The Works of James Frey

[swanflake]

About that Reuters article--it says Oprah has spent 19 years in television, which I guess is how long the talk show has been on, but on the show today she didn't say that, she said that she's been in television since she was 19 years old, counting everything she's done starting from the local news.

Okay, I just finished watching the show. And oh my gosh, I think James Frey is just awful. He barely had any emotion at all. Oprah nearly started to tear up when he confessed that Lily didn't really hang herself, but then when Oprah asked him how Lily really died, he non chalantly said that she cut her wrists. I couldn't believe he could speak about this girl he alledges to have loved so deeply so easily without showing any feeling. And he kept referring to her as a "character", which Oprah called him on. How can he call this girl he loved with all his heart just another "character". In the book he said he couldn't get to Lily before she killed herself because he was in jail for so long, so Oprah asked him if she really existed and she really killed herself, then what was the real reason he couldn't get to her since we all know he wasn't in jail. He said something about how he went down to some other state to sort things out, or something like that--I forget exactly how he put it--and she just up and decided to kill herself before he got back. Again, not much emotion in recanting this.

Oprah asked him why he did this. He said that, as a coping mechanism for the stuff he went through, in his mind he created this fantasy that he is greater than he really is. He couldn't cope with just being your run of the mill overgrown frat boy with a drinking problem. He had to make himself into a tragic hero. Then Oprah asked him if all the lies were meant for that reason, or if they were to sell more books, and he answered "Probably both" or however he put it. Later Oprah asked him if he thought he had lied or if he just made a mistake. "Probably both." That was his response everytime she asked him and either/or question.

But I kinda feel that Oprah came on too strongly with the Publisher. Oprah was unusually aggressive in asking the woman why she didn't have the facts checked out before the book was categorized as a truthful memoir. Oprah seemed to keep grilling the woman for not recognizing the signs in the book, well hello Oprah, neither did you. The Publisher even said that she herself once had a root canal without novocaine, for whatever reason (she said why but I didn't quite catch what she said), so that wasn't a red flag to her.

Another guest (can't remember his name, some journalist following all of this) pointed out what's already been said in this thread, that to get over the addictions that James Frey claims to have gotten over, you need truth and honesty and self-actualization--all the things that James Frey is not exhibiting in this whole mess. Which just discredits him all the more.

But other that coming on maybe a bit too strongly with the book's Publisher, I commend Oprah's humility on the show today, even inviting on a journalist who called her "delluded" in an article of his about the show today, and she said he was right in stating that. I think she really did a great job at putting her own professional interests aside for the sake of her many fans who followed her into getting so emotionally enveloped into this book. James Frey, on the other hand, deserves no such credit. Yeah, he agreed to go onto the show when I suppose he didn't have to, but his reaction to everything seemed so cold. I don't think he cares about anyone but himself in this matter. The second half of the show he barely said a word and looked irritated the whole time. Irritated in a "Why do I have to put up with this shit?" kind of way. I think there's a lot of truth in the frat boy stereotypes people have been applying to him.

[Deleted]

I agree with Swan Flake. The way he talked about Lily as a "character" really annoyed me. The fact that he supposedly loved and cared for Lily was what made his "character" sympathetic.
That being said, when I read the book, there were red flags everywhere for me—believe me, I have seen many a "hopeless addict" like Frey. I mean, it sucks to have been able to have subsidized partying through college and then be expected to get a job. Rehab is just another form of graduate school for a lot of upper-middle class kids. The genius of it is that once they leave, a lot of parents treat them with kid gloves and continue to support them indefinitely. Frey, at 37, still expects that treatment from the world. Poor him, he did some blow in college and has managed to survive in NYC all this time. James, "put up with this shit." (see SwanFlake, above) YOU HAD THE SECOND BEST-SELLING BOOK IN 2005, despite your annoying prose style!"

[Deleted]

But I kinda feel that Oprah came on too strongly with the Publisher. Oprah was unusually aggressive in asking the woman why she didn't have the facts checked out before the book was categorized as a truthful memoir. Oprah seemed to keep grilling the woman for not recognizing the signs in the book, well hello Oprah, neither did you.

There was an article a couple of days ago about how Nan Talese (the editor from Doubleday) had been interviewed two years about the book's alleged embellishments in the San Fran Chronicle, and she defended Frey, then released that PR that said the book was "brutally honest." So for her to claim on Oprah that she blindsided and had never heard of the allegations before the Smoking Gun is bunk.

The editor has way more responsibility than Oprah, since her entire job was the book and making sure it was vetted. I thought it was appalling that her excuse was, "well, other people read it and they didn't raise any red flags, so I thought it was okay."

[Ellen Tigh]

Literary agent drops ’A Million Little Pieces’ author

"In the last week, it became impossible for me to maintain a relationship once the trust had been broken," Evashevski told Publisher Weekly for a story on Tuesday. "He eventually did apologize, but I felt for many reasons I had to let him go as a client."

Frey Sparks a Million Little Lawsuits

An angry reader of James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" sued the disgraced author and his publisher, Random House, Monday for $10 million, claiming that she was "injured" by his debunked "memoir" of alcoholism and drug addiction.

[emersende]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Well, I think the $10 million lawsuit is crap, but I'd love to see people sueing to get their $14.95 back.

[GirlyGhoul]

I think the Fat Otter should sue for mental anguish and slander. James lied about him too. He called him a Fat Otter, when really he was a beaver... and merely big-boned.

[emersende]

"Fat otters" is now my new nickname for my cats. It's not very nice, but it is funny.

[Deleted]

I call bullshit on his literary agent not being in on the scam from the beginning.

He had shopped that book as a novel to umpteen publishing houses, then suddenly it became a true story? What kind of agent wouldn't have found that a little odd?

I just can't believe either the agent or the publishing house didn't take the time to do a cursory search about the train crash. You would think that would be the first thing investigated from a legal standpoint, to make sure they wouldn't be sued by heirs of the accident victims.

[Mouse]

Rose Prose, I'm a book editor. Attorneys do vet manuscripts for anything that could result in a lawsuit. However, in this case, I don't think the publisher could've been sued over the train crash story. Frey changed the names of the accident victims and, even if he had not, libel laws in this country don't protect the dead.

That said, there's a lot about Frey's story that, in 20/20 hindsight, is bogus. Boarding a plane with a hole in his cheek? Yup, that happens a lot.

[famvir]

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!

Oh geez...I read almost all those books (somehow I missed the JT LeRoy)....and also read them all with more than a grain of salt.

I read a lot, and it's very easy to pick out an "embellished" memoir....so what's the big deal?

The big deal is that Oprah got caught in one of her inspiring feel good makeover stories. I've never liked her book picks, except for Jonathan Franzen (who knows how to write a book) because she invariably selects books primarily for their redeeming social messages, often overlooking their lack of literary merit.

The pattern the most Oprah book selections follows is this: Woman/child/man are horribly abused/self abusive and have no self value. Somewhere along the line they grow a backbone. They persevere. Sometimes they even triumph. End of book.

The real story is not that Frey made this s*** up, but that Oprah bought it! Not only did she buy it, but polished the s*** up, but a big red ribbon on it, and sold it to millions of people!

And went on Larry King to support it!

So Frey has to die...die a horrible death, not because he wrote a phony memoir, *yawn*, but because he embarrassed Oprah!

And if, after reading that book, she didn't suspect that much of it was "embellished," if not made up out of whole cloth, than a smack down on you, Oprah. For a lady (albeit a literate lady) from the streets, you sure are gullible.