One of the best books I've ever read. Forget what Oprah said about the guy, she's just covering her own rich butt. Offers a wonderful perspective on those battling their own addiction, whatever that may be. (We all have at least one.) Who really cares if every non-important detail isn't true. The general message of the book is not to be missed. I had a hard time putting it down.

I see that many people who read this novel were disappointed (and rated it accordingly) because they were hoping for an eloquent piece of literary fiction about addiction. I think they couldn't appreciate the agonizingly disjointed and grammatically atrocious work in front of them as a deliberate representation of a sick mind and effed-up life.

Did James Frey himself intend to make A Million Little Pieces so excruciating to read? Doubtful, but I'll give him the credit for the careful crafting anyway. Just like Sapphire's Precious, it needed to be painful. If you have been unlucky enough to lose a loved one to addiction or mental illness, you'll understand why this works, without my, or anyone's, explanation. In my humble opinion, it certainly hit the mark.

The only reason that I finished this book was that I brought it with me from London and I was going around small coastal towns in the Dominican Republic offering no alternative reading material. But what a waste of 500+ pages of reading time! I cannot think of anything that Frey wants to say in this book other than: Look at how fucked-up I am. I'm not asking for your sympathy or understanding - and fuck you if you even think of pitying me. Nor am I writing to help others with similar addiction problems. As a matter of fact, I hurt those who try to help me and ridicule the methods that are used in the rehab clinics. I just want you to look at how fucked-up I am and revel in that because I'm a narcissistic asshole and I just love to talk about myself. I will lie all through the book to make myself look tough and bad-ass, and after my lies are exposed I will try to justify them by saying that I wanted my story to have ebb and flow. I will attempt to manipulate your emotions into thinking that I'm not an asshole all the time. There was this poor fucked-up crack whore in my rehab who fell for me. I will make more cheese out of that story than Wisconsin produces in a year. Of course, I have more reasons to write this book than just telling you how fucked-up I am. Buy it and make me rich. That would be nice, wouldn't it?

Large parts of this book is unbelievably mundane and boring; some are downright asinine. The only reason that this book has blown up to more than 500 pages is that Frey just loves to talk about himself. There's a story in the book about some ex-patient rock star who comes to the clinic to talk about his experience and recovery. Frey ridicules his speech as all lies and self-aggrandizing bullshit. His own book can be described in the exact same way, and I have a feeling that he knows it very well. Frey probably thinks that he's come up with some really avant-garde experimental writing style by capitalizing random nouns and I-speak-he-speaks dialogs, but his writing is mediocre and irritating. It becomes good on rare occasions, like the passage describing his root-canal procedure without anesthesia (another lie, by the way), but on other occasions he relapses to the other extreme and writes like a barely-literate juvenile.

I don't care about this guy and I don't care about his story. The book left me feeling angry at myself for giving some self-indulgent asshole the satisfaction of having another reader. I'm really happy that I borrowed the book from the library and didn't give him some of my money as well.

I just love you, James!

I found this book, a long depressing read, Not my cup of tea.

This was even better than most drug addiction memoirs. Instead of a complete reminiscence of "this is why you shouldn't do drugs, kids", you also travelled with him THROUGH rehab and the entire healing process. Very well written. I wish him all the best.

In 2003, James Frey released A Million Little Pieces, a memoir detailing his 10 year battle with drug and alcohol abuse. Praised by critics and championed by Oprah Winfrey, it seemed like Frey had achieved literary success. However, fast forward 2 years and website, "The Smoking Gun", investigated the legitimacy of some of the claims made in Frey's memoir. It turns out that Frey had embellished a few of the major events within his autobiography; mostly to do with jail time and his main love interest. Unfortunately, almost all reviews and press related to this book since that time period dwell heavily on the controversy and less on the story itself and really, it's not very fair.

