The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/all/20060325165539/http://www.whatbooks.com/store/book/0307276902.html
Book Reviews
home Books Music DVD's Video Games Software Camera Magazines Kitchen contact
USA What-Books UK What-Books Canada What-Books
 
Topselling Books
Arts & Photography
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Engineering
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Law
Literature & Fiction
Medicine
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
 
 


View Larger Picture of A Million Little Pieces  by James Frey

A Million Little Pieces

List price: $14.95
Our price: $8.97
(You save: $ 5.98 )


Read more about A Million Little Pieces
Bookmark A Million Little Pieces for later

A Million Little Pieces
by Authors: James Frey

Paperback
Description: News from Doubleday & Anchor Books

The controversy over James Frey's A Million Little Pieces has caused serious concern at Doubleday and Anchor Books. Recent interpretations of our previous statement notwithstanding, it is not the policy or stance of this company that it doesn’t matter whether a book sold as nonfiction is true. A nonfiction book should adhere to the facts as the author knows them.

It is, however, Doubleday and Anchor's policy to stand with our authors when accusations are initially leveled against their work, and we continue to believe this is right and proper. A publisher's relationship with an author is based to an extent on trust. Mr. Frey's repeated representations of the book's accuracy, throughout publication and promotion, assured us that everything in it was true to his recollections. When the Smoking Gun report appeared, our first response, given that we were still learning the facts of the matter, was to support our author. Since then, we have questioned him about the allegations and have sadly come to the realization that a number of facts have been altered and incidents embellished.

We bear a responsibility for what we publish, and apologize to the reading public for any unintentional confusion surrounding the publication of A Million Little Pieces. We are immediately taking the following actions:

  • We are issuing a publisher's note to be included in all future printings of the book.*
  • James Frey has written an author's note that will appear in all future printings of the book.* Read the author's note.
  • The jacket for all future editions will carry the line "With new notes from the publisher and from the author."

    *Customers should find the Author's Note and Publisher's Note in copies purchased from Amazon.com after April 15, 2006.
    Note: The following editorial reviews were written before the recent revelations by James Frey and the publisher.

    Amazon.com
    The electrifying opening of James Frey's debut memoir, A Million Little Pieces, smash-cuts to the then 23-year-old author on a Chicago-bound plane "covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood." Wanted by authorities in three states, without ID or any money, his face mangled and missing four front teeth, Frey is on a steep descent from a dark marathon of drug abuse. His stunned family checks him into a famed Minnesota drug treatment center where a doctor promises "he will be dead within a few days" if he starts to use again, and where Frey spends two agonizing months of detox confronting "The Fury" head on:

    I want a drink. I want fifty drinks. I want a bottle of the purest, strongest, most destructive, most poisonous alcohol on Earth. I want fifty bottles of it. I want crack, dirty and yellow and filled with formaldehyde. I want a pile of powder meth, five hundred hits of acid, a garbage bag filled with mushrooms, a tube of glue bigger than a truck, a pool of gas large enough to drown in. I want something anything whatever however as much as I can.

    One of the more harrowing sections is when Frey submits to major dental surgery without the benefit of anesthesia or painkillers (he fights the mind-blowing waves of "bayonet" pain by digging his fingers into two old tennis balls until his nails crack). His fellow patients include a damaged crack addict with whom Frey wades into an ill-fated relationship, a federal judge, a former championship boxer, and a mobster (who, upon his release, throws a hilarious surf-and-turf bacchanal, complete with pay-per-view boxing). In the book's epilogue, when Frey ticks off a terse update on everyone, you can almost hear the Jim Carroll Band's brutal survivor's lament "People Who Died" kicking in on the soundtrack of the inevitable film adaptation.

    The rage-fueled memoir is kept in check by Frey's cool, minimalist style. Like his steady mantra, "I am an Alcoholic and I am a drug Addict and I am a Criminal," Frey's use of repetition takes on a crisp, lyrical quality which lends itself to the surreal experience. The book could have benefited from being a bit leaner. Nearly 400 pages is a long time to spend under Frey's influence, and the stylistic acrobatics (no quotation marks, random capitalization, left-aligned text, wild paragraph breaks) may seem too self-conscious for some readers, but beyond the literary fireworks lurks a fierce debut. --Brad Thomas Parsons


  • Average Customer Rating:

    Controversial?

    This book enhances your understanding of substance addiction if you know someone with the problem. If you have to live through the downward spiral experienced by an addicted loved one it may help you make your decisions. If substance addiction has never touched your life this informs you of what it is about especilly from the point of view of the addict. One hopes the contoversy surrounding this book has not kept it from those it might help. The book holds out hope.

    Read more about A Million Little Pieces


    good read for addicts, bad puncuation and a lot of unnecessary profanity

    I didn't like the way the author chose to capitalize certain nouns and use no punctuation marks, but you get used to it. I enjoyed his view of overcoming his many addictions with the help of others, and some good luck. He gets graphic with drug use and sex stories.

    A good read to put yourself in the shoes of an addict and try to understand how bad addiction can be.

    Read more about A Million Little Pieces


    GREAT BOOK!

    Despite what smoking gun and Oprah says about his stories being "imbelishes" it was one of the best books I've read in a long time! It's very inspiring and that's all that matters. So what, if some of the charachters and events were exaggerated, who doesn't exaggerate the truth a little to spice up a story? Bottom line, it's a must read! Give him a break Oprah!

    Read more about A Million Little Pieces


    Have you read this book? or have read a book by this author before? If so then please give the book a review so that we can advise other users on a books' potential.

    Name:
    Comment: 

    Can't find the book you're looking for? Then try Google.
    Google



    My Friend Leonard
    My Friend Leonard

    Night (Oprah's Book Club)
    Night (Oprah's Book Club)

    The Kite Runner
    The Kite Runner

    YOU: The Owner's Manual : An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger
    YOU: The Owner's Manual : An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger

    The Year of Magical Thinking
    The Year of Magical Thinking
    HOME | USA STORE | UK STORE
    DISCLAIMERSILICON CLOUD | WHAT MUSIC | MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS | CAMERA & PHOTO | KITCHEN | NEW PAGES
    STEPHEN KING | TOM CLANCY | BILL BRYSONJK ROWLING | JOHN GRISHAM | DAN BROWN | CHILDRENS BOOKSAWARD WINNING BOOKS
    NICK HORNBY | FOOD & DRINK | HOME & GARDEN | HORROR FICTION | FICTION BOOKS | HISTORY | HUMOR