James Frey

Got A Million Little Pieces for A Xmas gift, read it in three days and went and bought My Friend Leonard. in the midst of reading Leonard, The Smoking Gun comes out with its investigative piece on Mr. Frey's "criminal" past (see here). Firstly, congrats to the Gun for its piece. I read the article with a combination of disappointment and chagrin. Mr. Frey's account remains interesting (in retrospect) although now I'm irritated. Please don't sell me something that you hold out as true that falls so horribly short on accuracy.

The fact that he falls so short on facts critical to his story leaves me less than willing to accept the even more fanciful events detailed in his book (i.e., his surreptitious rehab relationship, his crackhouse rescue of his rehab honey with the assistance of rehab staff and his horrifing account of root canal sans novocaine to name 3). Recovery, I am told is all about honesty, if Mr. Frey can't even be honest with the legal acpects of his story how are we to believe the rest. This is particularly the case since Mr. Frey casually (if not angrily) dismisses the all aspects of the suggested path to recovery (various 12 step programs).

Mr. Frey's enfeebled attempts to avoid accountability by cloaking himself in the sphere of protection he calls "memoir" is pitiable. His behavior simply sucks.