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A Million Little Pieces [Paperback]

James Frey
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (203 customer reviews)
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Book Description

10 May 2004
James Frey wakes up on a plane, with no memory of the preceding two weeks. His face is cut and his body is covered with bruises. He has no wallet and no idea of his destination. He has abused alcohol and every drug he can lay his hands on for a decade - and he is aged only twenty-three.

What happens next is one of the most powerful and extreme stories ever told. His family takes him to a rehabilitation centre. And James Frey starts his perilous journey back to the world of the drug and alcohol-free living. His lack of self-pity is unflinching and searing.

A Million Little Pieces is a dazzling account of a life destroyed and a life reconstructed. It is also the introduction of a bold and talented literary voice.

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Product details

  • Paperback: 528 pages
  • Publisher: John Murray; New Ed edition (10 May 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0719561027
  • ISBN-13: 978-0719561023
  • Product Dimensions: 3.4 x 12.9 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (203 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon Review

When he entered a residential treatment centre at the age of twenty-three, James Frey had destroyed his body and his mind almost beyond repair. He faced a stark choice: accept that he wasn’t going to see twenty-four or step into the fallout of his smoking wreck of a life and take drastic action. Surrounded by patients as troubled as he, Frey had to fight to find his own way to confront the consequences of the life he had lived so far, and to determine what future, if any, he has. A Million Little Pieces is an uncommon account of a life destroyed and a life reconstructed.

Review

Excellent ... Frey's storytelling feels compulsive, involuntary ... poignant and tragic. The forthcoming film will almost certainly be a cult hit ... The good thing about Frey is that he writes as if he needs to; I hope his new compulsion thrives (William Leith, Spectator)

James Frey's utterly mesmerising account ... [is] easily the most remarkable non-fiction book about drugs and drug taking since Hunter S Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ... As a memoir, it is almost mythic. You can imagine it made epic by Martin Scorsese, the auteur of wayward American maleness in all its extremity ... Utterly compulsive (Observer)

Frey really can write. Brilliantly. And if you don't think so, f*** you (Evening Standard)

Clear sighted and intellectually honest (Literary Review)

A heartbreaking memoir ... inspirational and essential (Bret Easton Ellis)

This book is definitely going to be huge ... There is no question that he's a good writer. As soon as you start reading the book, Frey's voice rings out. It's clear and sharp and turbocharged ... We love rehab memoirs. This is a good one. It might even be a great one (Independent)

An extraordinary and deeply moving book that will make you think about family, friendship, love, religion, death and perhaps most of all, the human spirit (Irish Sunday Independent)

Startling and ultimately breath taking (Kirkus Reviews)

Horribly honest and funny ... Read this immediately (Gus Van Sant)

Harrowing, poetic and rather magnificent (FHM)

James Frey spent ten years addicted to alcohol and crack before going into rehab at the age of 23. This unrelenting memoir of his recovery spares no detail. Luckily, he is a good writer - indulgent and uncompromising (Metro)

Frey is selfish, egocentric, violent and pompous . . . What redeems this insufferably bad mannered book is that, at the end of the day, Frey can write. Brilliantly (Scotsman)

Frey's writing style vividly conveys the horrors of addiction ... dark humour and sharp observations are evidence of a keen intelligence and an unusual strength of character ... a totally absorbing book (The Magistrate)

Harrowing and unflinching ... This is not a book about drugs but about their aftermath ... Though definitely not for the faint hearted, Frey is often darkly and self deprecatingly funny. This is, in essence, a story of redemption and an incredibly moving one. This is a great book (Waterstone's Books Quarterly)

This book is a raging, brilliant debut. (Waterstone's Books Quarterly)

Crafted from genuine, raw emotion. (Irish Examiner)

'Blisteringly written ... The prose is superb' (Daily Express)

'James Frey propelled the memoir of dysfunctional life to the top of the bestseller lists' (Daily Telegraph)

'Frey's book combined high quality drug porn with memorable characters and a strong narrative arc that describes a modern version of Rake's Progress.' (Druglink Magazine)

'The last remarkable book I read... I couldn't put it down.' (Q Magazine, Dave Matthews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 39 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, but a bit unbeliveable 12 Nov 2006
Format:Paperback
The book follows James Frey's time in rehab, following a priveliged childhood, a good university career, dabbling in drink and drugs and finally ending up a hopelesss addict. This leads him to his time in rehab, and his story of how he overcome that addiction.

James' point is that the 12 steps, and believing only God can cure you, is a flawed theory. He feels that only the addict can decide to get clean, in the same way that the addict decides to take the next drink/hit/whatever. He spend his early time in Rehab fighting the system, and anyone that tries to help.

I was not aware of the controversy surrounding the book when I read it, so took it at face value. However at many times the story felt unreal.

I am pretty sure most of this is seriously embellished (even more than the author now admits) - the story reads like a hollywood movie script - a fatherly mafia boss, a boxing champ, a supreme court judge and a deep, caring, loving crack addicted girlfriend are all major characters.

