and read and accepted, and Frey was the primary marketer. He stressed its truth, until he got challenged on it.

And that faux truth was all he had. Anyone who's worked in publishing has read (or skimmed) countless BDT novels, many of them better written than Frey managed. As fiction, his manuscript went nowhere. Repackaged as a memoir, it sold.

I dunno, jayder -- I like the distinction between fiction and non-fiction, and I think it's worth paying attention to.
posted by vetiver at 9:42 PM on January 11, 2006

From the position of a bookseller, I thought this wasn't going to be a big deal, but it seems like there's a huge backlash brewing. I already took calls from people wondering about returning copies.
posted by drezdn at 10:11 PM on January 11, 2006

one thing is for sure, that lying fucker doesn't know a thing about proper capitalization.

And apparently neither do you.

(Can't...resist...snark! Must...try...)
posted by incessant at 10:41 PM on January 11, 2006

The end result of Frey writing this book is that thousands of people with problems have been inspired to find the help they need.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 4:20 PM PST on January 11

Fucking bullshit. The kind of help Frey is inspiring them to get is like coffee mugs with HOLD ON on them and vague suggestions that I'm pretty sure were cribbed from 311 lyrics. You might as well tell someone that the key to getting out of your drug addiction is through interpretive dance for all the good it'll do them.

Frey's book was rejected 16 or 17 times because it fucking sucks ass as a fictional account - he's a shitty writer who belongs on fucking livejournal, not the NYT bestseller list - and if it weren't for the holy-shit-it's-all-true-I-swear angle no one would have ever, ever bought it.

Also see: A Child Called It & Go Ask Alice, two extraordinarily shitty books that became popular by lying to their readers.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 10:45 PM on January 11, 2006

And apparently neither do you.

(Can't...resist...snark! Must...try...)

wow. just... wow.
posted by quonsar at 10:54 PM on January 11, 2006

I really think the most shameful thing tonight was the 'journalism' put on display on CNN. Not that anyone takes Larry King seriously, but look at how the traditional media handled this compared to the outstanding work done by The Smoking Gun.

No one else bothered to look into this for nearly 3 years, then TGS does look into it, even gives the guy 3 chances to defend himself or come clean and he just threatens to sue. Then cut to tonight and CNN gives him an hour to speak without being pressed. It's shameful, and it shouldn't be happening on a news channel.

And to take to task one of his main arguments - that only 5% of the book was being questioned - no, actually the entire book is being questioned now. Does anyone actually believe there was a Lilly, or a mobster buddy, or a murdered priest. Again, here he is on CNN, a news channel, and these questions weren't asked. I think this whole thing has revealed a lot more about the waning years of traditional journalism than anything else.
posted by Burton at 11:10 PM on January 11, 2006

This is a deft publicity stunt, I think. They're not taking the book of the shelves, are they? publishing fiction is still legal, and way more people will buy the book now than will seek a refund.
posted by ParisParamus at 11:16 PM on January 11, 2006

I really think the most shameful thing tonight was the 'journalism' put on display on CNN.

I agree. How can we expect our non-fiction to be factual, when our journalism only aspires to be factualistic?
posted by Staggering Jack at 11:29 PM on January 11, 2006

you know, rigoberta menchu won a nobel peace prize for a piece of fiction published as non-fiction, and no one cared that much. i certainly don't care about the same thing happening to oprah's book club. the guy was a crack addict, right? is he supposed to tell the truth? i respect random house offering the rebate, but this stinks of the "old spice high endurance challange." who would bother getting their money back?
posted by mosessmith at 11:40 PM on January 11, 2006

Frey e-mailed me after his Larry King appearance:

Larry asks me if I lied in my book.

I kick him unconscious, snort coke off his cock, and run him over with my mother's car.

The whole time, Oprah is egging me on.

Does anyone have this? I missed it.
posted by Superfrankenstein at 12:13 AM on January 12, 2006

the guy was a crack addict, right?

Right.

is he supposed to tell the truth?

Active recovery should include a change of behavior beyond merely not picking up the crack pipe, and honesty is usually considered to be crucial in making that effort to change. Of course, this is also something that's stressed in 12-step programs, so perhaps Frey considers the notion too quaint for his needs.
posted by dantsea at 3:40 AM on January 12, 2006

you know, rigoberta menchu won a nobel peace prize for a piece of fiction published as non-fiction, and no one cared that much.

