cried twice

I just loved the story of Leonard and James. A Million Little Pieces touched me in such a way, that made me truly understand some very close friends much better. I just read a review about this book, and the reader wrote about how time doesn't heal wounds. Love does. So true. The love story b/w Leonard and James, and how much they save each other, is a true love story, which I recommend to anyone (just start with A Million Little Pieces)

Frey tells of his life after jail. He is rebuilding his life and facing alcohol without partaking. He tells of what it is like to love again after Lilly (suicide). Leonard is a bigger part of this novel than A Million Pieces, adding spice to Frey's life. Leonard is a role model, Although shady at times. He is kind, caring, and protective. Frey tells of a family that can be created. Frey tells the story as if you are listening to thoughts in his head. It is short and choppy, but a fast read and conclusion to his story.

You had me with the storyline of a strong male friendship and you lost me with the abrupt details of Leonard’s death.

I thought this one was so much more far-fetched than A Million Little Pieces. If I doubted Pieces, this one I downright didn't believe. Once again it should have been promoted as fiction, although actually I think it may have been promoted as such. I thought Pieces was better because it described so much struggling to get to where he got, and My Friend Leonard was pretty much "here I am, la-di-da" with good things happening all the time and a good ending and everyone is happy ever after. Totally unbelievable.

This is a continuation from the first book but I feel like the first book was so much better...
This one has an unexpected twist though so beware lol.
All in all it was good but not as good as the first one.

Basically a second part to a million little pieces. Much better read than I expected. As long as you remember it's a story not a memoir. Actually had me tearing up at the end!

The sequel to James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces” was a book that I found myself reading at all hours of the night. I felt that Frey’s relationship with Leonard had become my relationship with Leonard and it was hard to put the book down. This emotional journey that Frey takes his reader on makes you feel like you are sitting shotgun along for the ride. When I finally finished, I found myself lying in bed at 3am crying.

This is the sequel to A Million Little Pieces and is excellant. I enjoyed learning about the friendship between James and Leonard and felt the book was excellantly written. I loved it. I laughed, cried, and felt a sense of overall satisfaction with the book.

a bit too disjointed for me, but otherwise it is such a bad-ass tale about a bad-ass person

p23: i walk as quickly as i can down the street, i walk jog run walk as fast my lungs allow.

How I Came To Read This Book: I've literally had this book in my to read pile for upwards of three years. I think it deserves an award for sticking it out for so long - and so does my friend Sarah, for lending it to me. I do a roulette to choose my books, hence why this one was passed over so long. That plus I hated 'A Million Little Pieces'.

The Plot: This book essentially fast forwards through James Frey's fictional 90 days in prison after his departure from Hazelden, a rehab facility that serves as the key setting for his first pseudo-memoir, A Million Little PIeces. After those 90 days, James is excited to leave and meet up with his rehab love of his life, Lilly. Things don't go as planned in James' life, as per usual, but he is consistently pulled through by the help of his friend Leonard - whether it's a chunk of change, a job that more than pays the bills, an evening on the town, or simply a shoulder to cry on, this book explores life after rehab and going down the 'right path' through the eyes of 'an Alcoholic, a drug Addict, and a Criminal.'

The Good & The Bad: I won't lie, my book roulette may have skipped over this book once or twice in the past because I really didn't enjoy AMLP. I found it was trying to hard to get the reader to empathize, it was mentally exhausting to wrap your head around Frey's unique verbal spewage of words, and the characters weren't particularly engaging. This time around though, I liked the whole thing a lot more. Frey stopped trying to garner sympathy and simply told a story - the events in his life were enough to tug at the heartstrings a little bit.

It was also exciting to guess where Frey's wanderlust would take him next, whether any of his dark past would catch up with him, and seeing him take tentative steps to full rehabilitation outside of Hazelden. Leonard, who I remember finding kind of annoying, is much more personable and three-dimensional out of rehab. His lifestyle is equally interesting to James' and provided for a good tandem as they both got back to their respective kinds of 'normal'.

I'd easily give this book 3.5 stars - I didn't absolutely love it but I definitely enjoyed it, and certainly enjoyed it more than its prequel.

The Bottom Line: A surprisingly successful follow-up to a book mired in controversy. Read it for the story, not for the debate on what is real.

Anything Memorable: Nope, other than my anecdote that I've had this book in my literal to read pile for years.

50-Book Challenge: Book #43 in 2009.

Did I cry with this book? Yes. Would I have cried if I hadn't read "A Million Little Pieces" first? Probably not. The point is, I cried and you will too if you understand the depth of their relationship.

Frey's writing is a little distracting, especially since there are no "paragraphs," per se, and because he tends to have sentences that aren't completely sentences. Either way, you eventually get into the story and the writing loses its grip on you.

The story is one you have to have understood prior to reading the book. It continues where "A Million Little Pieces" left off and ends leaving you...well, in a million little pieces. No one can dislike the character Leonard, and even if he is fictional, I could care less.