Customer Reviews

Million Little Pieces

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I have worked with alcoholics and addicts for many, many years, and I worked for the Hazelden Foundation, the treatment program the author indicates he attended. His description of the events in treatment never could have happened. All treatment centers are strictly regulated by a licensing board called the Joint Commission as well by state laws. What James Frey describes is in gross violation of these strict standards of accreditation. The treatment center would have been severely disciplined or shut down. Hazelden is one of the finest treatment centers in the world and is the pioneer of treatment as we know it today. Their treatment program is centered on respecting the dignity of each patient and preserving the safety of all who are admitted.

James Frey would not have been admitted into treatment in such terrible medical condition without first being sent to a hospital for care and then admitted only after the hospital staff granted medical clearance. He wouldn't have been given stitches in his face at the treatment center, because treatment centers aren't licensed to give that level of medical care. Yes, recovering people can use anesthetic. Anesthetic is not an addictive drug, so no one needs to endure painful dental work or stitches or surgery without masking the pain. Pain medications (which are addictive) are used when necessary, such as after major surgery.

There are no men in white coats with syringes tackling people who misbehave. People in treatment don't behave in ways the author describes. People are mostly kind, caring and thoughtful. Disagreements are generally mild in nature, and mood-swings are usually the worst we must contend with. When someone behaves in an unacceptable manner, they are asked to change their behavior or be discharged. Treatment romances are never tolerated because they are a precursor to relapse and disrupt the entire unit. Physical violence always results in discharge, as does destruction of property. A patient would be asked to leave immediately if he destroyed a room full of furniture, for example. (Accomplishing this feat, by the way, would be extremely difficult because the furniture is made of heavy wood, built for endurance.)

The author's assertion that a doctor left the ER without treating him and then drove him to an airport is equally astonishing. Putting a patient on an airplane, where he cannot access emergency medical care while suffering from severe head injuries is unthinkable. That the airlines allowed James Frey on the plane is impossible to believe. These things simply aren't allowed to happen for very obvious and good reasons.

It goes without saying that counselors don't drive patients to crack houses-or anywhere else-while they are in treatment. Doing so would result in immediate dismissal. Never have I heard people screaming in detox, nor would someone be left lying on a floor overnight. Patients are well monitored and vitals are checked on a regular basis to be certain that blood pressure isn't dangerously high due to the body coming off alcohol and/or drugs. Without close monitoring, we would risk strokes or heart attacks. It is also surprising that almost everyone the author went through treatment with has died or disappeared in rather unorthodox ways. I've never know of this to happen and none of my colleagues, whom I've asked, have ever heard of this either. We sometimes hear that one individual out of a treatment group dies, but even that is fairly rare. People do relapse after treatment, but that happens primarily because people don't follow their aftercare plan.

I hope if you read this book, you will keep in mind that this description of treatment is fiction. No one who is thinking of going into treatment to seek help should be afraid, thinking they will experience things similar to what the author has described. All reputable treatment centers offer caring support, preserve patients' dignity and will not allow one person's behavior jeopardize the wellbeing of all others. As for the author's assertion that he has stayed sober without the help of AA or other 12 step groups, that may be true, but only about 2% of addicted people find this method successful. And of that 2%, most continue to behave in much the same way they did when they were drinking or using drugs, only without the alcohol or drugs in their systems. Sometimes they are so unhappy and angry being "dry" because, without a recovery program, they haven't learned to find contentment in sobriety, and their behavior becomes more intolerable than before. The main purpose of AA isn't just to quit drinking or taking drugs, but to become a better person in recovery.

Having read Another Day in Paradise by Eddie Little, it became very obvious to me that James is living vicariously through Eddie's book. You must read Eddie's book and then you will see how clearly AMLP parallels the Little book. From the same basic characters to their almost identical pasts, I found myself becoming angered at this blatant rip-off. Lilly IS Rosie, right down to the description of the gang rape scenes in both books. As a result, I just do not believe anything in James book actually happened, other than the fact that he spent time in a rehab facility. It was all a fantasy based in large part on Eddie Little's book.

Another tip-off - on Oprah's site there is an interview with James and someone asked him the significance of the scribbles at the start of each chapter. James stated that he had wanted to start each chapter with a full page of pure black, but it would have been cost-prohibitive. Hmmmmm, Another Day in Paradise starts each chapter with a page printed half in black. Coincidence, no?

This is just so wrong.

This book seems like complete fiction -and bad fiction at that. I'm stunned that Oprah's group didn't do any research - no airline would let this guy on the plane covered in vomit and blood. No rehab facility would let meals be catered, patients gamble to televised football games nor, especially, let one of the patients lead a counselor into a crackhouse in search of a patient that left the facility. James Frey is a failed screenwriter that came up with his best dose of fiction and a lot of desperate people bought it. Funny how the "people" or should I say "characters" that could have exposed him are all dead. I doubt that any really existed, particulary "Leonard" the mobster who says the author is the toughest kid he'd ever met. Pure, awful, dangerous fiction.

