Those of you that know me have heard me talk about and have seen me write about the two books written by James Frey, "A Million Little Pieces" and "My Friend Leonard." You know that I enjoyed both books and have recommended them both to anyone willing to listen. Between then and now, Frey has been called to the carpet in regards to the "truthiness" (thank you Mr. Colbert) of certain aspects of each book. This seems to have culminated in Frey's return to Oprah's couch yesterday where he endured a verbal beat down from his one-time supporter.
Now I know my share of Shaker Heights based kids that had fucked up upbringings and have spent their time battling various demons (hi Josh!). Some of these kids even went to the same grade school as Frey (Josh, hello again, and you too K-Bird!). So, as I was reading "Pieces" I kept telling my mom that I couldn't believe that all of his stories about rehab were completely true. Oddly enough, I also know a few folks that attended Hazelden (what's up xxxxx!). A lot of the things Frey says happened there just would not have gone down that way. I am in no way doubting that Frey had a drinking and drug problem, rather that things happened the way they did or to the extent that they did.
I knew that Frey was a screen writer before penning these two memoirs so he is no stranger to fiction. I also know he pitched "Pieces" as a novel and was turned down by 19 publishers before Nan Talese suggested he write it as a memoir. That being said, my only disappointment is in how Frey addressed the situation he found himself in last week when all this came to a head. Before seeing him on Larry King I had never heard the cat speak. I only knew him from his description of himself in his books and based on the photos I've seen on his dust covers. I expected a guy with a pretty pissed off demeanor; after all, the fury had to still be in him somewhere, right? Nope. What I heard was a guy who sounded pretty reserved, slightly effeminate even in his delivery. Hey, no problem, just address this shit head on, I thought. Nope, he backpedaled, hemmed and hawed his way through a pretty shaky explanation. Oh well, I thought, your image is blown but you're still gonna sell a million more books. Good for you.
Well, good for him until he went on Oprah yesterday. She blasted him, Talese, everyone as his backpedaling continued. If I were in crisis management (maybe I should be), I would have demanded he face the acusations head on. Be that tough guy you described yourself as in your books. Be ready to FTBSITTTD at any point. Go for the throat. All he had to do, from the time he went on Larry King to the time he was administered his rectal pounding by Oprah was to be the aggressive guy we saw in "Pieces." King accuses him of lying? Bring it. "You know Larry, I busted my ass shopping this piece to publishers and got shut down 19 times before Nan Talese took a chance on me. Did certain embellished aspects of my novel filter through to the memoir? Yeah, they probably did." Oprah tells you you mislead millions of people? "You know Oprah, maybe I did exaggerate or even lie in some places, but you know what? I was a freaking drug addled, boozed out addict, I exxagerated a lot to get by, I lied, I got in trouble, I went to rehab but I am clean right now and have been for 10 years. Take what you need to from that and move on." The Smoking Gun calls you out? "Hey, fuck you man! Walk a mile in my shoes before come after me. I didn't ask for all this celebrity. Oprah wants to put me on a pedastal, great, she wants to knock me off, even better. I am who I am and I don't apologize for any of it." Frey maintains that stance and he's a bad-ass. He appears on Larry king with his mommy and he looks like every other punk from Shaker I ever knew who ran home to his mom when the shit got thick (I'm kind of kidding here, but not so much).
Bottom line? Read the books. Fact/Fiction, Truth/Lies, Ethical/Non-Ethical, it doesn't matter, they're a great read. I just wish this guy wouldn't have apologized and caved like he did. I wanted to see that bad ass with the fury attacking his detractors. If anything, the lamb that he turned out to be makes me believe even less of the books' events. Well, don't forget to pony up your $10.25 for the movie version due out in 2007, it's sure to raise this whole ruckus yet again. Any thoughts or comments, I'd love to hear them.
1 comment:
I sleep much better knowing that the toe nail incident and the dental visits may have been fabricated. I didn't quite understand the problem with administering Novocain in the first place.
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