A lot of people felt slighted or even taken advantage of due to Frey's erroneous claims and of course, people are entitled to their own opinions; one of the reasons I even review things to begin with. I never had this problem, not once. I heard about Frey's writing style; how different and refreshing it is - I was interested. From the get-go, I basically treated the book as fiction. Sure, after it was over, I was a little curious as to what was "real" and what was "heightened" or "imagined" and I did some research. I was a little disappointed but it didn't change the effect the book had on me, I still loved it either way.

I really felt for Frey's situation. Granted, it's all self inflicted and given my stance on drugs and alcohol, I rarely am able to show sympathy for anyone who makes that life choice. With Frey - or at least Frey's version of himself - you can really tell that deep down inside, he's a nice guy and you find yourself pulling for him from the very start. Frey has a way with writing about hostility and anger that you find yourself anxious for what's going to happen next - you keep waiting for people to loose their cool. This kind of writing makes the book hard to put down.

Also posted at Every Read Thing

** This may be one of the only books I can simultaneously place on both the fiction and non-fiction shelf.

"אני לבד. לבד כאן ולבד בעולם. לבד בלב ולבד במוח. לבד בכל מקום, כל הזמן, מאז שאני זוכר. לבד עם המשפחה, לבד עם החברים, לבד בחדר מלא אנשים. לבד כשאני מתעורר, לבד במהלך כל יום ויום, לבד כשאני מגיע לבסוף אל החשכה. אני לבד בזוועה שלי. לבד בזוועה שלי. אני לא רוצה להיות לבד. מעולם לא רציתי להיות לבד. אני שונא את זה. נורא שונא את זה. "

הספר "מיליון רסיסים קטנים" עורר שערוריה רבתית בזמנו בשל החירות הספרותית שנקט המחבר בחלקים מסוימים של הספר וכך נתפס שרימה את ציבור הקוראים שלו שסבר (גם בעידוד הסופר) שמדובר בסיפור אמיתי. יחד עם זאת מדובר בסיפור סוחף, שואב ונוגע ללב שקשה להתנתק ממנו.

זהו סיפורו של בחור בן 23 ממשפחה נורמטיבית, שבוקר אחד מתעורר במטוס לאחר שאיבד 4 משיניו, חור מדמם בלחיו ואין לו זיכרון מאין הוא מגיע ולאן הוא טס. לאחר שהוא נאסף ע"י הוריו בשדה התעופה הוא מאושפז במכון גמילה מאלכוהול וסמים וכך הוא מתאר את חיו:

"ג'יימס פריי. נולד בקליבלנד, אוהיו, ב-12 בספטמבר 1969. התחיל לגנוב שלוקים מכוסיות משקה בגיל שבע. דפק את הראש בפעם הראשונה בגיל עשר. הקיא משתיה מופרזת בפעם הראשונה בגיל עשר. עישן גראס בגיל 12. בגיל 13 שתה ועישן בקביעות. איבד את ההכרה בפעם הראשונה בגיל 14. בגיל 15 נעצר 3 פעמים. על נהיגה ללא רישיון, ונדליזם וחבלה ברכוש, שכרות בציבור והחזקת אלכוהול בהיותו קטין. בילה לילה במעצר. בגיל 15 התנסה בפעם הראשונה בקוקאין, אל-אס-די וספיד. נעצר שלוש פעמים נוספות בגיל 16..."

וכך בגיל 23, מוכה וחבוט כשגופו על סף התמוטטות ומוות ונפשו שבורה הוא צריך להחליט האם להיאבק למען החיים או לרדת ביגון שאולה. כשגופו ונפשו מבקשים את האלכוהול ואת הסמים, הוא יודע שאם יבחר בדרך הזו הוא גוזר את גורלו למוות. הוא אינו מאמין בשיטת 12 הצעדים וטוען שהשיטה מחליפה התמכרות אחת באחרת. וכך בעודו באישפוז במכון, יום אחרי יום הוא נלחם בשדה הקרב לפעמים הוא מצליח, לפעמים הוא נכשל, אבל תמיד בקצב מסחרר שואב בלי רחמים על עצמו או על הקורא רק הכרה צלולה בעבר ובכאב שהוא מסב למשפחתו ולקרוביו.

