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Greeneyes
Citizen
Username: Greeneyes
Post Number: 701
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, January 8, 2006 - 8:42 pm: |     |
Or something else?
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html |
SO Ref
Citizen
Username: So_refugee
Post Number: 1417
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Monday, January 9, 2006 - 9:45 pm: | |
Still a great read; however...
'A Million Little Pieces' Facts Disputed
By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer
2 hours, 57 minutes ago
NEW YORK - An investigative Web site has alleged that James Frey's best-selling memoir about substance abuse, "A Million Little Pieces," wildly exaggerates his past, with inflated claims about his criminal record and about his involvement in an accident that killed two high school students.
"Police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources have put the lie to many key sections of Frey's book," according to an article posted Sunday on http://www.thesmokinggun.com.
Frey, whose memoir became a huge hit after Oprah Winfrey selected it last fall for her book club, has threatened to sue The Smoking Gun. His lawyer, Martin D. Singer, was not immediately available for comment Monday.
The book's hardcover publisher, Doubleday, and paperback publisher, Anchor, said in a joint statement Monday, "We stand in support of our author, James Frey, and his book which has touched the lives of millions of readers." A spokeswoman for Frey, Jennifer Hayman, referred to the publishers' statement when asked for comment by The Associated Press.
On his web site, http://bigjimindustries.com, Frey dismissed the story as "the latest investigation into my past, and the latest attempt to discredit me."
"So let the haters hate, let the doubters doubt, I stand by my book, and my life, Frey wrote.
Frey was interviewed by The Smoking Gun and "did, for the first time, admit that he had embellished central details of his criminal career and purported incarceration for `obvious dramatic reasons' in the nonfiction work," according to the publication.
"He also admitted to taking steps, around the time `A Million Little Pieces' was published in hardcover in 2003, to legally expunge court records related to the seemingly most egregious criminal activity of his lifetime."
The memoir has captivated millions of readers, including Winfrey, with its story of violence, addiction and recovery. Much of this is questioned by The Smoking Gun, notably a 1986 car wreck in Michigan's St. Joseph Township that killed Jane Hall and Melissa Sanders, fellow students of Frey's at St. Joseph High School.
In Frey's book, he writes that he was close friends with "Michelle" (which, he acknowledged to The Smoking Gun, was a pseudonym for Sanders) and had been with her on the night of the accident. Sanders had been asked out by another student, Dean Sperlik, but, fearing she wouldn't be allowed, told her parents that she was going to the movies with Frey.
At the movies, he recalls, Sanders met up with Sperlik, who drove off with Sanders (Hall is not mentioned in the book), only to be slammed by an oncoming train at the railroad crossing. Sanders was killed and Sperlik was seriously injured.
As the person who enabled Sanders to be out that night, Frey says he was questioned by police and recalls being blamed for the tragedy by Sanders' parents and by her friends. "I took a lot of punches ... and every time I threw a punch back, and I threw one back every single time, I threw it back for her," he writes.
But his memories were disputed — by the police report, by the chief police investigator and by Sanders' parents, both of whom could not recall his being close to Melissa, being with her that night or being blamed for the accident.
"Everything that I believe he wrote, even about my daughter ... was not an actual, the way the accident happened or anything," Marianne Sanders told The Smoking Gun. "I never heard his name in connection with it."
Other memoirs have been questioned in recent years, including "Fragments of a Childhood 1939-1948," a Holocaust memoir by Binjamin Wilkomirski, and Tony Hendra's "Father Joe," about the author's troubled past and the priest who helped him recover. Publishers have acknowledged they don't fact check memoirs, relying instead on the author.
Frey recently signed a two-book deal with Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA). The executive editor at Riverhead, Sean McDonald, also edited Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" at Doubleday. McDonald did not immediately return messages from the AP seeking comment.
Frey, who also wrote the memoir "My Friend Leonard," is scheduled to release a novel with Riverhead in fall 2007.
