The Works of James Frey

[ahenobarbus]

I don't understand why so many people have praised his writing style. He's clearly just another bad Hemingway imitator - except that Hemingway wouldn't have put in those schmaltzy Hollywoodesque moments. What do they see that's so admirable?

[heyalice]

Oprah sure seems to have problems with authors with the initials JF, doesn't she?

[Millis]

I am LOVING these revelations! I absolutely HATED AMLP, and knew all along he was full of it. No one in my bookclub believed me, they all loved the book, thought he was so courageous, etc. I knew deep down he was just a little frat boy punk (no offense to frat boys intended.)

[swanflake]

I just read through The Smoking Gun's expose', and it was very interesting. The thing Frey talked about on Oprah that I was the most skeptical about was the story about having major dental surgery without anesthesia or pain killers. I forget what exactly he said, but I think he turned novocaine and pain killers down because he had already gone to rehab and he thought they would bring back his addictions. TSG didn't mention that because I guess those kind of dental records can't be accessed by the public. Well James Frey said that the pain from this horrible dental surgery did not compare to his heartache. Okay, now that made me Hella skeptical. We're talking about having your skull drilled into for a lengthy period of time. And that just doesn't compare to suburban teen angst? It's not like he grew up in the Congo.

I once saw a news report about people who had surgery done under faulty anesthesia, and the pain can freak you out so much it can go on to give you major psychological problems. But besides that, I thought Frey came off really self-aggrandizing in that story. To me it sounded like he was saying that his soul is so deep and has been so tortured that he's capable of such painfully intense emotions that so few people are capable of. And Oprah's audience was in awe that he's so strong he could turn down novocaine.

I'm glad I found out that his stories are faked. Because when I saw him on Oprah, it reminded me of a friend I had who I recently got back into contact with only to find out that he was working through a problem with methamphetamine. I got really sad hearing all of Frey's tales, fearing that my friend went through the same emotions. Now that I know AMLP is bull, I feel a lot better.

[Deleted]

Ok, here's my take on it.

I don't watch Oprah. My dad came over this Saturday and said he was going into the city to buy a book he saw on Oprah's Book Club list. He said it really sounded interesting. He doesn't buy or read books, so this really surprised me. I told him I wanted to borrow it after he was done reading it.

He bought it on Saturday and was finished reading it on Sunday. I started reading it yesterday and read it almost to the end. I finished it this morning, before I ever turned on the tv or computer. I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down. It's an awesome read.

But, I was a little skeptical of the ending. I got online to go to Amazon and check out My Friend Leonard. I was actually going to purchase it. I read a couple pages from the book. Something didn't sit right with me about the "timeline" of the end of the first book to the beginning of the second one. I read some of the reviews, for fun. I went to thesmokinggun.com.

I can say, I think James Frey is a spoiled brat. Maybe even a Frat Boy Punk. (No offense to anyone) I'm still not sure what is real or not, true or false. Honestly, it almost doesn't matter. A Million Little Pieces would have a made for a great movie with a suckass ending. I still think it was an awesome read. I still want to read My Friend Leonard. Just for different reasons now.

I think he is supposed to be on Oprah tomorrow. (Wednesday) I probably won't be able to watch. I recommend reading the book(s). Just don't buy them.

[swanflake]

Someone mentioned in another thread that he'll be on Larry King Live tomorrow (Wednesday, January 11th). Is that right?

[ahenobarbus]

He's scheduled for Larry King tomorrow. Unless he plans to make a full confession, he's only going to add fuel to the fire. Smoking gun only looked into one aspect of the book, and there are many other things to be checked out by an enterprising journalist.

[emersende]

"Fat otter?" Is this for real? "Fat otter? He sounds like Kevin Federline talking about his fat babies.

[Malle Babbe]

Let's see... We've got James Frey, JT Leroy, Augusten Burroughs, the author of "A Child Called IT", and the ghost writer of "Go Ask Alice.

Holy Cow, we have a literary poser basketball team!

[gemstone]

Do we have a thread for that here? Poser authors, I mean. We had one at Voldeboard, and I highly enjoyed it.