Uh, I recall quite a bit of outrage at the time.

So.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 5:16 AM on January 12, 2006

rigoberta menchu won a nobel peace prize for a piece of fiction published as non-fiction, and no one cared that much.

Bullshit. I cared, and a lot of people I knew cared. Speak for yourself.

On preview: what Optimus Chyme said.
posted by languagehat at 5:21 AM on January 12, 2006

Literary theorists speak about the "autobiographical contract," which assures the reader that the author of a memoir is, if not necessarily telling the whole truth, at least recounting his or her own life. Reading a memoir depends so heavily on this assumption about the author's identity that, if it is proven wrong, the same book can become a totally different work. I was among those who admired "Fragments," when it first appeared, for its powerful evocation of childhood trauma and its aftermaths. Rereading the book after Mr. Ganzfried's initial expos¨¦, I was troubled by its overstatements, its artificiality and its quasi-pornographic exploitation of violence ¡ª the words were the same, but the work was not.

- Susan Rubin Suleiman. From an article about the false Holocaust memoir Fragments by Binjamin Wilkomirski
posted by Kattullus at 5:50 AM on January 12, 2006

OC wrote: "Frey's book was rejected 16 or 17 times because it fucking sucks ass as a fictional account - he's a shitty writer who belongs on fucking livejournal, not the NYT bestseller list - and if it weren't for the holy-shit-it's-all-true-I-swear angle no one would have ever, ever bought it."

This, this is the real point. I'm happy as a pig in shit about this because I think the book sucked, I think people who thought the book was worth anything deserve a kick in the pants, and I think people who claim that such a crappy author should be granted any sort of benefit of the doubt should have their reading privileges revoked. Frey's book represents a kind of macho triumphalism that attempts to use authenticity and toughness to supplant good writing, and it's a shame that people loved it so much. It rewards not only the bad behavior of those shitting all over the lives of their friends ("hey, I just haven't gotten to the second act of my life yet, where I come clean"), it also rewards sloppy writing predicated on sensation rather than feeling and on cursing rather than writing. While I've got nothing against sensation or cursing, I find it really fun that people who essentially seem to have cathected to the book because "it's true and it's amazing that he conquered it all" now have egg on their faces.
posted by OmieWise at 6:14 AM on January 12, 2006

To those who suggest (and maybe Frey is one of them) that AA is some sort of 'cult,' I suggest you go to a meeting or talk to someone who goes to meetings. Sure, AA doesn't work for some folks, and it does work for others, but it's no 'cult.' As for stats on success rates (Penn and Teller???), I don't think there are any--AA has no hierarchy and keeps no stats. Perhaps there are studies, and I'd like to see them (out of curiosity), but in the end it makes no difference to AA. Ask anyone whose life has been saved by the program. They don't care about 'cults,' success stats, or James Frey. Keep coming back.
posted by MarshallPoe at 6:16 AM on January 12, 2006

The end result of Frey writing this book is that thousands of people with problems have been inspired to find the help they need.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 4:20 PM PST on January 11

That may initially have been true. But, as many others have pointed out, how will they feel now that his story - and it is just that, a story - has been exposed as a fabrication? As for the argument that only 5% or 18 pages or whatever of the entire book is being disputed...that's the sort of thing a little kid would say when caught in a lie: "Okay, I made that part up...but the rest is true! HONEST!!!"
Here's the meat of the matter: if the aspects of his book that can be objectively verified have been debunked, what does this say about the likelihood of the rest of the book being even remotely true?

I feel sorry for those of you who don't think this is a big deal. Whoever mentioned this being an issue about caring whether liars get rewarded for their lies was dead on.

Remember when conservatives howled about how Clinton's lies about oral sex were going to lead society down a road towards more lies and blowjobs? I scoffed at the time, but one has to wonder if the Bush presidency has lowered the bar for "truthfulness" so low that no-one even cares when people step over it now.
posted by you just lost the game at 6:24 AM on January 12, 2006

I'm writing a memoir about being the first man to land on Mars. Look for it in the non-fiction section of booksellers everywhere!
posted by NationalKato at 6:48 AM on January 12, 2006

Frey is the new American: Honesty or actual self examination are a mugs game, if you aren't fucking people over you aren't alive.
Chicanery is better than crack.
posted by Divine_Wino at 7:16 AM on January 12, 2006

I'm already in the process of reviewing NationalKato's memoir...