I am an alcoholic with my last drink being August 7, 1998. I did not go to AA and could relate to James Frey. As I was reading this amazing and riviting story, I kept turning to the back to make sure he was still alive! I could not believe what he went through. I have done drugs, but at a much lower level than claimed by James. Alcohol was my area of weakness. I literally could not put the book down. The fact it was a BIOGRAPHY hit me in ways books rarely do. I felt changed and also was able to understand what I went through during my withdrawls.

Then today I read an article on The Smoking Gun website - http://www.thesmokinggun.com/jamesfrey/0104061jamesfrey1.html. The article is exhaustive and very well written. The bottom line is James made most of the book up and what few events did take place were horrendously exagerated. He NEVER went to jail after release from the center. He NEVER ran over a cop. He NEVER was beatan by police outside bars. His girlfriend when he was a kid was NEVER his friend (confirmed by her parents!).

As most addicts will state, we hate hypocrites. Nothing is worse than a person bragging and exagerating how much they drank, smoked or took. Getting sober is very hard and not something to be glamourized. It is painful and you learn many things about yourself you wanted to keep buried. Therefore when a person spills their life in print you emphasize and take note for their courage to tell the world. To find out the author LIED for money, makes a mockery of what we went through. There is nothing glamorous about blacking out or throwing up. But to make it more than it is, well, that is down right wrong.

The article also posted a letter of defamation from James Frey's lawyers. The letter stated if they posted anything about their findings, he would sue them. James also conveniently states he had his records expunged and are not verifiable. Furthermore, most of his witnesses are conviently dead. For a person that is so open about everything, I find it amazing he would not turn over his expunged records. How can a person be open in one area, but not in another? The only answer is he is LYING!

Read the article before buying the book. Look at their proof and then make up your mind if you wish to go further with A Million Little Pieces. It is written in a style I truly enjoyed. It is powerful and amazing, but it is also 90% fiction. I am an alchoholic and James Frey made me feel violated.

I actually finished this book about 2 weeks ago. Sorry to jump on the band wagon this late in the game. I work in the addictions field. While reading this book, I never comtemplated the author's legal issues as being truthful or untruthful. I did however, find his story of his treatment to be quite unbelievable. First, what rang false for me was the author's depiction of the emergency dental care under the watchful eye of the unnamed treatment facility we know now to be Hazelden. As an addictions' treatment professional with 20 years experience, I cannot for the life of me fathom why a dentist was prohibited from using novacaine to treat some serious injuries and HOW a dentist agreed to that. What treatment center would make that a condition of allowing their patients to receive adequate dental care? Novacaine is NOT addictive. It is not mood-altering. It is not, as some would believe, related to cocaine. Second: Hazelden has the reputation of being a pretty expensive facility which offers good, thorough treatment. According to Mr. Frey's book, there was a sorry lack of true treatment professionals coupled with a lack of structure. There are scenes depicted in the book when counselors felt free to share private patient information with the other patients (a violation of a federal law, by the way). This facility was apparantly a place where patients were allowed to have private, catered parties, leave the facility frequently for romantic trysts, and go on rescue missions to the local crack house (accompanied by Hazelden staff !!???). All with staff knowledge. Sorry, that just didn't happen.
I understand that ALL treatment programs are flawed. It is a fact of life and a factor in helping addicts to receive adequate help.
Finally,don't even get me started on the encounter in France with the priest. In 20 years, I have heard just about every horror story and have been witness to as many miracles. I have seen Mr. Frey's scenarios in movies before. And that is just what this is: a Hollywood screenplay waiting to be picked-up.
Those who find inspiration in Mr. Frey's story should not lose hope. He has faced and triumphed over some emotional hurdles. I love a good tale. That's exactly what this is.

Memoirs are not a new medium. They have been around as long as Autobiography, Novel, Biography and the myriad categories of books since the invention of the Guttenberg (sp?) Press (1400's). A very basic premise of a memoir, though, is always that one is recalling true events. Things that really happened. That is the point of a memoir. Much has been founded to the contrary here in Frey's book and plausably so.(the data is extensive and real)

But many seem to be missing the point: HONESTY is what recovery IS all about.

Of what do I speak?

My own experience ( I am a recovering alcoholic since 1987). And this is what has become so offensive about this book. It's an insult to the whole process of getting well from the vicious cycle of addiction. TELLING THE TRUTH is the basics of living a TRUE, clean & sober life. Ms. Winfrey is wrong to say it's this man's exprience that counts for even that is now under suspicion.

