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A Million Little Pieces (of lies)?

post #1 of 23
1/27/06 at 11:02am
Thread Starter 
Anyone following the James Frey Scandal "The Man Who Conned Oprah"?

Your thoughts?

He is presumably an ex-addict who went on Oprah to tout his newly published "memoirs":
"A Million Little Pieces".The tome is full of fantastical, crazy, drug-fueled sequences and Oprah put it on her book club, automatically upping Frey's annual income over 6 digits...

It has been recently reported on the smoking gun site (below) that he lied about some pretty serious and pivotal details... He went on Oprah yesterday and admitted he made much of it up (or altered it)...I have NEVER seen Oprah so mad...(well, she used the word "embarrassed")..It was some painful tv to watch..

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive...amesfrey1.html
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post #2 of 23
1/27/06 at 11:10am
He should have just sold it as a fiction piece. When you write a "memoir" it is taken for granted that it is the truth. Lying in a supposedly biographical story is a literary sin, and this guy's credibility has been permanently damaged. It was so unnecessary it seems, since the message of his book could have been gotten across just as easy in a fiction story.
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post #3 of 23
1/27/06 at 11:20am
In a CNN article, they said that he had tried to market the book as fiction for a long time. Summarily rejected. But when he marketed it to the publishers as a "memoir" it was snatched up and published.
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post #4 of 23
1/27/06 at 11:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by valanhb
In a CNN article, they said that he had tried to market the book as fiction for a long time. Summarily rejected. But when he marketed it to the publishers as a "memoir" it was snatched up and published.
Interesting, i didnt know that. Unfortunately he had to be dishonest to be able to get his book published. Tough situation.
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post #5 of 23
1/27/06 at 11:49am
Thread Starter 
Yes, I had heard this too...I am halfway through the novel and honestly, its not that good if its fiction. He's a wannabe Burroughs or trying to be a down and out Hemingway maybe but he isn't a literary genius by any stretch.

I believe that it was turned down as fiction due to the simple fact that it just isn't that great.

And if you are an addict, its going to be downright unbelievable in parts.
I like what one of the journalists said "they let this guy on a plane in his state? I can't even get on with a third piece of luggage"....(he was unconscious and caked with vomit and blood)

I feel for all of the suckers that fell for him. I mean his basic message was ok: Get help and get out. But geez, you just lied to millions of people that are seriously vulnerable...

I am going to keep my copy to see if its worth a few bucks in years to come (as the 1st printing without the disclaimer). I hear the publishers just put out a written apology that stated all future copies would have a disclaimer that these were fictional events.

A million little pieces is still going to be earning Mr. Frey a million little bucks for along while, in any event. Any publicity seems to be good publicity.
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post #6 of 23
1/27/06 at 11:58am
I read in the paper this morning that a couple of readers are filing a class action lawsuit based on the time they lost reading his lies.
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post #7 of 23
1/27/06 at 11:59am
Thread Starter 
Well, if that goes through, I am going to be the first one suing several major newspapers...
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post #8 of 23
1/27/06 at 12:47pm
I watched the first time she had him on her show and I was touched by his story and then to hear that he made most of it up...terrible..there were alot of addicts out there that were looking up to him. I also saw the show yesterday. Very difficult to watch. Oprah was very angry..I could feel the tension just sitting on my couch at home..I can only imagine how it must have felt to be in the studio.
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post #9 of 23
1/27/06 at 3:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loveysmummy
Well, if that goes through, I am going to be the first one suing several major newspapers...
good one
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post #10 of 23
1/27/06 at 3:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ErinandSeamus
I read in the paper this morning that a couple of readers are filing a class action lawsuit based on the time they lost reading his lies.

....I think thats a bit extream.....if they didnt enjoy the book they could have put it down at anytime....but they didnt...they obviously enjoyed the story....so whatever.....

If he lied he lied....oh well....he only hurt himself....(though bad publicity is still good publicity).......and unless some idiot went out and mirrored his fake life than I don't really see what the big deal is.......Oprah is cool....but she got duped and now shes sore...end of story.......
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post #11 of 23
1/27/06 at 4:12pm
I've been following it. I read the book (and loved it). I also read the sequel My Friend Leonard (loved that even more).

When this all first came out, it was more as if he exagerated a few things (jail time etc.) mostly having to do with his criminal past, but that the rehab stuff was all true. Then yesterday on Oprah, it seems as if some of that isn't so true (like the dentist part and the stuff with Lilly).

I don't know how I really feel about it all. I somewhat feel like the essence (sp) of the book is still true, but like Oprah said... why the need to lie. It probably would have been just as good if it was 100% true.

JMO
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post #12 of 23
1/27/06 at 5:59pm
This isn't the first time that Oprah's been duped.

Considering the fact that she's spent the past several days DEFENDING this scumbag, her sudden about face and righteous anger seems rather self-serving. She's facing a serious credibility issue, here.
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post #13 of 23
1/27/06 at 8:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by katl8e
This isn't the first time that Oprah's been duped.