NationalKato was understandably triumphant when he landed on Mars, thinking himself the first man to accomplish this historic achievement... until I jumped out, kicked his sorry ass to the ground and stole his fucking rocket ship...
posted by soyjoy at 7:32 AM on January 12, 2006

That's alright, soyjoy...I stocked my spaceship with copies of James Frey's nove--erm, memoirs. I'm sure you'll enjoy reading them again and again on the trip home.
posted by NationalKato at 7:45 AM on January 12, 2006

Oprah defends James Frey amid allegations.
posted by ericb at 7:56 AM on January 12, 2006

"Ask anyone whose life has been saved by the program. They don't care about 'cults,' success stats, or James Frey. Keep coming back."

Right on MarshallPoe!
posted by birdhaus at 7:59 AM on January 12, 2006

Despite Oprah's 11th hour support, the interview with Larry King was like watching a man drowning. Very uncomfortable as Frey attempted to define this 'mysterious' genre called memoir. But I agree with other viewers who have since posted that King did not play hard enough with his questions.
posted by NationalKato at 8:02 AM on January 12, 2006

Oprah: ¡°What is relevant is that he was a drug addict ... and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today..."

You mean a lying shit who profits from his lies? I'm sure glad he cleaned himself up.
posted by OmieWise at 8:27 AM on January 12, 2006

Nationalkato...think we have to keep reminding ourselves that the "senile dude in suspenders" (to misquote "Bookslut" on King) isn't really there anymore to ask what you'd call questions.
He's just the holding pen for the current beast-of-the-week to go on display.

Frey has got clean away on this one.
I'd like to think his conscience will trouble him. But I doubt it.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 8:29 AM on January 12, 2006

Was he really a drug addict, or just someone who partied too hard for too long and needed some help to get out of it? I haven't read the book, but based on some of the discussion he's been reading, and my experience with family members and friends who were addicts, it seems possible that by some measurements, he was more of a person with a drug problem then an addict. But who's to say?
posted by cell divide at 8:36 AM on January 12, 2006

Bullshit. I cared, and a lot of people I knew cared. Speak for yourself.

Ok, you're right. And personally neither Mechu's nor Frey's cases sit very well, but plenty of people defended her and she kept her Nobel prize. My point was just that the door for this sort of thing has been open for quite some time. There aren't any consequences for doing it, and I'll bet that catching this one leads to more of it in the future, not less.
posted by mosessmith at 8:40 AM on January 12, 2006

It's really interesting to read the comments from people who think that "imbellished" is the same as "fabricated" and that "memoir" is the same as "novel".

Me, I'm waiting for the Marvel graphic memoir version.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:41 AM on January 12, 2006

Ophrah's doing what she can to minimize the effect on her audience, is my guess.
posted by mediareport at 8:42 AM on January 12, 2006

And to minimize the egg on her face.
posted by NationalKato at 8:54 AM on January 12, 2006

I scanned the comments above for this, so forgive me if someone has beat me to it, but Random House calls BULLSHIT:

"Contrary to erroneous published reports, Random House, Inc. is not offering a special refund on A Million Little Pieces. "
posted by spicynuts at 8:59 AM on January 12, 2006

people who think that "imbellished" is the same as "fabricated"

yah, even a fool knows that's "empossible".
posted by quonsar at 9:03 AM on January 12, 2006

And possibly embecilic.

Dah dah..dah.
posted by Divine_Wino at 9:06 AM on January 12, 2006

I like how Frey claims the problem is memory, when the problem is dishonesty. He didn't accidentally remember himself into a the crash of a girl he barely knew, and whose accident he had no part of -- he made it up!
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:11 AM on January 12, 2006

From the Random House publicity statement:

Yesterday we had 15 calls to our customer service line specific to A Million Little Pieces and fewer than that today.

Is that a dare?

1-800-733-3000.
posted by cribcage at 10:01 AM on January 12, 2006

I'm trying to understand why people care so much whether it is literally true. The millions of readers who have bought and enjoyed Frey's book don't know him; why, then, would they care whether these things actually happened to him?

