"A Million Little Pieces"
-by James Frey
A Million Little Pieces
By: James Frey
Type: Audiobook; Abridged
Narrator: Oliver Wyman
Publisher: HighBridged Audio, 2005
Length: 10 hours and 9 min.
"A Million Little Pieces" is one of the most in depth books about drug and alcohol addiction taking ones life to the edge of death brought back by rehabilitation and a lot more.
At 10, James Frey was drinking. He was doing drugs at an early 12 years old. Then each year after that, he spent almost every day drunk and high. It never got any better when he entered into college, blacking out almost every day, dealing drugs so he could buy more drugs for himself. James Frey also found himself under investigation by local police. There was not a drug out there he did not try, you could say he did it all:
- freebased cocaine
- dropped acid
- ate mushrooms
- did meth
- smoked PCP
- snorted glue
- inhaled nitrous oxide
At 23, James found himself with no money, no job, no home, and was wanted by authorities in at least three states.
Once James Frey enters a drug and alcohol treatment facility for an indepth rehab program, he has so thoroughly destroyed his body that all the doctors were shocked he is still alive.
Finding himself in A Million Little Pieces, his gut-wrenching memoir of detox, pain, blood, vomit…and hope. This story of a personal battle so vigorous, has something we all can learn from.
"When you read James's book you're left marveling that someone could actually survive what he lived through. I know that, like many of us who have read this book, I kept turning to the back of the book to remind myself, 'He's alive. He's okay.'"
-Oprah says
Then the Truth and Controversy arose!
It seems that "A Million Little Pieces" -the memoirs of James Frey has been found to be embellished a lot.
A six-week investigation by The Smoking Gun reveals that there may be a lot less to love about James Frey's runaway hit that has sat atop The New York Times nonfiction paperback best seller list from many weeks in a row.
It turns out that the police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources were actually creations. But it does not stop there, Frey also invented a role for himself in a deadly train accident that cost the lives of two female high school students. In what may be his book's most extreme flight from reality, Frey manipulates details of the incident and falsely portrayed himself as the tragedy's third victim. It's a cynical and offensive ploy that has left one of the victims' parents bewildered.
"As far as I know, he had nothing to do with the accident,"
-said the mother of one of the dead girls.
James Frey did admit that he had embellished details of his criminal career and purported incarceration for "obvious dramatic reasons" in the nonfiction work.
In hind site to all this controversy, lies and stories that surround "A Million Little Pieces", there actually is a fantastic, intriguing and awesome audiobook for your listening pleasure.
The main question behind this book is:
Should this book be considered a nonfiction or fiction story? Is this a real and true life memoir or has many of the facts been fabricated or embellished for the sake of selling more books or for climbing the best sellers list?
If we can see past these controversies surrounding "A Million Little Pieces" audio book, then we will realize there lies a tremendous story within this audiobook.
Give this audio book a listen and enjoy the story for what it is... A great story that we all can pull a little something from.
Return from A Million Little Pieces to Oprahs Book Club
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