You may be thinking you'd like to read this book to see what all the fuss is about. Don't. First of all, even putting the "scandal" aside (and I'm sorry, but if you read this book and didn't know that 90 percent of it or more was absolute bullshit, you really need to do some work on your critical thinking skills), the writing style is embarrassing -- an overwrought, pseudo-macho mess. Second, if you buy this book, you're just inflating Frey's bank account, which is tantamount to rewarding this asshole for appalling behavior. If you want a story about addiction, read Ellen Harris's Like Being Killed instead.

This is the only book to date that I have ever deliberately destroyed after reading -- put it through the shredder at work.

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.

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.

i approached this book with a pretty clean slate: it had been recommended by my sister (typically of good taste, natch) and i enjoy memoirs. reason 'nuff. i knew there was controversy surrounding its factual integrity, but hadn't read about that specifically. i also knew the book ought to stand on its own from a literary perspective, with or without controversy, so proceeded an open (eager?) mind.
i don't know which aspects of the book were exaggerated by the author; frankly, NONE of it felt authentic to me. as a reader i was uninvested in his "struggle" and i rarely felt like any of the gruesome things that happened in the book were anything but choices the author made, never situations of circumstance or mistake or chance.
nonetheless, frey patted himself on the back fairly consistently throughout this book for overcoming each self-constructed obstacle. i can't say i sympathized with his 'achievements' at any point; he was kind of a jerk to anyone who tried to help him, and subsequently (and thanklessly) took said person's help every single time. i felt like every sentence written in the book was an attempt at memorializing himself as a hero to anyone who'd listen.
additionally, i couldn't help but read his dialogue as anything but the same tacky brevity of that during a shootoff in a western movie (james frey cast conveniently as the star/hero/tough guy, of course.)
why is this book as widely-received as it is? i'm puzzled. maybe this memoir should have been filed under 'mystery.'

What a (million little) piece(s) of crap! By the time I finished this book I was craving a few stiff drinks, desperately tearing up the house looking for a syringe and spoon. If I had only thrown this one in the Goodwill bin sooner! I have no clue why anyone would think this was worthwhile reading material. I found it to be vapid, self-aggrandizing bullshit from start to finish.

I read this book before the whole Oprah controversy/confrontation, so that really had no impact upon my lowly opinion. This book was so badly written and sophomoric, I never had an inkling of empathy for any of the characters, particularly the author himself. So why am I wasting my time writing this review? Just in hopes that you will decide not to read this shite! Thank you for just saying no to "A Million Little Pieces" - you would have a much better time reading the operating manual for your toaster oven while smoking a rock.

I was so captivated by this book. For the first 100 pages or so, the narrator has his front four teeth knocked out and I kept having the sensation of no front teeth either! I kept attempting to run my tounge along my barren gums and was "surprised" to find my teeth there instead. It was a completely strange experience, but I mention it just to illustrate how this book immediately transported me to another time and place. Although there were parts where I felt he was too repetitive (no more vomiting details, please!), overall the effect was phenomenal.

I knew about the controversy over the difference between 'memoir' versus 'fiction-based-on-reality' that James Frey sparked with this book, and it was actually part of the reason that I was intrigued enough to buy it and read it myself. I read his forward first (along with a note from the publisher, both added to new editions to respond to the controversy) and was in agreement with him. A memoir is allowed to be somewhat subjective as it is a person's personal recounting of their life and is open to their interpretations and potentially faulty memory. What counts is the sum total of the story.

As I said before, I was completely taken by the book while reading it. Knowing that he "embellished a little bit here and a little bit there" I was frequently curious if it was this part that he altered, or was it this experience that he enhanced, or what details about this person were changed, or did this episode really happen exactly like this? But as I was under the impression that it was only slightly tweaked and just minor details rearranged, it didn't affect my love of the book. I was just smitten.

So then when I breathlessly finished the book and took to the internet to do a little research, I was so disappointed to learn that it was much more than minor details he changed. And I surprised myself by how much it upset me. I had thought that Oprah was over-reacting and being righteous and a stickler for inconsequential academic rules. But now I understand. I was willing to allow a bit of creative freedom on Frey's part, but when it seemed that there was more fabrication than truth, I felt lied to and conned to a certain extent.

But that doesn't change the fact that it was a spectacular read. Labeling it fiction or non-fiction doesn't make the story any less compelling.

As usual I am a bit late to the party having never heard of this book until someone recommended it to me at a party in May 2017! When I mentioned it on my book group it appears the entire world had heard about it and read it, which obviously led me to download it immediately and read it.

I am not going to lie and say it’s a easy read or a brilliant book, it’s bloody harrowing and painful and raw. If you have any knowledge of addictions, the 12 step programme or rehab then this book doesn’t just speak to you, it shouts and screams and cries and hurts.

A Million Little Pieces was originally published in 2003 as a factual memoir and in September 2005 was picked up as an Oprah’s Book Club selection which then became the number 1 paperback non-fiction book on Amazon and topped the New York Time Best Seller List for 15 straight weeks. In 2008 after a six-week investigation it was revealed that the book contained fabrications and was not a completely factual memoir.

Whether the controversy surrounding this book is true or false, this is an eye-opening, harrowing and breathtakingly painful book to read which I believe will stay with me for years and years.

