On today's Oprah - which hasn't aired here on the West coast yet - she will confront Frey and his publisher about the "lies" or fabrications in his current non-fiction memoir "A Million Little Pieces." Oprah told him that she feels duped - the Smoking Gun called him out on several fabricated facts and exposed him. He was already under fire by the recovery community for rejecting the 12-step method and claims he staved of his severe drug addictions on sheer will power alone.

His credibility is shot - - and the sad thing is, what if there were some truths in his memoir - wil they be lost among the revelation that he streeeetched the turth? Many people found his book inspirational and profound.

Here's the story:

http://tv.msn.com/tv/arti...4>1=7654

well, the books were memoir NOVELS, not straight-up autobiography. he wrote in a style that suggested he was writing a novel. i'm sure if you scrutinized a lot of first-person "autobiographical fiction" - eggers, augustin burroughs, david sedaris - you'd find a LOT of embellishment. it's part of being a writer.

i like frey's books, and i don't think he was being irresponsible. maybe he could stand to include some author's notes in future editions, and i hear he's doing just that. i like the guy and i like his style of writing, and i would still suggest his books to anyone.

Anx said:

... Well, you're right - they do appear to be memoir novels, but I don't think that the word "novel" was indicated on the jacket or in the book, nor did he come clean with that type of classification until Smoking Gun outted him on all the fabrications. The publishers are seeing to it that future publishings will include a notice liek that.

If you saw the initial Oprah interview (it actually inspired me to buy the book) - he was acting like all those "facts" now proven to be lies, were true. I just wish he would have said up front that they were"altered" so that his credibility remained relatively intact. It's brave of him to allowed to be confronted by Oprah on national TV... she can be mighty!

Still - his book remains on the best seller list. I guess no matter what... good writing is good writing.
[Edited 1/26/06 17:02pm]

I don't get Oprah on this. Did she wait for public opinion before she felt she was lied to? What about her calling the Larry King show defending the guy?

From what I hear, it's a great book that inspired people to turn their lives around. It should be applauded for that.

i don't see why this is such a big deal. grow up, people.

I applaud Oprah for being woman enough to admit to a mistake and embellishments aside, I think it's what people take from the book. For me the perfect example is the song "True to Yourself" by Eric Benet.

I'm True to myself yall
I'm true to my family
and live with a true integrity
I'm true to myself yall
I'm true to the god above
and live with a true integrity


What we all know as the truth is that Eric Benet cheated on his wife Halle Berry so these lyrics are patently false.....or are they? They are false for him but there is a liberating and beautiful message that I felt was perfect as the focus for a mix disc I made and so it's what I take from the song and not the imperfect person who sang it.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

exactly.

the book is a work of art and like all works of art, it's about what you take away from it, not the person who's behind it. it's kinda like the disappointment when you find out what you're favorite song is really about when you should really just love it for what it is. lawd.

Whoa! That's weird.

I'm reading this book right now!!!

gemini13 said:

Don't forfeit your healing or the strength you can get from it!!!!

JasmineFire said:

me either...so what... he lied

OH MY GOD!! YOU MEAN PEOPLE ACTUALLY WRITE FICTION BOOKS??? WOW!!!!! BUT LET ME GET THIS RIGHT...IF YOU DON'T WRITE A NON-FICTION BOOK YOU'RE AUTOMATICALLY A LIAR???? I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!! BUT WOW!!! A FICTION BOOK!!!!

To present it as fact/truth, lie about it's authenticity & ultimately be found a liar is wrong imo...

CalhounSq said:

I agree. BUT I wouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater either. People have found inspiration and if your preacher runs off with the secretary do you stop believing in God? In our search for truth and betterment, we need to have some room for the shifting sands of humanities faults

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Oh yea, I agree - the book shouldn't be completely tossed out. I guess if he'd admitted up front that it was mostly fact sprinkled w/ fiction people wouldn't have responded so well, but I wouldn't want to buy someone's harrowing story only to find out I'd been duped. I'd rather know what's true & what isnt'...

