The Works of James Frey

[foxfair]

I have to say, I am feeling the schaden over this appalling little bitch's exposure. Feeling the schaden and greeeatly enjoying it.

How completely unsurprising that Oprah see's no problem with it. "Much ado about nothing." Uh, yeah, OK there Oprah. Too bad you don't have a dick because then the two of you could just blow each other on camera and get it all over with quicker for everyone.

Hopefully he takes even more heat than he has. For some reason I am repulsed by middle-class white boy writing a faked-up memoir of his "drugs hell". Hopefully some real ex-addict will give him a punch in the gob.

[sugaree]

I don't think a lot of people know the extent of the falsehoods. I was talking to some friends over the weekend who were like "big whoop," but they just thought he exaggerated his stay in jail. When I told them about the train wreck and the characters in rehab, they were shocked. Disgusted, actually.

I read an editorial--can't remember where or by whom--called "Tempest in a Teapot." It was clear that the writer had never read any Frey, and it was clear that the writer only knew about the jailhouse/criminal activity lies.

[softtissue]

I never felt like I wanted or needed to read this book ever. I guess it's because I have been to too many AA meetings where people tell their drunk stories and try to outdo everyone as the Best Alcoholic Ever! Far too melodramatic and unbelievable for my liking. This book has been done before, including Go Ask Alice . Furthermore, I don't believe he's sober for a minute. Sobriety calls for rigorous honesty. Not honest = Not sober. Now to find out he's a fake?! HA HA HA!

[sugaree]

The rigorous honesty is a tenent of 12 step programs, right? Big Jim is anti-12 step. I guess lying is acceptable for writers who can quit entirely through their own manly willpower.

[Deleted]

He's going to be back on Oprah tomorrow along with his publisher and some journalists. I wonder if he'll bring his mommy.

[swanflake]

This is how I think Oprah unintentionally made the whole thing worse--> Whenever anyone who's survived some horrible tragedy goes on her show, she always tells them something about how they have survived for a reason and can share their story to help others, which appears to usually make them feel better. So although I don't think she actually literally said that when James Frey was on her show, people who have watched her show enough know that she was again definitely communicating that idea. While everyone else in the book died, James Frey lived for a reason to tell his story and save others. Yeah.

And just as the perspective Oprah offered up about this built Frey up so that he had farther to fall, Frey's lies have now cheapened Oprah's whole ideal she offers up to her guests who actually went through something miserable and actually are exhibiting great courage.

[ahenobarbus]

Check out Gawker.com. They blogged live from Frey's return appearance on Oprah, and Oprah tore him to pieces!

I hope the show turns up online, because I won't have the chance to see it.

[Ripley]

Oprah tore him to pieces!

Do not embarrass The Oprah. That makes The Oprah angy. You would not like The Oprah when she's angry.

[Deleted]

ripley said:

Oprah tore him to pieces!

Do not embarrass The Oprah. That makes The Oprah angy. You would not like The Oprah when she's angry.

;D ;D Ya know! ;D ;D

[Deleted]

They've got the rundown on today.reuters.com. It doesn't let you link to the story, so here is some of it:

Author James Frey confessed to Oprah Winfrey on Thursday that he made up details about every character in his memoir "A Million Little Pieces" and the talk show host apologized to her viewers, saying she felt "duped."

In 19 years in television "I've never been in this position before," said Winfrey, whose praise for Frey's book in September helped make it the top-selling book on nonfiction lists in the United States last year.

"I really feel duped," Winfrey told Frey on her television show. She said he had betrayed millions of viewers.

Winfrey began by apologizing to viewers for a telephone call she made to CNN's "Larry King Live" show on January 11, while King was interviewing Frey about the controversy. In the call Winfrey said that even though the facts were being questioned, the book "still resonates with me" and called the controversy "much ado about nothing."

"I regret that phone call," she told her viewers on Thursday. "I made a mistake and I left the impression that the truth does not matter and I am deeply sorry about that. That is not what I believe."

Sitting with Frey in side-by-side easy chairs, Winfrey quizzed the author point-by-point about his book that described his drug-and-alcohol addiction and the people hurt by it.

"All the way through the book I altered details about every one of the characters," Frey said "Every one of the characters was altered," including himself.

He spent two hours in jail, not 87 days, and the account of his breaking up with a woman who later committed suicide happened in a much shorter period of time, with their separation occurring while he was taking care of personal business in North Carolina, not while he was in jail, he said.

She committed suicide by slashing her wrists, he said, not by hanging herself.

Asked if The Smoking Gun Web site which first questioned the book had accurately characterized the discrepancies, Frey said "I think most of what they wrote was pretty accurate," adding they did "a good job."

continues.....

swanflake, this statement from Oprah really resonates with what you said in your post:

"I made a mistake and I left the impression that the truth does not matter and I am deeply sorry about that. That is not what I believe."