powerful and well-written

It was not something that i would usually read but then this book teaches you a lot. I couldn't really relate to James because I have never been to rehab nor was I ever a junkie but still this book gives you a lot to think about.

Very recommended read. :)

This book isn't getting one star from me on the basis of its fabrication- it's getting one star from me on the basis that it is absolute codswallop. The machismo bollocks that permeates every line of this thing is about as frustrating as it can get, and there's not a lot to be said for the healing power of love at first sight or any of the 'special' traits that the author apparently shows that makes him 'special' and 'worth saving'. The fact that he constantly harps on about his 'mind powers' gets very tired very quickly, and honestly does more harm than good- to poo-poo the journeys of so many people facing addiction who have found help through AA and the Twelve Steps with how strong you are on the basis of using only your brain is senseless and does very little to help people recover. Also, how many truncated sentences can one man use? This is like an exercise in juvenile slam poetry, but where the topic is only how much this guy loves himself.

As for the fact that the whole thing was fairly well wildly made up, I fail to see how that could not have been picked up on sooner. There's absolutely nothing here that brings plausibility in the wake of the dental appointment, and I wish I could just walk up to a Mafioso and have him declare that I'm the son he never had just because I seem special. It's rather odd too how the bulk of these characters conveniently die, somewhat as a cautionary tale I presume, but also as a convenient removal of loose ends. I'm not saying it reeks of fakery...I'm saying it stinks of it. Not something I can even see should've been picked for Oprah's Book Club in any fashion, but if you're going to say no to 'My Dark Vanessa' and yes to 'American Dirt', I think the taste levels already need querying anyway.

This book was originally published as a memoir in 2003, purportedly about the author's experience overcoming a drug addiction as young adult. After Oprah added it to her book club list in 2005, it became a #1 NYT best seller. Under the scrutiny of a wider audience, people began to question if the author's claims were true, because the story was gratuitously shocking and gross. After it came to light that the most of it was fabricated or extremely embellished, Oprah and many readers were outraged when they learned they had been duped.

I heard of it for the first time when the scandal hit the news, which piqued my interest. I was curious if it would be good any good knowing it was fiction or if most of what made it good was believing that someone actually overcame so much adversity. I gave it 3 stars when I rated it on a different website in 2007, so that's what I'm giving it on goodreads, but I read it more than 10 years ago as if this review (March 2017) and I was just out of college back then. I have a feeling I'd give it a lower rating if I read it again now. I can't remember much about it anymore though.

It was no surprise when it came out he fictionalized parts-except maybe that Oprah believed him.

"As I looked around the room I saw that she was reading a book in one of the beds. Light streamed through one of the windows and across her face and I had never seen anything or anyone so beautiful in my life. If my heart had stopped at that moment I woul dhave fallen happy and fallen full and I would have seen in life all that I had wanted to see and all that I needed to see. Fall. Let me fall."

"... her voice calms me and her arms warm me and her smell lightens me and I can feel her heart beat and if she let me go right now I would fall and the need and confusion and fear and regret and horror and shame and weakness and fragility are exposed to the soft strength of her open arms..."

"... [she] cradles me like a broken child. My face and her shoulder and her shirt and her hair are wet with my tears. I slow down and I start to breath slowly and deeply and her hair smells clean and I open my eyes because I want to see it and it is all that I can see. It is... radiant with moisture. I want to touch it amd O reach with one of my hands and I run my hand from the crown along her neck and her back to the base of her rib and it is a thin perfect sheer and I let it slowly drop from the tips of my fingers and when it is gone I miss it."

"When she walks in my heart jumps and my hands shake and me myself inside settles it settles and those things for which there are no words ignite and they start firing firing firing."

"The first time I saw you, my heart fell. The second time I saw you, my heart fell. The third time fourth time fifth time and every time since, my heart has fallen. I stared at her. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Your hair, your eyes, your lips, your body that you haven't grown into, the way you walk, smile, laugh, the way your cheeks drop when you're mad or upset, the way you drag your feet when you're tired. Every single thing about you is beautiful. I stared at her. When I see you the world stops. It stops and all that exists for me is you and my eyes staring at you. There's nothign else. No noise, no other people, no thoughts or worries, no yesterday, no tomorrow. The world justs tops, and it is a beautiful place, and there is only you. Just you, and my eyes staring at you. I stared. When you're gone, the world starts again, and I don't like it as much. I can live in it, but I don't like it. I just walk around in ti amd wait to see you again and wait for it to stop again. I love it when it stops. It's the best thing I've ever known or ever felt, the best thing, and that, beautiful girl, is why I stare at you."

"She smiled brighter, wider, a smile more full of what she is, which is beautiful. Inside and out. The smile. Her. Beautiful."

Before I read A Million Little Pieces, I thought it got a lot of hate because Oprah publicly humiliated James Frey on her show with fraud allegations (is it non-fiction or fiction?) Then after the first chapter, I thought it was because of all the short, repetitive sentences - so many that I can't imagine reading this book with my eyeballs. I would've DNF'd it for sure.

But no. The hate isn't because we readers were swindled by the writer. It isn't all the repetition and baby sentences. It's because people don't like the last page. (Personally, the last page bothered me much less than the excruciating scene at the dentist office - holy moly!)