My feeling is that professionals in the field will be coming forward to claim to truth about what really is allowed in their treatment settings and Frey's so called events are patently false. Through and through. How do I know? I have been a counselor at one of the best treament facilities in the Midwest for the last 15 years. If anything-- Frey's tall tale is dangerous for anyone seeking help. And only time will prove this.

One excellent memoir that also deals with the issue of "recovery" is the well-written, dry-humored: ANOTHER BS (word is spelled out in title) NIGHT IN SUCK CITY. A superlative work next to this.

I am an alcoholic, sober for ten years. I went through detox, rehab, AA, and all the rest. When I read this book a couple of months ago, I thought, "This is just nothing like what I went through." I bought it and intended to pass it along to my AA friends to share, but after I finished it, I didn't want to give it to anyone. It would scare anyone who was considering going into treatment, and that's a shame because treatment isn't like that. If I had pulled any of the stunts he did, I would have been out on my bum. I think the author is just needing attention badly--thus the rebellion and bad boy stunts that he tells about. In my experience, alcoholics/addicts with his attitude end up drinking/using again, because they have such a case of terminal specialness--the 12 steps work for those other losers, but I'm better than that, stronger than that. I don't need those crutches. This book is just sensationalism of the worst kind. I'm sorry I donated to James Frey by buying this book. I threw it away so it wouldn't fall into anyone else's hands.

This is an amazingly bad book.

Ridiculously pretentious,vain and stupid, James Frey wallows in self-pity for many pages.

And his Writing Style is a satirist's dream:

He thinks he's "Edgy" but He just doesn't Know how to Write.
To write, in Words.

How to write. Words, words, words.

I'm James Frey.
I'm repeating myself. Myself, myself, My Self.
My Important Self. My Edgy, Drug-Addicted Self.
Look At Me!
My Rich Parents sent Me to Rehab and I'm Really Edgy!
I'm Writing.
In Sentence Fragments.
That Repeat and Repeat and Repeat. And I'm really Edgy and Maudlin. And in the End I Hug and Hug and Hug and My Stupidity is really an Inspiration to Everyone.

One star: Good for a laff.

I've been mostly shocked by the people who say the lying doesn't matter and that "the emotions are truthful". Think that through folks. A good writer can create all kinds of emotions, especially those full of self pity.
I don't think that everyone needs to go to AA to get sober, but there are things that must be done, whether its through AA, a psychologist, church etc. First, you have to admit you are powerless over alcohol, then you have to change your character defects that led to your addiction in the first place.
This book is dangerous because it promotes *not* joining AA (which can work out) but also not doing the work on one's character. AA folks call this a "dry drunk", a psychologist might label it a narcissist, but a person who daily lies for ego, for money, for empathy, etc is a "dry drunk".
I thought this whole charade would expose Frey as the dry drunk he is - "this is what happens when you just quit drinking and don't change your character!". This guy is sober but not clean and sober, and is down a very destructive path, yet this observation only seems to hit home to all of us who have "been there done that".
I find this book very dangerous - Because its all made up, Because he is full of lies - exemplifying a "dry drunk", Because people may not go into AA because they think they cannot get root canal work done with novocaine. (this to me is the worst of what he has written about as far as NOT getting people into help IMO).
The smoking gun only exposed the legal side, do people really think all they didn't smoke out is also real? The dental work, airplane ride, etc? They think the emotions are real? For sure the self pity was, and the lying hasn't stopped.
Real recovery is boring, methodical and sometimes emotionally painful because of taking responsibility, and living an honest life.
If people want to cling to Frey's made-up worst case scenario.... it shows no discrimination and makes me think about the women who are always trying to marry the worst of criminals in the justice system, for whatever twisted reason. "There's a good person under there who just wasn't *understood* and I can do that".
I would say, you have met a master manipulator who has just used your naive trustfulness to take advantage of you emotionally, and financially. Dry drunks are great at that. They are also great at crying while they are lying.
The lesson from the Smoking Gun article, should be that this constant deception and lying is classic of a "dry drunk" and indicates he may not be drinking now but isn't too far down the road. Its is nothing anyone should be exalting. I have lived through a the daily lies, and the next worst thing to a drunk, is a dry drunk.
This guy is no hero, don't pretend he is one. He should learn some major life lessons from his lies being exposed but it seems there are too many gullible readers out there to let that happen.

Amazon has deleted my previous review so I will post another.

Reading "A Million Little Pieces" is a waste of time. It is poorly written, has no satisfactory plot or character development, and the events described are unbelievable, even ridiculous.

James is self-centered and immature and does not improve as the book drags on. I had a difficult time relating to him or caring what happened to him. The characters are stereotypical and dissapointing.

Overall, the reading experience is very unsatisfactory. I would not reccomend this book. There are plenty of good ones out there to read, don't waste your time with this one.