Others have made this clear but I just want to emphasize, it's because that is why they were interested to start with. He could not get it published until he sold it as non-fiction. As fiction, it is cliche, unbelievable, uninteresting. As a true story, it meant something to some people, that a real human being went through something so intense and incredible. Would you read the newspaper if it were just a bunch of little short stories about imagined crimes and events? People were drawn to the book because a real person had suffered and struggled and ultimately overcome a truth that would have seemed exaggerated & melodramatic if it had been fiction - but because he really went through it, it gained another layer of meaning, so to speak. (it always looked like crap to me anyway, but I got tired of the poor-me memoir back when Prozac Nation was in bookstores... can't believe we're not done with it yet.)

And word to Divine_Wino & OmieWise.
posted by mdn at 10:11 AM on January 12, 2006

people who think that "imbellished" is the same as "fabricated"

yah, even a fool knows that's "empossible".

And they said you couldn't spell.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 10:57 AM on January 12, 2006

Would you read the newspaper if it were just a bunch of little short stories about imagined crimes and events?

wait-it's not?
posted by quonsar at 11:55 AM on January 12, 2006

And they said you couldn't spell.

and they said you had an ear for sarcasm.
posted by quonsar at 11:57 AM on January 12, 2006

No, they didn't. Even they recognise that I don't.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:09 PM on January 12, 2006

Best just to move along, Kirth Gerson. You're outmanned.
posted by NationalKato at 12:35 PM on January 12, 2006

The thing that really gets on my nerves now is that it's almost guaranteed that he will now write a memoir about this whole experience ala Jayson Blair or Stephen Glass. Hopefully, like there's it too will fail to sell.
posted by drezdn at 1:06 PM on January 12, 2006

Frey is now No. 1 and No. 4 on Amazon. Lit fans everywhere, rejoice!
posted by mrgrimm at 1:39 PM on January 12, 2006

The CNN thing to me was a disgraceful stunt, that, in light of the supposed "journalism" of Larry King, makes me wonder which is more disgraceful. A made up memoir or a made up interview.

The questions and answers were obviously rehearsed, Frey sounded almost as good as GWB as he repeated verbatim the same two talking points, the calls were set up, the MOM! Having your MOM come on the show to defend you? Who does that? And you know that Oprah was standing by in a preplanned 'impromptu' show of support to save face. No one ever mentioned the meat of the innaccuracies.

And yes, memoir writing based on your memory alone means that maybe you screw up a date or two. Maybe you forget that it was 103 days you were in jail and you thought it was 108. It does not mean you put yourself in a jail cell with an illiterate murder for three months as you expose him to great literary works. It does not mean you put yourself in the scene of the circumstances of someone's horrible death when you were no where to be found. My bullshit meter went off on this months ago, as well.
posted by Bueller at 3:20 PM on January 12, 2006

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

Am I the only one who things that, just maybe, the word "bullshit" shouldn't be in a Reuter's article? I'm not a language prude and I curse all the time, including occasionally (tragically) in toy stores, but I think at least a professional publication might either star that part out or use only part of the quote to avoid the naughty word. Is it now permissible for mainstream journals and news sources to includes words like "bullshit"?


...Whoah. Never mind.
posted by Deathalicious at 3:35 PM on January 12, 2006

THE FOLLOWING REVIEWS ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF THE BOGUS REVIEWS THAT APPEAR FOR THIS BOOK ON AMAZON. NOTICE HOW SOME OF THE REVIEWS ARE FROM 2003, AND THEY ARE STILL BEING REPEATED WORD FOR WORD NEARLY 3 YEARS LATER. ONLY THOSE WITH AN INVOLVED INTEREST (THE AUTHOR, HIS PUBLISHER, AND THE PUBLISHING HOUSE) WOULD DEVOTE THIS KIND OF TIME AND ENERGY TO MAKING SURE THIS BOOK SELLS AT ANY COST. IT SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE INVOLVED THAT THEY COULD NOT RELY ON HONEST REVIEWS.
THE BOOK, AS WELLAS MY FRIEND LEONARD, ARE BOTH LIES-JUST LIKE THESE "REVIEWS"

Please try this book, December 10, 2005
Reviewer:L.N. (Oxford, MS) - See all my reviews
After having read James Frey's debut novel, my answer is an unequivocal and resounding yes.