However the few moments when you feel that James is actually baring his soul are what makes the book. He is self obsessed, whiney, self hating and self indulgent, angry and defensive but desparate for acceptance, but he has a bitter humour which stops the book descending into a pity tale.

He obviously creates a lot of the characters and situations, but he could not have written this unless he had some experience of addiction, and his true story I expect would not have been quite as interesting.

Overall this is a great read, and a refreshing outlook on addiction rather than the usual "God saved me, Praise be!" stories. His exaggerations keep the story exciting, making it easier to suspend disbelief. If read as fiction this book is fantastic.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars A Million little disappointments 9 Aug 2009
Format:Paperback
A Million Little Pieces is a great name for a book, however despite its brilliant appellation, this novel is probably one of the worst I have ever read; elements of the plot are of adolescent simplicity and perforce, highly unconvincing ; the characters are two dimensional and James Frey's continuous contempt for the use of punctuation can be preclusive to clarity, especially when many characters are speaking at one time.

With regards to a long debate of whether this memoir is fiction or non-fiction, I am incredulous at how anyone could ever have believed that this was a work of non-fiction. Its verisimilitude is questionable after two dozen pages; during my reading of this novel, I occasionally felt Frey could have produced a better memoir if a ghostwriter had written it for him.

One of the most discernible flaws of this novel is the huge repetition of the words 'and', 'I', and 'the'. The hideous repetition of these aforementioned words vitiates the quality of the prose and at times makes this novel arduous to read. However, this flaw is occasioned by Frey's own renunciation of punctuation; if he were to have used conventional punctuation: commas, semi-colons and speech marks, then the prose would not be ridden with difficulties for his readers.

Despite my criticisms, I will concede that James Frey can at times write in such a way that is appealing to many, his short sharp sentences - which although, I found otiose and prosaic- doubtlessly have an appeal for many readers who do not want a novel or a prose style that is discouragingly difficult.

Oprah Winfrey made a fool of herself with this novel and made James Frey wealthy in the process.
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27 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Personally, I love it 12 Aug 2006
Format:Paperback
You need to be aware before reading this book that you are either going to love it or hate it. There will be no middle ground. The book does not deserve it.

Frey's introduction to the later prints of this book acknowledges that some of the incidents are possibly not true and, if you end up in the hating it bracket, embelished, but he justifies this with the explanation that he was not entirely of a sound mind at the times he was trying to recollect.

This book is about an Alcoholic, drug Adict and Criminal in his own words. Frey is, for those of us who live in a safe middle class world, the worst of the worst. Someone who has wasted his life, despite having loving parents and a supporting family, choosing instead drugs and alcohol and criminality. The book starts with his arrival in a rehabilitation centre and develops over his time there.

In the centre he comes across as a difficult patient, unwilling to accept what he is being taught, but it is more because he is trying to do things his own way. It is a fine example of how there may be more than one way to solve a problem.

This is a book that pulls no punches. There is a situation in the first third of the book (one of the situations that Frey acknowledges may have been mistold) that I read whilst standing waiting to meet someone and I had to sit down due to feeling unwell. There is another paragraph at the end of the book that had me close to tears. It is emotional and moving throughout.

For people who have experienced addiction, I can imagine it is not an easy book to read and would be easy to disagree with, as I get the feeling that addiction is something that is different for all.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!
Inspirational and interestingly written
I would recommend this to everyone I know and that is all I need to say
Published 1 day ago by amber
3.0 out of 5 stars Insightful
Reasonably interesting reading, and very frank descriptions of addiction. However, the author writing style is limited and seems to resort to repetition. Read more
Published 11 days ago by irene
5.0 out of 5 stars WOW 10/10 a must read buy now!
This is James Frey first which is just amazing. Very profound, poetic, heart felt, funny and sad. Contains so many emotions. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Emma Johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars I love it
Here we go again! I loved the book and have read the sequel My friend Leonard. A must read for all
Published 13 days ago by leonard blackwell
5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful story
This outstanding memoir by James Frey's articulating his struggles to put his pathetic , addicted, broken life back together is written with such realness that most addicts can... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Peter Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book
One of the best books I have ever read. It's like getting into another world. Awesome!
I have bought the sequel but have not had a chance to read it yet.. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Silvia Faggion
5.0 out of 5 stars So well written it kept you turning the pages
Excellent book. Story of a person not prepared to make excuses, finally determined to sort his life out. Sad, compelling and inspirational.
Published 1 month ago by Mr Eric RK Wells/JoyWells
5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly honest
James Frey takes the reader through a very emotional and very honest journey. It took me on an emotional rollercaoster where I found myself wincing with pain, crying with sadness... Read more
Published 2 months ago by marlen fish
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read
Told in a extraordinary way--lived every minute with him. Found the ending left me hanging - no real answers to any of it - but of course it was a true story.
Published 2 months ago by lorraine lewis
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and funny, heart wrenching
This book is informative, funny and at times heart wrenching. Could not put it down and cannot wait to read the follow up and what happened when James left jail!
Published 2 months ago by Toni
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