Is MILLION LITTLE PIECES one big lie?
In a six-page investigation, The Smoking Gun website claims that James Frey’s A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, the celebrated non-fiction memoir about his drug-addicted days, is fiction.
PIECES was recently deemed by Oprah Winfrey worthy of reading by all her followers, who promptly listened and made it the second bestselling book of the year. The Smoking Gun calls the book – and his appearance on her show, in which claimed the work was “all true” – “a con.” And they’ve got police records and interviews to back it all up.
Surprised? Only that it took this long. I suspected as much before the book was ever published in 2003, wondering how someone with blood, urine and vomit all over him would be allowed on a commercial flight. But personally, I’d much rather take Frey to task for his failure to indent paragraphs, use quotation marks and abide proper capitalization rules.
UPDATE: Frey appeared on LARRY KING LIVE to defend his book, with a last-minute phone call from Oprah, who has her head up her ass. For her to defend this guy and not see the problem is to tell the nation that lying is A-OK.
[...] In news that will shock no one, The Book Standard reports that J.K. Rowling’s HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE was last year’s bestselling book. Coming in second was James Frye’s non-fiction Oprah-approved A MILLION LITTLE PIECES. [...]
You’re right on with that update remark. Oprah should be ashamed. She’s just trying to protect her book club.
As for Frey, if he wanted to write fiction, write a damn novel. Don’t call it nonfiction. I’m amazed there isn’t more outrage about it from the publishing industry. “Emotional truth” my ass.
Oprah probably saw her credibility was at stake with all those millions of books out there with her logo on it, so rather than take the hit, she decided to defend him.
Because whatever Oprah says, her disciples follow. Therefore, crisis averted.
oprah’s just po’d someone got her. I think she’s a being a little arrogant and a little too sensitive, we’ve all been lied to, get over it. Plus, this guy is going to sell 10 times more copies because she brought him back. Foiled again!
[...] James Frey made a return appearance to Oprah’s show yesterday in an attempt to answer charges claiming his memoir A MILLION LITTLE PIECES is largely fabricated. I was critical of Oprah for her defense of Frey on LARRY KING LIVE, but she redeemed herself at the show’s start, saying her judgment had been “clouded” and that she had sent the message to the nation that truth doesn’t matter. [...]
What makes it worse is that his family sat on the oprah show and backed up his lie, mom, dad, wife and bother thats low.