A writer for a generation?, April 20, 2003
Reviewer:Dan Glasser (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
After having read James Frey's debut novel, my answer is an unequivocal and resounding yes.
_______________________________________________
Standing on its own boards, April 17, 2003
Reviewer:
The autobiographical memoir seems to have become the latest trend, mirroring the rise in reality tv (but more intellectual, of course!)

A Million little stars, December 26, 2005
Reviewer:Sandra Frohm (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
The autobiographical memoir seems to have become the latest trend, mirroring the rise in reality tv (but more intellectual, of course!)
_______________________________________________________________

Readers Addiction, April 17, 2003
Reviewer:Helen L. Motley (Ohio) - See all my reviews
I was up 'til midnight reading Frey's Million Little Pieces. I woke again at 4am and read until my alarm went off.

Solid five star book, December 1, 2005
Reviewer:Donna Freuhaf (Pell Lake, WI) - See all my reviews
I was up 'til midnight reading Frey's Million Little Pieces. I woke again at 4am and read until my alarm went off.
_______________________________________________________________
New and exciting, December 28, 2005
Reviewer:Shadow Man (Texas) - See all my reviews
When a friend handed this book to me I was already reading something else. But, bored on the train journey...

I thought long into the night, and here's my review, December 20, 2005 Reviewer:Stunningly powerful - See all my reviews
When a friend handed this book to me I was already reading something else. But, bored on the train journey...
_______________________________________________________________
Do believe the hype, December 28, 2005
Reviewer:Runion W. (California) - See all my reviews
I can't objectively review this book.
As a writer and reader, I found it an excellent story, written in a clear and original voice; it is a stark tale of a harrowing ordeal that

Fascinating, Compelling and Wrong, December 22, 2005
Reviewer:Alfonso Mangione "Loves the three Rs: Readin', Ritin', and Reviewin'" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
I can't objectively review this book.
As a writer and reader, I found it an excellent story, written in a clear and original voice; it is a stark tale of a harrowing


*****************************

Couldn't just link to the review sorry. This makes me ask? Who is posting these reviews? I'd like to see IP addy's for these reviewers and how much Oprah or random house pays these viral marketers. Very Irresponsible.
posted by kremb at 3:40 PM on January 12, 2006

Maybe the Average Joe's standards for truth vs. truthiness have always been this low, but the Internet has just made it more visible?
posted by Skwirl at 4:09 PM on January 12, 2006

"Authenticity" sells.

You wouldn't be able to sell porno's of giggling college girls lifting up their tops. But Girls Gone Wild ... see, that's real!

Personally, I despise these fake-reality things that try to sell me on their truthiness. I'd rather see a well-crafted drama than some dramatic "reality" show. Or a good documentary that actually touches on truth.

Fake authenticity is the new it and I find it disgusting. If the people who were taken in by such a transparently bad fake as this book now regret it, well...there's plenty of other fake shit out there that will give them their little worldview-confirming jollies.
posted by cps at 6:33 PM on January 12, 2006

Contrary to erroneous published reports, Random House, Inc. is not offering a special refund on A Million Little Pieces.
posted by amberglow at 6:28 AM on January 13, 2006

I¡¯m a few days late rejoining this thread, but allow me to gently make a point about the book itself:

It¡¯s possible to learn something from Fiction, too.

This is what I took away from reading the book: It Is Possible To Change Your Life.

Too New-Agey for you? Fair enough.

I do believe thousands-- maybe more-- have been helped by Frey¡¯s book. Maybe a few of those people will be so disillusioned by Frey¡¯s methods in selling his book that they will return to boozin¡¯ and druggin¡¯, but I bet most folks won¡¯t.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 6:25 PM on January 13, 2006

It¡¯s possible to learn something from Fiction, too.
This is what I took away from reading the book: It Is Possible To Change Your Life.

Dude! Read Robert Silverberg's Up the Line—you'll learn It Is Possible To Travel in Time!

How can you even say something like that with a straight face? You do understand that Fiction = Not Factual, right?
posted by languagehat at 8:24 PM on January 13, 2006

You do understand that Fiction = Not Factual, right?
Fiction isn't factual?!? Thanks for the lecture, Mr. languagehat, sir. I had no idea.