CalhounSq said:

Yeah, I can't say I'd feel good about it. But in the example of the song that I love by a man who lived his life doing the opposite of the song he created...I really see it as someone else picking up the ball and running with it. Just because someone stumbles doesn't mean we have to stop running our race. But you feel me on that so...

CalhounSq said:

Like the Bible?

I think this whole thing shows that Oprah should never have gotten into this whole book thing to begin with.

The fact that she is just now learning of the vexed intersection between truth and fiction makes me question what she ever saw in books anyway.

It's the same imcompetence (though reversed) of people who always find it necessary to sniff up an author's ass just to find out if there are real life equivalents to the characters they create.

I just wish Frey wasn't being such a pussy about his response to this mess. Though I guess he's happy enough to be earning more royalties.

I hope this shows up in his next book of thinly veiled fiction.






truth is in the fiction edit
[Edited 1/26/06 19:20pm]

william burroughs wrote about his own fight and experiences with drug addiction, but that doesn't mean that when he talks about aliens and giant centipedes, we're supposed to believe that those things actually existed in his past.

i think the oprah literary mafia is getting autobiographical fiction mixed up with reality television. sad commentary.

makes me wonder if oprah's book club has anything to do with an appreciation of literature at all.

From what i recall early on when this came to light, Frey sent the book to Random House as a Novel and It was Random who wanted to pushed it as a Memoir. And now Frey cant really say much against Random House or he runs the risk of losing his next novel being published, So Frey is playing the scapegoat.

makes me wonder if oprah's book club has anything to do with an appreciation of literature at all.[/quote]


wow, really, can I ask why? What makes you say that?

Anx said:

Exactly.

This isn't the White House fiction of WMD, which people swallowed like candy anyway. Anybody who has ever read a memoir or read fiction knows what they are getting into (or should know).

I really need to follow this thing more closely because I am curious as to what his publisher has said about the ruckus. I can't imagine they thought that what they were getting in the first place was something that would satisfy Oprah.

Oprah needs to own up to the way she has confused real and phony emotions in the American mind over the past score years.

She is the first "reality tv" star, and we know how "real" that is.

lazycrockett said:

He and his publisher need to sit down and stop blaming each other, if that's what's happening.

missmad said:

wow, really, can I ask why? What makes you say that?[/quote]

yeah, yeah, i know...i lost my cynicism hat with that one...but it just ticks me off that oprah picks harper lee and john steinbeck and those novels are accepted as the classics they are - as they should be, of course - but modern writers aren't afforded the same courtesy, but are instead held up to scrutiny. it's frustrating.

Anx said:

yeah, yeah, i know...i lost my cynicism hat with that one...but it just ticks me off that oprah picks harper lee and john steinbeck and those novels are accepted as the classics they are - as they should be, of course - but modern writers aren't afforded the same courtesy, but are instead held up to scrutiny. it's frustrating.[/quote]


no no not at all, i was just curious as to why you though that. Right, with Steinbeck, The Other Side of Eden was a memoir. And was To Kill A MockingBird one too. I have read that they were intended as a novel but then she rewrote it as the book as we know it. I know that her father's name last name was Lee.
[Edited 1/26/06 19:52pm]
[Edited 1/26/06 19:53pm]

Oprah is fully of shit .. oops did i say that?







Really though! SHE made a conclusion based on her own opinion about this guy and the book, it was only when OTHERs emailed her and pursuaded her change her mind did she realize she was embarrassed.


The guy did not lie, he just exagerated ALOT .. Oprah seemed to have a problem with how he labeled his book, "memoirs"

TheCatWoman said:

she has apologized for that. But when writers write an article who are we to know what really happened, what she thought, what was in her mind.


True, yea but it was probably the publishers as he said he originally went out looking 4 a publisher and sold it as fiction.
[Edited 1/26/06 19:57pm]
[Edited 1/26/06 20:23pm]

Watching it now, he's so fucking WHINY

Hope he don't do drugs again after all this shit