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A Million Little Pieces |  | Author: James Frey
Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: $35.10
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Seller: worldofbooksusa
Rating:  1856 reviews
Sales Rank: 2136323
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First UK edition
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0719561000
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780719561009
ASIN: 0719561000
Publication Date: May 15, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
From Doubleday & Anchor Books
The controversy over James Frey's A Million Little Pieces has caused serious concern at Doubleday and Anchor Books. Recent interpretations of our previous statement notwithstanding, it is not the policy or stance of this company that it doesn’t matter whether a book sold as nonfiction is true. A nonfiction book should adhere to the facts as the author knows them. It is, however, Doubleday and Anchor's policy to stand with our authors when accusations are initially leveled against their work, and we continue to believe this is right and proper. A publisher's relationship with an author is based to an extent on trust. Mr. Frey's repeated representations of the book's accuracy, throughout publication and promotion, assured us that everything in it was true to his recollections. When the Smoking Gun report appeared, our first response, given that we were still learning the facts of the matter, was to support our author. Since then, we have questioned him about the allegations and have sadly come to the realization that a number of facts have been altered and incidents embellished. We bear a responsibility for what we publish, and apologize to the reading public for any unintentional confusion surrounding the publication of A Million Little Pieces.
Note: The following editorial reviews were written before the above revelations by James Frey and the publisher.
Amazon.com
The electrifying opening of James Frey's debut memoir, A Million Little Pieces, smash-cuts to the then 23-year-old author on a Chicago-bound plane "covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood." Wanted by authorities in three states, without ID or any money, his face mangled and missing four front teeth, Frey is on a steep descent from a dark marathon of drug abuse. His stunned family checks him into a famed Minnesota drug treatment center where a doctor promises "he will be dead within a few days" if he starts to use again, and where Frey spends two agonizing months of detox confronting "The Fury" head on: I want a drink. I want fifty drinks. I want a bottle of the purest, strongest, most destructive, most poisonous alcohol on Earth. I want fifty bottles of it. I want crack, dirty and yellow and filled with formaldehyde. I want a pile of powder meth, five hundred hits of acid, a garbage bag filled with mushrooms, a tube of glue bigger than a truck, a pool of gas large enough to drown in. I want something anything whatever however as much as I can. One of the more harrowing sections is when Frey submits to major dental surgery without the benefit of anesthesia or painkillers (he fights the mind-blowing waves of "bayonet" pain by digging his fingers into two old tennis balls until his nails crack). His fellow patients include a damaged crack addict with whom Frey wades into an ill-fated relationship, a federal judge, a former championship boxer, and a mobster (who, upon his release, throws a hilarious surf-and-turf bacchanal, complete with pay-per-view boxing). In the book's epilogue, when Frey ticks off a terse update on everyone, you can almost hear the Jim Carroll Band's brutal survivor's lament "People Who Died" kicking in on the soundtrack of the inevitable film adaptation. The rage-fueled memoir is kept in check by Frey's cool, minimalist style. Like his steady mantra, "I am an Alcoholic and I am a drug Addict and I am a Criminal," Frey's use of repetition takes on a crisp, lyrical quality which lends itself to the surreal experience. The book could have benefited from being a bit leaner. Nearly 400 pages is a long time to spend under Frey's influence, and the stylistic acrobatics (no quotation marks, random capitalization, left-aligned text, wild paragraph breaks) may seem too self-conscious for some readers, but beyond the literary fireworks lurks a fierce debut. --Brad Thomas Parsons
Product Description
James Frey wakes up on a plane, with no memory of the preceding two weeks. His face is cut and his body is covered with bruises. He has no wallet and no idea of his destination. He has abused alcohol and every drug he can lay his hands on for a decade - and he is aged only twenty-three. What happens next is one of the most powerful and extreme, and honest, stories ever told. His family takes him to a rehabilitation centre. And James Frey starts his perilous journey back to the world of the drug and alcohol-free living. His lack of self-pity gives him an unflinching, often searing honesty. "A Million Little Pieces" is an uncommonly genuine account of a life destroyed and a life reconstructed. It is also the introduction of a bold and talented literary voice.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 1856
 Highly Recommended and unique writing style July 15, 2010
K. Nowicki (Grand Rapids, MI)
I loved this book and James Frey's unique writing style. As a child and sibling to a drug addict and alcoholic I found James recovery to be realistic and found myself with some understanding of the difficulty one may face to live a clean life and face emotions head on without covering them up with mind altering substances.
Although it has come out that some of the book is fiction I found many parts believeable and rooting for James to make it in life and to tackle his addictions and overcome his old ways of pulling away from those he loves and not facing his emotions.
I also found James Frey's writing style very refreshing! His style tends to show intense feelings and vulnerability. The book was an easy read that I could not put down and was anxious to read the next book that follows "My Friend Lenord". Highly recommended!!
