I just finished reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. I know all about the controversy that went on between him and Opera Whinfrey when he was on her show but I still wanted to read the book anyway. I found the book to be intense, and scary but also very interesting. The book was intense because of everything James went through, and everything that he wrote down. Frey was in a really bad place in his life with all the drugs he did and all the issues he had with his friends and family. Oprah may have given him crap for making up parts of the story, but she should have also praised him for writing what he did. It must have been hard for Frey to live his life before rehab and after rehab as well. It must have been even harder for Frey to relive everything he went through and write it down. It must have also been tough for Frey since rehab is a very private thing, and now he is sharing it with millions of people. I admire him for both his novels and hope that he writes another.

However, now that I just wrote that statement about Frey, it makes me think, did Frey really care about writing his story? Maybe he just wrote the book for all the attention. That could explain why he made up parts of the story. He could have thought that his life in rehab was not very exciting and that no one would want to read the book, hence the extra parts. I wish I had seen the Oprah episode where Frey was on it so that I knew which parts were true and which were false. I think if I had known the parts that were false than I would have enjoyed the book better. The whole time I was reading, I just kept thinking to myself "is this what really happened". I would have been happier not knowing anything about the book, or knowing everything about it, but not being in between like I was. Knowing which parts were false would help me understand Frey better, and understand his way of thinking. His drug habit could have been because he needed attention in his life, and using was one way that he knew how to get it. Now that he doesn't use drugs anymore, he needs another way to get attention in his life. Writing books is another way for people to notice him.

I have just done some research to try and find what really happened between Oprah and Frey. The information is pretty interesting, and now I understand why Oprah became so upset. It seems that Frey has altered a lot in his book. However, I feel that some of the alterations were necessary since he wrote so much about different people. All the characters were based off of real people, and Frey could not have shown their true personalities for fear that someone might have realized who they were. Here are some websites that you guys can go to look at to see what went on. There is one link to MSN videos. You may have to type in "James Frey", and then some videos will show up. The other website is Oprah's. The video version of the conversation is not shown, but there is a conversation written down that you guys can read. As I read it, I must admit that I was pretty shocked of what I saw. I hope you guys enjoy the links, and please tell me what you thought about them, either individually or in comparison to the book!

MSN Link

Oprah Link

I wish I did not analyze the book as much as I just did but now my thoughts are somewhat cleared up about the book and Frey. I wish I had more incite about his life, and I know that whenever I read a memoir I am always going to wonder if what happened to the author was real or not. However, I still enjoy reading memoirs because it lets the reader look into someone else's life with no judgement, which I love doing. I hope to hear what other people thought of "A Million Little Pieces" and "My Friend Lenord", Freys other memoir. I would also like to know if anyone had any other suggestions of what memoirs to read.