I'm of the opinion that even works of fiction can contain universal truths about the human condition. C'mon, man, you know this... you read a lot of books.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 12:40 PM on January 14, 2006

Further fact-checking of James Frey¡¯s memoirs.
posted by ericb at 1:30 PM on January 14, 2006

Oprah to Frey: "Make an ass of me would you?"
posted by ericb at 1:36 PM on January 14, 2006

I'm of the opinion that even works of fiction can contain universal truths about the human condition.

Yes, of course, but that's not what we're talking about here. You're saying that Frey's book taught you It Is Possible To Change Your Life. But you could only learn that from the book if it wre nonfiction: "Frey changed his life in such-and-such a way, therefore I can do the same." This is why accounts of overcoming tremendous obstacles (like My Left Foot) are inspiring: they really happened. Don't you see the difference? Shit, I could write a book about being two feet tall and winning an NBA championship, or walking up to Miss America and proposing and being accepted on the spot, or flying to Mars through sheer willpower, but those wouldn't teach you anything about the human condition—they might be funny, or thought-provoking, or whatever, but they wouldn't be inspiring in the way we're talking about, because they didn't happen. Just like Frey's bullshit. Time to recalibrate your sensors, Ensign.
posted by languagehat at 1:36 PM on January 14, 2006

Mr. Hat:

If I read your hypothetical book about flying to Mars through sheer willpower and I think to myself, 'hey... yeah... willpower! Maybe I can apply willpower to other areas of my life!" then I have taken something away from your book, outlandish fiction or not, that can help me in my life.

Try it this way: James Frey's book jarred me into realizing that It Is Possible To Change My Life.

I don't think that's so bad. Shall I 'recalibrate my sensors' and toss out a realization that has helped me immensely, just because his book is fiction?

I understand you're a literalist, Mr. Hat, but try this on for size: Dreams aren't real either-- they didn't happen-- but you can still learn from them.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 1:58 PM on January 14, 2006

Dreams aren't real either-- they didn't happen-- but you can still learn from them.

I can think of about a trillion better things to learn from than a) dreams and b) wholly fictional books that claim to be A True And Accurate Retelling Of How The Greatest Man Ever Changed His Life. The problem with these is that they waste financial, physical, and spiritual resources that could be used much more efficiently.

If you try to get clean the way Frey did(n't), you will probably fail. Mugs that say "Hold On" and dumbshit acronym tattoos and being the Toughest Motherfucker In The World and so on don't do a goddamn thing to address the real problems in your life.

You were scammed, and you defend Frey for scamming you, because you don't want to feel that you wasted your time. Sorry.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:28 PM on January 14, 2006

Don't feel too sorry for me, Mr. Chyme.

A lesson learned is never a waste of time.

Go ahead and learn from your trillion better things: I won't begrudge you any lessons you might learn, regardless of the source.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 3:45 PM on January 14, 2006

I agree that there's a powerful lesson in Frey's book.

It is this:

"You can't fool all of the people all of the time, but if you fool Oprah, you can make so much money that the difference is negligible."

So yeah, there's definitely stuff to be learned from fiction - especially if it's fraudulently presented as non-fiction.
posted by soyjoy at 9:11 AM on January 16, 2006

Here's Kakutani on the scandal.
posted by OmieWise at 7:04 AM on January 17, 2006

Much as I dislike the Pulitzer-garlanded Kakutani, she's on target (if typically mushmouthed) here. And I wish I hadn't learned about this:

Equally egregious was "The Last Brother," Joe McGinniss's speculative portrait of Senator Edward M. Kennedy - a book in which the author acknowledged that he'd "written certain scenes and described certain events from what I have inferred to be his point of view," despite the fact that he did not even interview the senator for the book. "This is my view, and perhaps mine alone," Mr. McGinniss wrote, "of what life might have been like for Teddy."

Good Christ. What pathetic times we inhabit.
posted by languagehat at 8:35 AM on January 17, 2006

languagehat: This is nothing new. What's new is the level of scrutiny brought to such matters. Let me remind you of an ask.me thread about Patrick Henry's speech you participated in.

At least now such things get disseminated into society very quickly, even if the sum total effect seems to be that Jame Frey makes a lot of money (and his publishers). Well that and James Frey's name is mud among those he wishes most to impress, the literary community, those who wield the cultural capital necessary to anoint someone an "important writer."
posted by Kattullus at 7:50 PM on January 17, 2006