Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" Fraud

Looks like he made it all up...or at least embellished it beyond recognition...



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

Embellish (ed), (ment) .......one of my favorite words......a polite way of conveying to someone that their story is a crock of s**t

many of my friends are discussing this as we speak.  One said, she didnt care how much was fiction, the impact of the book still made a difference with a drug addicted friend of hers.  And then a few others pipped in to say they agreed.  One of my closest friends read it and was in tears off and on.  He does have some issues with alcohol and drugs and I think its opened his eyes to things he didnt want to think about.  A couple others are just plain pissed off about Frey being such a freakin liar!  I bought it and havent read it yet, but I will.

From best-selling non-fiction to best-selling fiction.

The story is the same, either way.

a million little refunds....

http://us.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/books/01/11/arts.frey.reut/index.html

oprah comments... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060112/ap_en_ot/books_disputed_memoir_16

an opportunist   

Oprah backpedals...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/books/26cnd-oprah.html?ei=5094&en=cf1e33702b029f72&hp=&ex=1138338000&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1138306541-jVposNoy03pSy2REhM/4RA

(IF the link doesn't work, basically she had Frey back on the show so she could yell at him for lying, deny she ever sad that the "essential" truth of the story is there, and say she was wrong to support him.)

And....

Looks like somebody's future publishing career is in serious doubt...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060130/en_bo_usatoday/millionlittleproblemsfollowwriter


(Is anyone else fascinated by all of this?)

i'm surprised that no one has posted this link:  http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html .  it's a six page story on frey being a fraud and proves point-by-point that many of the things that he wrote weren't true (with police records and interviews to prove it).

regardless of whether or not everything in the book was true...i still enjoyed the book....and he's sittin' on a mountain of cash right now!!  this whole lies/fraud business isn't going to stop me from buying his next book either.... 

i'm surprised that no one has posted this link: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html . it's a six page story on frey being a fraud and proves point-by-point that many of the things that he wrote weren't true (with police records and interviews to prove it).

regardless of whether or not everything in the book was true...i still enjoyed the book....and he's sittin' on a mountain of cash right now!! this whole lies/fraud business isn't going to stop me from buying his next book either....

That's actually the link I posted in the first post.

It really doesn't bother you that he made up the whole thing, while claiming that it was all true?  You'll still buy his books, even though he thinks you're not worth the truth?

Why?  I haven't heard anyone yet who isn't bothered by this, so I'm just wondering what your reasoning is. 

That's actually the link I posted in the first post.

It really doesn't bother you that he made up the whole thing, while claiming that it was all true? You'll still buy his books, even though he thinks you're not worth the truth?

Why? I haven't heard anyone yet who isn't bothered by this, so I'm just wondering what your reasoning is.

i suppose that my reasoning is that before i was even half way thru the book i started questioning him.  i know from personal experience that there is no f'n way he could remember all that (not even half of it!!) with the amount of stuff he was doing.  he starts off the book on a plane and he doesn't know how he got there and why he's all bloody or where he's going.  how is the reader supposed to believe that he doesn't remember how he got there in the first place, but he can remember all these other details on whose house he went to here and what this girl or that girl smelled like, how shiny her hair was, what color pants he was wearing, etc.? so i guess i already knew in my own head that it all couldn't be word for word what happened to him.  i'm not saying that i think he made the whole thing up as you stated.....i'm saying that some of the book is true...and other parts are embellished. 

i'd also like to add that there is one simple thing that he didn't do that would have covered his ass.....all he had to do was put a small blurb in the front of the book stating that some of the situtations, people and names have been altered for the sake of the book...or something along those lines.  yeah...his mistake...so what.  it doesn't change the content of the book, his style of writting or the fact that it's a pretty good read regardless of whether it's all true or not.  had he put that in his book everyone wouldn't be pointing the finger saying "YOU LIED TO US"...instead they would simply be asking "So...what percentage of the book is true?"

the bottom line for me is that he was writing about HIS life, how he perceived HIS actions and everything else that was going on.  he wasn't writing about his groundbreaking theories on evolution or some great mystery he has solved in the science world...or really anything of great significance to anyone but himself.  it wasn't like everyone found out that he was claiming to be a dr. with some serious scientific model that he created when in reality he was a high school drop out with no qualifications.  sure...he may have changed some peoples lives...and that's great.  i'm all for it.  and it's quite possible that some of those people who were really moved by the book are quite disappointed in him...but the point is that they were so moved by his book that THEY decided to change their lives....Frey didn't decide it for them.  and i'm sure those people aren't sitting there saying "oh well...he's a fraud.  there goes that.  lets go get high again." 

and sorry for reposting the link.

I just read this book last week (obviously knowing all the background) and the thing that gets me is not the 'embellishment' or whatever you want to call it.  It's the out and out lies - like saying he was in prison for 3 months when it was like 2 days?  I mean that is just bizarre.  Saying he 'can't recall' if he really had dental surgery without Novocaine?  How could you forget an experience like that?  And yet he can remember exactly what he had for dinner at the rehab center night after night?  I got a little tired of him describing all the food after a while...the mushy fish fingers, the breakfast burrito, the tuna casserole. 

One funny note - when I went to get this book out from my library, I immediately went to the fiction section.  Couldn't find it anywhere.  So I checked the online catalogue and found the reference number and then found the book - in the NON-fiction section.  At first I thought, what the heck, this is not NON fiction!  Then I thought, oh yeah it is...or at least is supposed to be!

I am quite fascinated by it as I have a number of friends who are writers of both fiction and non-fiction.  Did they ever say exactly what parts WERE true - like the girlfriend, the priest etc?  (trying not to make those spoilers)

I think in the end that it's the responsibility of the reader to use some judgement when reading something that is supposedly "autobiographical".  I'm all for promotion of books and think the industry and some previously unknown and under-represented authors have gained a fair bit from shows like Oprah's and Richard & Judy....but it bothers me ore that people are suing him after reading his book - whether it was largely fabricated or not. I think Oprah can accept some of the flack from this since she promoted it in a "life changing book" sort of way. Since when is fabrication a new thing? Has the world gone mad?

A teensy bit off topic....but  I'm really tired in general of all the "misery-memoirs" that are cluttering up the shelves in the bookshop. It started with Dave Peltzer's books about 7 years ago and it was wonderful to see a man who had been through so much- come through it as a wonderful person. That was the redeeming feature of all of his stories (Child called It, etc) I think we're by nature drawn to reading the about the horrible experiences of others.   I'm all for reading things that are a little uncomfortable if it expands my knowledge and helps me appreciate my own life....but enough misery already, really!

Oh dear. What a rant. Sorry!