"השערים פתוחים ושלוש־עשרה שנים של התמכרות, אלימות, גיהינום ומה שמתלווה אליהם מבטאות את עצמן בדמעות הדחוסות וביבבות הכבדות ובקוצר הנשימה ובתחושת האובדן העצומה. האובדן מתפשט בי, ממלא אותי, מכריע אותי. זה אובדן של ילדות של התבגרות של אושר של נורמליות של אהבה של אמון של תבונה של אמונה באלוהים של משפחה של חברים של עתיד של פוטנציאל של כבוד עצמי של אנושיות של
שפיות של עצמי של הכול הכול הכול. איבדתי הכול ואני אבוד ונותר גוש של קינה, עצב, יגון, צער וכאב לב. אני אבוד. איבדתי. הכול. הכול."

גם אם הסופר נקט חירות סיפרותית, אין לי ספק שעמדה מאחורי הדבר החלטה מודעת על המסר שהוא מבקש להעביר לקוראים. אדם הבוחר בדרך האלכוהול והסמים צפוי לכאב, בדידות ואובדן של כל מה שידע בחייו. אני מאמינה שהסופר חשב שהמטרה מקדשת האמצעים ולטעמי הוא באמת עשה עבודה טובה מאוד.

הספר מאוד אמין, חשוף ולוכד. בקצה הסיפור יש תקווה, יש חברות, יש אהבה וגם אם אין אמונה באלוהים, יש אמונה בכוחות הריפוי האנושיים.

If I could rate this is zero I would. This was one of the most horrible books I've ever wasted time on. I told people around me how fake this book was before thr truth ever came out. Absolutely crazy that this book is still going so strong. Frey should be ashamed of himself for trying to play this off as a memoir when it is in fact fiction. Even if he did claim it as it was it still a horribely written book. STAY AWAY!!

I remember reading this eons ago when it came out on a recommendation from a friend. Didn't like it. I couldn't empathize with the point of view at all. Then Oprah came out and told him off for fabricating the entire story. Wasn't surprised at all.

Nope not happy that he started Full Fathom Five

Reviewed by Taylor Rector for TeensReadToo.com

This is a terrifying novel about drug and alcohol addiction and rehabilitation. Anyone who has been or is in rehab for anything should be required to read this book. Anyone who has family members in rehab should read this book. Basically, everyone over the age of 14 should have to read this book.

It depicts the horrible tragedy of addiction and how Mr. Frey overcomes it. He knows that he has an addiction problem when he wakes up on a plane not knowing how he got there, where the plane is going, or how he got a broken nose and a hole through his cheek. When the plane lands, he gets off the plane and has his parents drive him to rehab, where he receives detoxification and learns how to control his drinking and drug addictions.

The book is his journey through rehab and how be becomes a better person. There is a lot of vulgarity and things that seem inappropriate but are a must for the story. The language is probably how everyone talked and the extreme drug situations are really what he went through.

There has been a lot of controversy over this book because there are parts that are "embellished" and altered. If you can see though all of that, then this book is truly amazing. I wouldn't suggest reading this book if you are under the age of fourteen due the language and theme of the book. You also might not want to read A MILLION LITTLE PIECES if you have a faint heart or easily get sick to your stomach because there are some extremely graphic scenes in the book. This is one I highly recommend, though.

Not even a fifth through the book , and so much unbelievable horseshit already
He wouldn't have been put on a plane by a dr when he had a face with large laceration through to his mouth covered in blood, vomit and snot
On admission to rehab (and a very expensive one at that) they waited a day before they adjusted his broken nose and stitched up his face
He had 2 root canals without anaesthesia and was fitted with caps on the same dental visit, while strapped down to the chair.
He was vomiting blood and chunks of his stomach daily with apparently no medication for it?
Finished now and changed rating from 1-3
The initial lies that had me shaking my head calmed down and developed into an interesting and more honest account of humanity and addiction. Sad but very relatable