Considering the fact that she's spent the past several days DEFENDING this scumbag, her sudden about face and righteous anger seems rather self-serving. She's facing a serious credibility issue, here.

Good point!
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post #14 of 23
1/27/06 at 10:46pm
I don't know why he agreed to go on the show, he sat there not knowing what to say and reluctant to admit to the lies.
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post #15 of 23
1/28/06 at 5:16am
Does it really matter if he lied or not?

It's not like any of us know him. Its still the same story whether it happened or not, doesnt make a jot of difference to us.

Just read it and enjoy it. Most people lie or exaggerate in the biographies, how exciting would it be if they had all written down the mundane stuff?
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post #16 of 23
1/28/06 at 8:38am
I read the book this fall and Regardless if its true or not I thought it was pretty good reading. She was really mad on her show and I think her professionalism was obvious throughout the beginning of the show. She seemed to calm down toward the end. I don't know know if he was prepared or not when he was on the show he seemed uncomfortable-didn't know what to say perhaps that was good I don't know. His editor while getting heat was quite professional too and stuck behind him. The damage is done to the book even with the disclaimer. I think people though that have a drug problem and have read this book-if they were going to get help I don't know how this effects them.
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post #17 of 23
1/28/06 at 8:57am
Does it matter if he lied? Yes, it does. To the struggling authors of real memoirs, it most certainly does. To those who got passed over while he got his work of fiction published as a memoir, it most certainly does. He got a heck of a lot of money because he claimed his lies (fiction) were true. Just on a basic moral compass, that's wrong. The fact that he shopped his book as fiction before marketing it as a memoir shows that he was fully aware that it was wrong to begin with, that it wasn't a memoir and should have been sold as a work of fiction.

It may not make one iota of difference to some of the readers, but I bet it does to any addicts who took this book as a role model, and it definitely puts a black eye on the publishing industry that they were duped.
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post #18 of 23
1/29/06 at 4:04pm
I don't know much about this but I just got the book for my birthday. My mom bought it before she heard about it, but I heard it was good so I'm still looking forward to reading it.
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post #19 of 23
1/30/06 at 9:42pm
I liked the book quite a bit (regardless of how true it was...I mean this whole thing about his girlfriend hanging herself versus cutting her wrists...who cares HOW it happened? I happened in a gruesome and extreme manner) and am no fan of Oprah's (I just don't understand what makes her so GREAT)...so you can pretty much guess my stance on this issue.
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post #20 of 23
1/31/06 at 5:09am
I haven't read the book. I have read excerpts of his writing, and the style doesn't appeal to me - it seems very self consciously "bad boy", like he's trying too hard.

Good for him, getting it published, though.

I do blame him for being less than forthcoming when the book was chosen for Oprah's book club. At that point, he should have said, this is a "memoir", so based on truth, but not necessarily all true.

Oprah's call to Larry King Live, she said something like "the basic truth of the book is still there, a story of redemption". That would have been the case whether it was discussed as completely factual or not.

However, because he continued to lie about how truthful he had been, this has all blown up in his face.

The whole problem I have with this book is; if he has inspired people with his story about how he rose from his life of crime and addiction (or whatever), and then we find out that he wasn't really much of an addict, or much of a criminal, then how do those people feel now.

I still want Oprah to explain what reason she had to call Larry King Live. She may be angry at Frey, but what on earth did she think she was doing at that point, saying that the truth didn't matter? She apologized for that call, sure, but that doesn't tell me why she had such a lame idea in the first place.
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post #21 of 23
1/31/06 at 10:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammie5
I still want Oprah to explain what reason she had to call Larry King Live. She apologized for that call, sure, but that doesn't tell me why she had such a lame idea in the first place.
She said it was because she was so "caught up" in it all - all of the hundreds of emails she had received about the book and all of the messages on the message boards... basically all of the excitement her readers had over the book.
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post #22 of 23
2/5/06 at 6:59pm
This guy is the Janet Jackson of the literary world ! I read an article that said the Smoking Gun had received requests to investigate other authors of dubious non-fiction books. How can you ever trust in a non-fiction work again ? Of course it wasn't his intent to con Oprah and I'm sure he never expected any of this .. but still, he lied and exaggerated. The publishing houses will be going through new manuscripts with a fine tooth comb to insure they don't wind up in this situation.
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post #23 of 23
2/6/06 at 12:44pm
The thing that bothers me the most about this is that he is exploiting addiction for his own personal profit. True circumstances are understandable and can aid those in recovery, but when it comes to changing the truth to what will sell books and make him a best selling author and then marketing it as his freakin road to recovery--that is sick and twisted. I hope I never run into that man because I'll probably completely freak out, he makes me sick. Thinking about him even makes me sick. But I'm sure he'll get his one day. I hope so.
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