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A Million Little Pieces | 
 enlarge | Author: James Frey
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $18.35
You Save: $16.60 (47%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  1832 reviews
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B000BPJVFE
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Amazon.com Review
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 doesnt 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
Product Description
“The most lacerating tale of drug addiction since William S. Burroughs’ Junky.” —The Boston Globe
“Again and again, the book delivers recollections that leave the reader winded and unsteady. James Frey’s staggering recovery memoir could well be seen as the final word on the topic.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“A brutal, beautifully written memoir.”—The Denver Post
“Gripping . . . A great story . . . You can’t help but cheer his victory.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1827 more reviews...
 what a fraud November 14, 2008
I am not a recovering drug addict or alcoholic, a rehab industry professional or anybody who would know if this was true or fiction and I bought the book and read it from cover to cover in a matter of days. After reading the book I picked up my friend Leonard and realized that much of what he had written in his first book was false. My sympathy for this man and his supposed ordeal quickly changed to disgust! Don't buy this book and put another penny into this mans pocket!
 Read it and make your own opinion. November 3, 2008
Fiction or not, this book was beautifully written, insightful and hopeful. Do not let the controversy stray you away from giving it a chance - it is an amazing, touching story.
 Could barely get through it November 1, 2008
I was reading this for book club. There are some interesting parts of it, but I was disgusted so much of the time that I couldn't read more than 10 or 15 pages without putting it down.
Great Read! October 28, 2008
OK, I will be honest. The big mess on Ophrah is what made me want to read this book. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I had no problems whatsoever that this book was not an autobiography. It was still a great read. I have been around addicts who have been to rehab, and this is an accurate account for some. The story drew me in and made me want to read,read, read! I did not want to put this one down!
I was so hooked by the story, that I did not want it to end. I really felt like I was watching his world unfold right in front of me. Every character came to life.
GREAT BOOK!
incredible October 13, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
True or not, this is one of the most amazing books that I have ever read.
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