The Works of James Frey

[emersende]

What made it such a big scandal is that he went on television and lied about it in front of millions of people, but I don't agree with the argument that misrepresenting it generally wasn't a big deal in itself (I thought this out after specific comments on ONTD, so I'm not singling you out, famvir). By doing this, he got people to advertise and buy the book under false pretenses, which was a rotten thing to do generally.

But I also think that the presentation of a text can change its meaning considerably. If Michael Crichton had managed to convince people that Eaters of the Dead was from a genuine medieval Arabic text, for example, then the approach to it would be very different from what it is today, and he wouldn't have had to have changed a word of the manuscript. That level of fraud is an extreme example, but the general principle is still the same. I think part of the result of Frey's passing his book off as the truth was that instead of looking at the book's literary value, people looked at him, as an admirable figure. Presenting the story as true was very self-aggrandizing of him. I'm not sure what it means that people read this improbable story and believed it. His prose does have a kind of hypnotic effect, and that might push people past the most unbelievable parts of the book.

What I think is most interesting is that the review linked on the first page of this thread took it for granted that the book was full of fiction, and then took issue with the fact that the fiction sucked.

[gemstone]

What I think is most interesting is that the review linked on the first page of this thread took it for granted that the book was full of fiction, and then took issue with the fact that the fiction sucked.

Yeah, that's the bulk of my problem with the book. I never even could get through this swill. Obviously Frey can't write worth a damn and so he felt the need to piece together fragments of a story using poetic license to explain away the fact that he doesn't know anything about writing. It was all just so meandering and meaningless that I gave it up before it could give me a headache. The fact that he claimed it as true to even further his attempt at writing cred makes it even funnier.

And I'm pleased as punch that Oprah was duped. As far as I'm concerned she shouldn't be ashamed of being scammed, she should be ashamed for liking that book in the first place.

[WitchyPoo]

David Cross finally weighs in on the whole thing.[/color] Thank goodness, a voice of reason behind all this mess.

[gemstone]

I work in a library and just now I was out front having my smoke break and reading a book when this old (not elderly, by well past middle aged) man walked by with his stack of books that needed returning. On top? Million Little Pieces. Now, I know that Oprah's grasp reaches far and wide, but that man? Has no business whatsoever reading such a book.

[BinkyBetsy]

Not sure what you mean by that, gemstone. You think a guy that age might not have alcoholism/drug addiction in his past? Or he might be shocked by the language? People can surprise you. ETA: Well, okay, but nowadays, a guy "well past middle age" could easily have a drug problem that started in the '60s. Language? He would have heard it all. I'll grant you that it's not a good book for someone in recovery, but that applies to all age groups, and as for finding it on his own? It's been well publicized, even before TSG got on the case.

[gemstone]

Binky I guess that I tend to assume that old people are wise and/or smart and, yes, a little put off my that sort of language, and old enough to not feel pressured into following Oprah. That's a lot of generalizations for an age group, I know. He could have found the book on his own, but I doubt it. He could have drug and alcohol problems but, that's the last book I'd recommend to someone trying to overcome such problems. A recovering addict reading that book is trouble waiting to happen. One of the reasons I didn't like the book is because after a year or so of not doing drugs, reading it just seemed to try to call me back to my old friends/dealers/connections.

Mostly, though, I meant it as a playfull poke at the fact that this man was not the target demographic for this book--and I found that humorous.

[GirlyGhoul]

Now Bruce Willis weighs in on the fracas(third one down). That's probably time sensitive, but the jist of it is that Brucey is in the camp that big bad Oprah picked on Mr. Frey way too much. Though he also says the book is a great work of fiction. Hee!

(Fiction? Yes. Great? Uh uh.)

[Edited to make the link all blue and purty]

[Deleted]

Saw on MSNBC that his publisher has dropped him now.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11521989/

[GirlyGhoul]

Now Stephen King says his piece about 'Pieces'.

Ya know. Usually I think Mr. King gets a little blow-hardy in his Entertainment Weekly columns, but this article is about the best summation of the whole mess I've read so far.

[hotgreenpeas]

Does anyone remember when the book was first released and he came out swinging against Rick Moody and Jonathan Franzen and basically declared himself the greatest writer EVER?

I remember that! I still ignored the guy until he was busted. I read the fat otter review aloud to my friend and we were rolling on the floor. I'm a little appalled that anyone ever thought that was good writing.

Anyway, King is on the mark.

...no addict struggling to get clean before the spike or pipe can do him in deserves to be told, ''Just pull yourself together and clean up your act like James Frey did."

He pinpoints exactly what bothers me the most about the whole fracas. I mean, not to climb on a soapbox, but ahem...

I think Frey is irresponsible and doing a public disservice, especially since he was promoted by someone with as much influence as Oprah. I keep reading comments on the whole situation that basically say, "You know, I don't care if it's true or not. I had substance abuse problems and what he said really helped me." Isn't the essence of his message, "I conquered my addictions with my own super-masculine will to power" and "Forget about those wussy traditionally-accepted models for overcoming drug and aolcohol addiction"? People ought be as annoyed with him as they are with Tom Cruise when he says that people should treat mental illness with vitamins and wesson oil cocktails.