 A Downer With No Redemption. June 22, 2010
Urbun Scrawler (NYC)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read this book when it first came out because one of my sober pals highly recommended it and because I was curious. It took me three separate attempts--unusual, since I'm an unrepentant book junkie--to force myself past the first 30 pages. If the story had been remotely compelling--that is, if it had held my attention and fostered the development of an emotional investment in the main character--I might have forgiven the lackluster writing that characterizes James Frey's memoir. But his tale is flat, emotionally false and vacuous, and ultimately unbelievable--that is, I was unable to suspend belief that the events he described actually happened--that the pedestrian writing was like adding insult to injury. (I wouldn't be the first to point out that his prose suffers from the kind of hyperbolic sensationalism that characterizes mediocre writing.) I forced myself to finish the book so I could have an informed opinion about "A Million Little Pieces"--since it was a hot topic of discussion around the rooms of AA when it first came out--but it was one of the most unsatisfying reads I can remember. There's nothing in his book that is redemptive, uplifting, educational, or spiritually instructive. In the end, it isn't even entertaining. It's about an egomaniacal, violent, mean-spirited, self-destructive, authority-bucking, self-pitying child-man who wants to take the world down. The only change he undergoes during the course of the book is that at the end he isn't drinking. (P.S. Anyone can do that. The difficult part is the transformation.)
Those with a firsthand knowledge of alcoholism know that drinking is not the root of the disease. It's a symptom of a deeper illness which is a distorted perception of reality, a warped attitude about life that causes the individual to do many harmful, destructive things to himself and those around him. If that goes untreated, even if the person quits drinking or drugging and survives, he'll mostly likely spend a miserable life hating and blaming others for the rotten hand he's been dealt, and remain too fearful or lazy to take the necessary actions to change that which is causing him pain. It's a rotten belief system that has to be rebuilt from the inside out. Unfortunately, that truth is not made apparent in this book, or it certainly does not shine forth as brightly as it should.
If the book possessed some redeeming quality, the fact that he'd fictionalized events in his life would not have mattered to me anywhere near to the degree that people here seem to have taken it personally. It's discouraging for those seeking actual book reviews to be confronted instead with endless diatribes and character assassinations of the author about whom readers feel obliged to vent their vitriolic righteous indignation--because they feel he tricked them! (If only people felt half as outraged at the lying done by their country's leaders before the execution of horrific acts.) The sadly ironic part is that all the notoriety surrounding the scandal of his having lied has only made him more popular and successful.
If you want a good memoir about alcoholism, one that is literate, humorous, compelling, and honest, read either Caroline Knapp's "Drinking: A Love Story", or "Dry" by Augustin Burroughs. They are writers, for real.
read it! May 24, 2010
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
it is a very realistic view of what a life of drugs and alcohol holds. freys writing style keeps you wanting more and captures your attention. i loved this book for it does not sugar coat anything. made me cry and laugh at the same time.
A Million Over Reactions May 10, 2010
Michelle Johnston (Atlanta USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I had heard all the controversy about this novel but I wanted to read it for myself. What all the controversy blocks out is how much GOOD this novel/non-fiction (who cares which it is?) can do - how it can help those who have addicts in their lives, how real it is.. how important this book is, and how important this book SHOULD be.. everyone who has any kind of addict in his or her life should read this book.. and if you are an addict you may want to read it too, to find out that you are not alone, your experiences are not as unique as you think, and that there is a possibility of hope..
A Million Little Pieces is a Big Disappointment May 7, 2010
Jacob Peebles
I was disappointed in the book A Million Little Pieces. Once I found out that the book was a lie I wasn't really in the mood to read it. I found out about this after purchasing the book but before I started reading it. Trying to read the book, knowing that a lot of it was false was really hard. I just couldn't get "into it". I kept wondering, "oh, did he lie about this? Or is this true?" It just really bummed me out. I couldn't even continue reading after the first 150 pages of the book. It still currently sits on my shelf in my dorm room and I will probably never pick it up again, except for when I move out. The sad part is that it probably would have been a magnificent book if he would have made it a fiction book or "based on a true story". I guess it's a disappointment not only me but others, that someone would call this book an autobiography. I also feel bad for Oprah and how he and the book got famous at first because of her having him on the show. This book made Oprah's book club and after it came out that he lied, it just turned into a frenzy.
I would recommend reading this book if and only if you can handle the fact that it's not all truthful. I almost feel like James Frey was making fun of drug and alcohol addicts. People really do need rehab and what's the point of fabricating stories about it? This book would make people not want to attend rehab and that disgusts me. I wish that James would have told his real story and I'm sure it would've have gotten just as much recognition, but this time it would be good recognition.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 1856
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