Recently, I found out that the choice book I'm currently reading, A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey is a lie. I was wondering what the back of the book meant when it read, "This is Frey's acclaimed account of his six weeks in rehab." Apparently, the story, claimed to be a "memoir", isn't exactly true.
This made Oprah, and most Americans very upset. James Frey lied. He claimed something was true when it wasn't. He made things more interesting by changing around facts in his supposed "memoir".
Some people disagree with Oprah, saying they don't care whether it's true or not. They just say it was a good book, lying or not.
I agree with Oprah. I hate the fact that James Frey lied in this book. It makes me question every event that occurs. Are the stories of his roommates lies? Is there a Lilly? Was he really addicted to drugs? Most importantly, did this even happen?
In the book, Frey talks about how the other men are scared of him, how he's the tough guy. After watching an interview with him, I can tell that 'Mr. Tough Guy' is actually 'Mr. Nerd' and I could never imagine myself afraid of this guy.
I'm upset with this book, but only to a degree. If Frey had never said it was a memoir, I wouldn't be questioning things in the book, which would make it better, but it wouldn't change how I feel about the actual story line. Therefore, I think I'm just upset with the book because it's all a lie, but I have to admit, it really did ruin the book for me.
Here's a radio interview with James Frey about his new book, but it touches on some of the things that had happened regarding A Million Little Pieces and Oprah:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyLZ76HzlQw
Rachel-
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how you would feel about this. I would love to listen to the interview, but for some reason the link isn't working. Great entry though. I love your thoughts on this.
That stinks that the lies ruined the book for you. The plot and the story itself weren't at least a bit enjoyable? (I am just speculating, based on your summary.)
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how someone could lie that much. I'd be just as upset if I found out a book I was reading that was supposively the truth was actually completely made up. This is probably one of the reasons why I question things a lot. I really liked your blog by the way :)
ReplyDeleteI would also get pretty annoyed if I found an author lied to me! Fiction is what I primarily read, but I WOULD like to know whether or not I was reading a true or made-up story. Having to interpret and guess on what is true and what is false in that story must have made it annoying and frustrating to read.
ReplyDeleteRachel-Meant to mention last time...great post title!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like sometimes you don't know the truth. I can't believe that the author would lie to you about the book. I can't believe that someone could lie about a book.
ReplyDeleteRachel, this is a really interesting blog post. But how do you know the author is lying about the account of his time in rehab? And how did Oprah get involved in it? If he really is lying, that's not good because memoirs are supposed to speak of real events. Things like this really make a person want to look deeper into the background of the author.
ReplyDelete