Who cares if he lied. If you remember, the book was listed in the creative non-fiction section of barnes and noble. Every author who has ever written an autobiography has exagerated to some extent. Even you have probably exagerated when you were talking about your past. with all that this guy has gone through, most likely there are points in his life that he just can not remember, so the only thing he can do is make an educated decision as to what may have happened. So what if he over did it. I think that people need to see beyond just the facts of the book and see a human being at the end of the book.

with all that this guy has gone through

Chris, the whole point is that he didn’t go through “all that”…he lied about all the shit that he “went through”.

Hi my name is Jim and I’m a grateful acoholic who has been in the program for over 5 years.

Alcoholics Anonymous page 58.
“They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous h0nesty. Their chances are less than average.”
James Fry thinks he out of the woods on his addiction, I doubt it if he needs his mother to go on Larry King.

A.A. is about honesty. All of James Fry’s criticism against A.A. revolves around his inability of being honest. People made money off of me on my way to addiction, and people will try to make money off of me on my way to recovery. At the very lest A.A. is running at cost. I think James Fry serves as a warning to recovering addicts, beware of what you buy into as it can cost you your life. Without the honesty your averages are less than average.

I am amazed by the defense of this guy! If people read the entire Smoking Gun article about how he repeatedly lied and embellished his “memoir” then I cannot see how they could defend him. Personally, I could care less about Frey…his book does not interest me in the least and since its associated with Oprah, I triple don’t care…but people should know when they are being fed a load of crap. Frey reminds me of a guy I went to high school with…he was an average guy and was involved and somewhat well-liked, but years later when I met him he told me all these hardcore stories of how everyone picked on him and that he took that rage and made something of himself. What ever gets you through the night I guess.

Frey Plays Victim

There are many ironies and some damaging conceptions I think in James Frey’s book, A Million Little Pieces, a book held up as an important lesson in redemption and recovery from addiction (not held up by many people with professional knowledge of addictions, but by the media giant Oprah).

One danger is his conception of addicts playing “victim” if they share their stories and deal with their histories in order to come to grips with their addictions. He argues that one must only, simply, take responsibility for one’s own actions. He rages against lies and claims that truth is all that is important. But then ironically, Frey shares his story, which he admits is partly fictional, and that makes him wealthy and many say “inspirational.”

The biggest irony is that the fictions he creates, which are not small but are important and pervade the narrative threads of the book, are designed to elicit sympathy for him in a way that by his own reasoning would be a creation of himself as “victim”. He suggests (erroneously I think) that the recovery community is all about people playing “victim”. Yet, that is just where he goes with his fictions: He is an outcast, and scorned by his hometown neighbors and would-be friends, held responsible for a death of someone dear to him at a tender young age. He is constantly put down by “the man”, beaten and mistreated by cops. He suffers from “the fury” which leads him to uncontrollable violence and trouble with the law. He is wanted as a criminal in three states. All fiction it now seems.

The most potential damage is caused by his idea that one can overcome an addiction by sheer willpower. Just “hold on” is his pithy, simplistic, uninformative solution. He says he will take responsibility for himself. Ultimately, any addict who achieves recovery is taking responsibility for himself. Responsibility is an ongoing achievement arrived at daily after much work, much introspection, and much honesty. The trick is how to get there. For most people it isn’t a state of grace that just comes spontaneously by ignoring others and doing your own thing. For most it doesn’t just come easily after a short stay at a recovery center, where you ignore most advice and help. How do you do this? Frey describes little insight on this.

Few people with an addiction that took them to the depths that Frey describes would find success in simply “hanging on”, whatever that means. But then, as the honesty of his whole experience can be called into question, do we know what depths Frey’s addiction led to?

All addicts deserve our sympathy and understanding while we simultaneously help them to understand addiction and take responsibility for their actions and lives. It is not an either/or proposition. Frey deserves our sympathy and help as well.

Is Frey willing to take responsibility for his actions? He has taken the money and accepted his Oprah given role as “inspiration” for millions of people. Will he be responsible and responsive to them with the truth that he so values? Instead of once again playing the victim by saying that this call for his honesty and responsibility is the “latest attempt to discredit me,” saying such questions come from “haters”? This is his next real, not imaginary challenge.

Scott A. Johnson
Rocky Point, NY
Recovering Addict and Drug Treatment Counselor

SO WHAT, SOME ONE LIED TO MAKE MONEY….WHY DOES EVEYONE FIND THIS SO OUTRAGOUS?
IT HAPPENS EVERY DAY…..

[...]Oprah retracts her defense of James Frey and makes him admit he lied in his book. Frey is done as an author. [...]

what difference does it make if the book is fiction or non-fiction? Many people have read the book and it has changed their lives. That counts for something. you could argue the Bible is fiction or non-fiction. If someone can take something from the writings and make a life better or change for the good, hasn’t the ends justified the means?
Let it go and let the good James Frey has done with his book speak for itself.

[...] A Million Little Lies [...]