The Controversy of A Million Little Pieces (#12)

After reading the memoir of James Frey, I did a little research. I researched the controversy on A Million Little Pieces. Why? It started when my English teacher recommended this memoir and another student in the class asked "isn't that book a lie?" Therefore, I chose to read the book and following my completion, research if the book truly involves lies.

Over a millions copies of the book sold, because of Oprah Winfrey. This quota was taken from the article "A Million Little Lies - exposing James Frey fiction addiction" from the website smoking gun. (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/million-little-lies)

"In an October 26 show entitled "The Man Who Kept Oprah Awake At Night," Winfrey hailed Frey's graphic and coarse book as "like nothing you've ever read before... Frey's runaway hit, which has sold more than 3.5 million copies and, thanks to Winfrey, has sat atop The New York Times nonfiction paperback best seller list for the past 15 weeks. Next to the latest Harry Potter title, Nielsen BookScan reported Friday, Frey's book sold more copies in the U.S. in 2005--1.77 million--than any other title, with the majority of that total coming after Winfrey's selection."

So why the controversy? Turns out James Frey embellished some parts of his novel. Here is a quota from James Frey himself found in the article "A Million Little Lies - exposing James Frey fiction addiction" from the website smoking gun. (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/million-little-lies)

"I was a bad guy," Frey told Winfrey. "If I was gonna write a book that was true, and I was gonna write a book that was honest, then I was gonna have to write about myself in very, very negative ways."

My interpretation of those words means he indeed lied about some parts of the book. I read the book and than the lies.  Personally I agree with Frey's words and what he told Winfrey on her show. (http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/James-Frey-and-the-A-Million-Little-Pieces-Controversy - View this link for all of James responses to Oprah's questions.) The lies are not big and at the same time help keep other characters unidentifiable. The real controversy is; should the book be called a memoir when there are lies. I liked the book and believe it's a memoir even if some of the truth is embellished. The story is of personal memories of James as an alcoholic, drug abuser, and criminal who overcomes his addictions. Therefore, to me, it is a memoir.