Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies
It has sold over 3.5 million copies.
Oprah picked it as her new Book Club book (and thus guaranteeing it top position on many bestseller lists) and it captivated thousands of readers with its tale of alcohol abuse, drug addiction, violence and crime.
The book is A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.
But now it seems that Frey’s memoirs are a big bunch of phooey!
It appears that Frey may have exaggerated stories about his past, in particular his time in prison and his involvement in an accident that killed two high school students—according to The Smoking Gun, a website that investigated Frey and his memoirs (and totally bitched him out LOL).
TSG interviewed Frey and he “did, for the first time, admit that he had embellished central details of his criminal career and purported incarceration for ‘obvious dramatic reasons’ in the nonfiction work.” (Well, surely the work should be classified as fiction then?)
TSG also found out through their investigation, that Frey had shopped the book to various publishing houses and it was turned down by over a dozen, until the manuscript was reworked as a memoir and then eventually sold.
If the claims turn out to be true, then I’m sure Oprah will be really pissed! And not to mention, it will annoy the shit out of readers who will begin to wonder what is true and what is fabricated in the memoirs.
I bet Frey is crapping his undies (and no doubt hiring lawyers to stop TSG from pursuing this further too).
You’d think though, that the publishing companies would research the authors who write memoirs, to see if things happened as they say they did. I mean, if they only go on what the author says, then what is to stop me from writing a tell all memoir about my life as a Victoria’s Secret undie model?
Oprah picked it as her new Book Club book (and thus guaranteeing it top position on many bestseller lists) and it captivated thousands of readers with its tale of alcohol abuse, drug addiction, violence and crime.
The book is A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.
But now it seems that Frey’s memoirs are a big bunch of phooey!
It appears that Frey may have exaggerated stories about his past, in particular his time in prison and his involvement in an accident that killed two high school students—according to The Smoking Gun, a website that investigated Frey and his memoirs (and totally bitched him out LOL).
TSG interviewed Frey and he “did, for the first time, admit that he had embellished central details of his criminal career and purported incarceration for ‘obvious dramatic reasons’ in the nonfiction work.” (Well, surely the work should be classified as fiction then?)
TSG also found out through their investigation, that Frey had shopped the book to various publishing houses and it was turned down by over a dozen, until the manuscript was reworked as a memoir and then eventually sold.
If the claims turn out to be true, then I’m sure Oprah will be really pissed! And not to mention, it will annoy the shit out of readers who will begin to wonder what is true and what is fabricated in the memoirs.
I bet Frey is crapping his undies (and no doubt hiring lawyers to stop TSG from pursuing this further too).
You’d think though, that the publishing companies would research the authors who write memoirs, to see if things happened as they say they did. I mean, if they only go on what the author says, then what is to stop me from writing a tell all memoir about my life as a Victoria’s Secret undie model?
Labels: bibliophile’s affair
Tart, thanks for the article.
Maybe everyone will think twice about reading his next book.
Wonder if Oprah will make a comment. She can't be too happy about this news!
1/10/2006 10:16:00 AM
I don't put 100% faith in TSG. They have an agenda and their "so called" outing of Frey may or may not be the real truth.
So Frey thought he was bad guy and it turns out he wasn't on the law's A list. In his drug distorted thinking that's reasonable. This isn't that big of revelation IMO.
1/10/2006 11:20:00 AM
Yikes.. Wonder what O would say about this or how she would address this. You're right, she must be pissed!
Tart, if you write about your second life as a Victoria's Secret model, you better include Trollop, Bawdy and i as your gorgeous model friends! :P
1/10/2006 03:53:00 PM
Well, even if there were readers that were helped by this book because of his approach to sobriety, then what is wrong with that? Any help is good, any way out is good.
And even as I was reading the book, some of it seemed a little over the top,(the dental surgery without any sort of pain killers) but I still enjoyed it and thought that the basic idea was probably true. The part about him being wanted in 3 states wasn't a large part of the book anyway. He did spend time in jail. As I was reading the book, I wasn't really sure what his crime was anyway. Just my view.
1/10/2006 04:06:00 PM
Anonymous, I agree that the time in jail wasn't focussed on all that much anyway.
I don't know if you all have a name for the practice of trying to denigrate someone who has been successful. Here it is called The Tall Poppy Syndrome. If someone is more successful than most then you need to chop them down to size.
If it turns out that Frey really wasn't telling the truth, then sure, expose him, but if it is that there were portions that he either remembered incorrectly or made up completely but the whole context of the book was basically true, then I don't have as much of a problem with that.
1/10/2006 04:10:00 PM
Personally -- no matter how much I'll philosophize about how lies can tell truth, et cetera -- fiction and nonfiction are separate genres for a reason. I read nonfiction from a different inner perspective. I leave myself open to crawling into someone else's head.
To take advantage of that and *use* that for book sales is, well, kinda violating.
1/10/2006 04:24:00 PM
Well to me,I don't think the real issue is that he lied, but that he lied (or embelished) in a a NON-fiction book, it seems to me that non-ficiton means: NON-lies & NON-making up stuff, but telling what really happened. lol
of course didn't read the book, since hate all of Oprah's selection. They are depressing beyond words!
1/10/2006 07:37:00 PM
i just saw this allegation on tv when i got home actually..and yea.. he was also firmed (during his interview with Oprah) that the book was based on his so-called reliable documents. anyway....if this is one of O's fave book..ive gotta read it :)
1/10/2006 08:45:00 PM
OMG, I was just about to buy it thinking it must make for a good read. Cant imagine Oprah's reaction though. OOps, I guess. I'll wait, though before completely denouncing the book.
1/11/2006 02:05:00 PM
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