A Million Little Pieces part 2
I started typing last night before being picked up to go bowling. It's probably a good thing as I'm sure this would have ended up being very long winded. I thought I would add to it today, but decided I'm not touching it. The author went on Larry King last night and defended his art, as he should have. I didn't watch it, because I was bowling, but it sounds as if he said the same thing myself and others have been saying. This is not story about his police record, but his triumph over drugs and alcohol.
NEW YORK - Oprah Winfrey broke her silence about James Frey's disputed memoir of addiction, "A Million Little Pieces," dismissing allegations of falsehoods as "much ado about nothing" and urging readers who have been inspired by the book to "Keep holding on." "What is relevant is that he was a drug addict ... and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today and to take that message to save other people and allow them to save themselves," Winfrey said Wednesday night in a surprise phone call to CNN's Larry King, who was interviewing Frey on his live television program.
Anyway, here's what I typed before bowling last night:
A Million Little Pieces
Part 2
I still believe that even if this was all fiction it is a great piece of writing. Having stated that, I can sympathize with all these addicts for seeing James Frey as a hero only to find out it was false. But is it really?
It was very easy for me to relate to the book having dealt with addiction, both with myself, family members, and with friends. I was hooked from the starting paragraph. Also, I felt there was a bit of exaggeration as I read the book, but I knew that it was for dramatic affect. It worked. I also knew the characters described in rehab were very believable, so the writer, to me, obviously spent time there. I have no doubt that he was/is an addict.
Here’s another way to look at this. So, maybe this story isn't 100% non-fiction, but it gave many addicts a source of hope and inspiration. Doesn’t going out of your way to prove this story a myth provide more harm than good? Even if it’s part myth, it provides hope, and to take that away tells these people, yes, just like you thought. You’re fucked. Go back to doing drugs and abusing alcohol and trying to kill yourself. Don’t “hold on.” It's all bullshit anyway. Go back to being a fuck up. Why take away the hope for these people just because the writer made a lot of money?
NEW YORK - Oprah Winfrey broke her silence about James Frey's disputed memoir of addiction, "A Million Little Pieces," dismissing allegations of falsehoods as "much ado about nothing" and urging readers who have been inspired by the book to "Keep holding on." "What is relevant is that he was a drug addict ... and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today and to take that message to save other people and allow them to save themselves," Winfrey said Wednesday night in a surprise phone call to CNN's Larry King, who was interviewing Frey on his live television program.
Anyway, here's what I typed before bowling last night:
A Million Little Pieces
Part 2
I still believe that even if this was all fiction it is a great piece of writing. Having stated that, I can sympathize with all these addicts for seeing James Frey as a hero only to find out it was false. But is it really?
It was very easy for me to relate to the book having dealt with addiction, both with myself, family members, and with friends. I was hooked from the starting paragraph. Also, I felt there was a bit of exaggeration as I read the book, but I knew that it was for dramatic affect. It worked. I also knew the characters described in rehab were very believable, so the writer, to me, obviously spent time there. I have no doubt that he was/is an addict.
Here’s another way to look at this. So, maybe this story isn't 100% non-fiction, but it gave many addicts a source of hope and inspiration. Doesn’t going out of your way to prove this story a myth provide more harm than good? Even if it’s part myth, it provides hope, and to take that away tells these people, yes, just like you thought. You’re fucked. Go back to doing drugs and abusing alcohol and trying to kill yourself. Don’t “hold on.” It's all bullshit anyway. Go back to being a fuck up. Why take away the hope for these people just because the writer made a lot of money?
posted by utchmynitz at 10:41 AM
1 Comments:
i had just read the entire smoking gun investigation and recent articles, news on his re-appearance on operah, etc. today.
let me say that i have yet to read this book as a disclaimer and i originally thought "who gives a shit - it's writing" everyoneuses amalgoms of several people, etc. it appears that a GOOD portion of what he claims either never happened and he inserted himself into events that never took place. would this have mattered if he presented it as 'based on events' or 'inspired by....' - no not really but i think that his definitive 'this book is true' and efforts to expunge records to keep facts from being found shreds on his credibility.
i see it as him doing mo re damage to recovering addicts who may have been inspired by the book as completely factual rather than people exposing him as doing damage. he could have avoided it all by stating the embellishment beforehand.
with all of the uncovered info it seems he was mor eof a rich kid with a drinking problem that did a bit of coke. it would be like finding out edmund hillary climbed a mountain in west viginia and not everest.
putting it out as fiction and claiming it was loosely based on his life would have kept all of this from happening and kept his integrity intact.
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