I'm a bit of a realist. I don't want to read semi-autobiographical/ partially fictional books about addicts that end with a HEA. If I'm going to read about addicts, I expect to feel some feelings and end up with my heart torn out. You see I gave this only 4 stars, so I didn't quite get all I was hoping for...

Still, James (the character based on the author) is a... well, likeable's not the right word exactly, but dammit, he's not unlikeable! We meet James the moment he arrives at the ever-dreaded rock bottom, only 1 more binge away from death. And yet he's not a pathetic loser; you get the feeling that he could've been very successful in life if he'd just taken the right fork instead of the left somewhere back in his childhood. He's tough and he's a fighter. He defies the 12 Steps applied by the rehab - not because he doesn't want to get better, but because he doesn't believe in God or shifting the blame from his own mistakes and decisions. James knows he got himself into this with his eyes wide open, and he knows only he can get himself back out. Yeah, James is a great character, but I thought his family's unwavering support - after putting up with 13+ years of drinking, drugs and crime - wasn't remotely realistic. His fellow patients at the clinic aren't very scummy or mental, which isn't realistic either.

I've been meaning to read A Million Little Pieces for many, many years now. I was so invested in James' compelling story that I finished it in a single day. I really liked it, and I'm glad I listened to it on audio. The narrator, Oliver Wyman, did a fantastic job of smoothing out what would've been an incredibly choppy reading experience. He also worked a lot of emotion into his voice, which went a long way to improving the experience further.

Loved it. A little difficult to get through at times due to the lack of quotation marks, commas, and the constant repetition.

بعد از کلی پیشنهاد بالاخره خوندمش. اونقدرها هم که ازش تعریف میکردن جذبم نکرد. البته داستان بدی نیست و پر از نکات خوبه. داستان سریع پیش میره و با اینکه بخش های زیادیش فقط از دیالوگ تشکیل شده، روند خطیش آزاد دهنده و کسل کننده نیست و خسته نمیکنه. جالبیش این بود که داستان در واقع گذشته ی خود نویسنده س، و باید بگم که داستان تلخیه. بعضی قسمت هاش اونقدراذیت کننده س که واقعا ترسناک میشه یجورایی. داستان راجع به کنترل خود و همچنین از دست دادن کنترل هست. و در انتها بالاخره به نتیجه میرسه که باید بهتر شد، ادامه داد و زندگی کرد. داستان در کل خیلی هم تاریک نیست. از نکته های خوب دیگه ش، ارجاع های فلسفی خوبیه که داره.

Actual rating: 1.5/5 stars

Hmmm. Where do I start?
Let's begin by the fact that this book is a FRAUD.
I didn't know that when I was still half-a-book, but when I found out, I didn't want to finish. I mean, why read a book that is a literary HOAX? Anyways, I didn't want to dissapoint my friend(the one who gave me this book), so I FINISHED the whole thing.

What can I say? It was gripping. The imagery was great. When he was describing about him throwing up, I LITERALLY felt it. And yes, his writing did confused me. No quotation marks and written in a VERY relaxed pace(Pretty unique if you ask me). It did took a few more re-reads to figure out which one was the talking and which one was the narration. The best part was the second-half: It moved much faster than the first.
The process of a very stubborn, angry man to a man who realizes that he is happy without drugs was indeed believable(I'm floored by his brutal honesty. *sarcasm*). If being an Addict makes you a hateful, pain in the ass, then I don't want to be one. This book is very helpful to make people stay sober.
And then there's Lilly. Remember her? Of course you do. She just didn't seem . . . believable. I guess i just found some of James Frey's "million little lies".

In conclusion, if you want a book that is explicit and at the same time makes you realize of what being an Addict REALLY means, then this book is for you. If you want a book that is a REAL memoir from someone who used to be an Addict, then I'm very sorry. This is not the right book.

Going into James Frey's A Million Little Pieces I thought I'd be prepared - I remember what happened with him on Oprah and all that. By reading it now rather than back then I wasn't bothered so much by the fact that this "memoir" is fictionalized. Knowing about the fact that details and major parts were "embellished" didn't bother me. Though I was really irritated while reading the entire book - to be honest I skimmed it - and some of that has to do with the situations the "author" has gotten himself into in general. A good chunk of it though comes from the style. I mean, I like the idea of stream of consciousness inside the head of an addict, but I didn't actually like how it turned out. There's a lot of repetition, random capitalization of nouns, few chapter or section breaks, and there are no quotation marks. It's kind of difficult to follow, especially if you're just trying to keep track of who is supposed to be speaking and when. Overall, I'm glad I didn't read this a decade ago or I would have been really upset!

A very depressing, graphic, detailed look inside a drug/alcohol rehab clinic. A true memoir tainted by controversy, even so it would be a good deterrent if impressionable teens were to read it. It’s pretty scary!

Since it was a day by day account of Jame’s time in treatment it became a bit boring. But.....his day at the dentist made my teeth ache and if he vomited one more time I was going to also!! I’m glad he’s stayed sober all these years and he would be a good lecturer on the middle school circuit.

I read it because I was bookless on a stormy Saturday afternoon and my neighborhood “Little Library” was a lot closer than my regular branch. Not my normal choice, but it was an eye opening read.