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connied76
Citizen
Username: Connied76
Post Number: 9
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - 9:39 am: | |
I think this is all ridiculous. The book is great. He is a talented writer- I am glad he embellished parts to make the book even more riveting. A good author knows what to focus on and how to exaggerrate it to make it exciting. Also, he was a raging drug addict and alcoholic- his exaggerations may have described how he felt about the event at the time. For example, the 'turning point' with the police may have felt like the big ordeal he described it to be even if , in reality, it wasn't as extreme. It's not like he is an historian altering the facts of the Civil War or anything! |
doulamomma
Citizen
Username: Doulamomma
Post Number: 872
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 1:14 pm: | |
New interview about the controversy today on Oprah
The Oprah's Book Club selection A Million Little Pieces. The headlines. The controversy. Now, like many of you, Oprah has a million little questions. James Frey, his publisher, and leading journalists—who've had strong opinions—join us for the hour. |
I'm Only Sleeping
Citizen
Username: Imonlysleeping
Post Number: 117
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 2:57 pm: | |
It's one thing to exaggerate a little bit. But he was outright lying about vast swaths of crucial events. He lied in the book and he lied in all of the promotion over the course of several years. I don't believe that the ends justify the means here. He could very easily have written the same book and called it fiction, but he knew very well that pretending it was true would make it far more marketable. In other words, he lied for his own fame and financial gain, and I don't really see how this is different from any other scam. I've always thought he was a jerk. Now he's a lying jerk. |
Just The Aunt
Supporter
Username: Auntof13
Post Number: 3732
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 3:22 pm: | |
And the saga continues... This is from AOL
TV Talk Host Says James Frey 'Betrayed Millions of People'
By EDWARD WYATT, The New York Times
CHICAGO (Jan. 26) - In an extraordinary reversal of her strident and angry defense of the author whose book she catapulted to the top of the best-seller list, Oprah Winfrey said today she believed that the author James Frey "betrayed millions of people" by making up elements of his life in his best-selling memoir, "A Million Little Pieces."
Gino Domenico, AP
During the interview, Winfrey asked the 'Million Little Pieces' author why he made up material for his memoir.
She added that she believed "I made a mistake" when she said that the truth of the book mattered less then its story of redemption.
In a live broadcast of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" from her studios in Chicago in which she interviewed Mr. Frey, Ms. Winfrey apologized to her audience for her call to "Larry King Live" earlier this month defending the author. Today she berated Mr. Frey for duping her and her audience.
"I gave the impression that the truth does not matter," Ms. Winfrey said. "I made a mistake." To all of the viewers who called and wrote to her telling her she was wrong to allow Mr. Frey to maintain that his book reflected the "essential truth" of his life even though substantial details were falsified, Ms. Winfrey said, "You are right."
"I feel duped," she said. "I don't know what is true and I don't know what isn't," she said, before addressing Mr. Frey with the question, "Why did you lie?"
Getty/AP ''I made a mistake... I gave the impression that the truth does not matter.''
-- Oprah Winfrey
Ms. Winfrey chose "A Million Little Pieces" in September for her popular television book club, and it sold more than two million copies within the next three months, making it the fastest-selling pick ever for her book club.
But questions about the truth of Mr. Frey's memoir began to arise almost immediately, as they had since its publication in 2003. The memoir tells the harrowing story of Mr. Frey's arrival at a Minnesota rehabilitation center, which has since been identified as Hazelden, after years of alcohol and drug addiction.
In early January, The Smoking Gun, an investigative Web site, reported that Mr. Frey's claim to have spent nearly three months in jail was false. Actually, he spent only a few hours in jail.
On Thursday, Mr. Frey said of the Smoking Gun report, "Most of what they wrote is pretty accurate."
Mr. Frey said he had made up many of the details of his life and had created a bad-guy portrayal of himself as a "coping mechanism."
"I thought of myself as tougher than I was and badder than I was," Mr. Frey said.
Ms. Winfrey asked if he made up the material because it helped him cope or because he thought it would help sell books. Mr. Frey responded, "Probably both."
Ms. Winfrey was about 20 minutes into her show when ABC News interrupted the broadcast to televise President Bush's news conference. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is televised in Chicago in the morning but in the afternoon in most major television markets.
01/26/06
Copyright © 2006 The New York Times Company. |
darrensager
Citizen
Username: Darrensager
Post Number: 262
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 7:30 pm: | |
A Million Little Pieces of Sh*T. |
The Soulful Mr T
Citizen
Username: Howardt
Post Number: 1340
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 5:24 pm: | |
This is definitely the story that won't go away! WHO GIVES A SH*T? |
taam
Citizen
Username: Taam
Post Number: 35
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 10:46 pm: | |
i do! |
Just The Aunt
Supporter
Username: Auntof13
Post Number: 3751
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 6:27 pm: | |
I just thought of something! Frey has accomplished exacly what he set out to do. Look at all the FREE publicity he's getting! |
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