I usually loathe giving one-star reviews; given I (in all likelihood) will never summon up the patience to write a book of my own, it seems just mean-spirited to trash someone's legitimate effort. Let's just say though fhat in reviewing James Frey's faux drug rehab "memoir" A Million Little Pieces, I had no such misgivings in laying waste to this utter waste of paper. The controversy surrounding the "memoir"'s veracity is irrelevant (though, quite honestly, I don't how in the world Oprah's posse fell for Frey's schlock-fest: only the most naïve reader would take Frey's [or "Frey"'s] nonsense at face value); it's just not written very well. It's not credible. It's intended to be serious; it reads like bad comedy. (The whole time I was reading it it conjured up images of the old Gong Show: Imagine, if you will, Frey reading an excerpt in front of a guest panel, which includes, say, Nipsey Russell, Soupy Sales, and Joanne Worley. He gets to the part where he is given a root canal without anesthesia. Nipsey and Joanne get up and dance a tango, mallets in hand, around the gong; Gene Gene, Unknown Comic, and Chuck Barris all waiting off stage, shaking their heads sadly...ENOUGH! screams Soupy....GONG HIM ALREADY!!!!....)

Still and all, bad writing alone won't warrant a one-star review from me...an author will usually have to go the extra mile (by offending me, getting me sick, or rendering me comatose from sheer boredom) to earn the ignominious one star distinction. Though he never quite bored me, Frey's unfettered egotism and penchant for hyperbole did make me urp up repeatedly. His (ahem, *SPOILER*, as if one could spoil what's already been spoilt) "confession" (at the end of the book to make amends) of beating a priest who he felt was making a sexual advance toward him pretty much sealed the one-star deal for me (not only for being entirely off the drug rehab topic, but for James Frey AND "James Frey" being a complete a--hole ["James" for being a homophobe, and James for showing his true colors]). At that point I felt like taking my metaphorical mallet and banging the gong repeatedly, then beating "James" (and, even, James) over the head with it.

Just awful.

It gets 4 stars because the farking font and free association paragraph style KILLED me (otherwise, it's probably 4.25). I never read this when Oprah told me to and I still didn't read it when she told me not to. I picked it up now because it popped up on about 10 different "Kelly, stop avoiding it and just read this YOU IDIOT" lists and I'm glad I did. It was graphic, dark and so absolutely grotesque that I had to put it down a couple of times, but man was it good. If asked my opinion, I believe Frey's story is about 75% pure bullshit. That's alright by me, though. It's still a good read.

Man, this was an absolutely terrible book. When I worked in a book store, long long ago, I was instantly put off by the description on the back. "The most lacerating tale of drug addiction since William S. Burroughs' Junky." I am not sure it is fair to compare a first time novelist with one of the best writers of our time. This feeling was exaggerated once talk of deception on the part of Frey founds its way to my ears. I didn't have much interest in EVER reading this, but it was recommended as a great work of FICTION by a very trusted friend, and my brother won it in a raffle.

I really should have skipped to the last page, and avoided all of the mucky, icky content. Maybe the worst book I have ever read. I can't believe so many people were touched by it. It is especially hard for me to imagine Oprah and her fans being so drawn in. For me, I didn't really care if the entire thing was a lie, it was horribly written. I didn't care for any of the characters, didn't feel like his time in rehab was very awful, didn't like the general theme of the book. Definitely seemed like some chump ass hat bragging about what a badass he was in college. Good thing mommy and daddums saved him, and continue to defend his lame ass book. Whoops, I got angry there, and strayed from the original point of this review. Not in ANY WAY a significant contribution to literature, ideas, life, culture, etc. Simply horrible to read, did not enjoy, reader beware!

My best friend was reading it maybe 6 years ago. I went over her house one day to hang out. After realizing that she wouldn't be putting that book down anytime soon, I complained about wasting my time and she had me read one page, any page. I understood why she wasn't putting it down and let her be.

Years later, after book club hype and before memoir controversy, my mom had me read it. I've always been open minded in terms of memoirs and their relativity to fact. This wasn't the first time truths have been stretched in memoirs, it only received such an incredible response because Oprah felt like an asshole and as far as book sales are concerned, shes the god of high sales. The reason why I personally didn't automatically believe it was all 100% true while reading it is because this man is trying to remember things he did while he was messed up long ago. I don't remember what happened last night when I was drunk, but I can come up with a concept in my head of what happened through what I do remember (or perceive) and through what I was told from others with me. Even Larry King admitted in his interview with Frey that he had difficulty remembering things from his past when he wrote his own memoir.

I personally didn't mind that he stretched the truth and changed names and is now considered a liar. The book was good, thats all. My favorite concept that I got from reading this book was the descriptive writing made me almost feel his pain and I found it interesting that I felt better the more that he got better; from nausia and emotionally draining to clean and feeling a sense of relief.

I wont read it again, only because once was enough for me. But, I'm still a fan. It also helps to have read the second book. Maybe he should write a story about his life after the controversy. Hopefully he didnt start back on the drinking after everyone giving him so much shit, he looked terrible on the second Oprah appearance.

Not exactly a descriptive writer.
Instead he likes to repeat for emphasis.
He repeats.
He loves to repeat.
He takes a phrase and reuses it multiple times.
He repeats.
With his pale green eyes.
He repeats.

If you’re into that type of prose, excellent. If you are not you may find yourself thinking “okay we get it” a lot throughout this book