Book Review: A Million Little Pieces

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I chose to read this book because it's interesting. I would like to have a closer look inside the life of an addict and how one is freed from the bondage of addiction.

I was already in the middle part of the book when I read that the book is not all true. It's kind of disappointing and I feel duped by the author. But, I read it to the end anyway.

It's impressive that he has been able to overcome addiction by his own means and not through the help of a higher power. However I still secretly hope that he would find it in his heart to believe in God maybe not today but in the future.

My favorite part is the love that blossomed between him and Lilly. Love is really a beautiful thing and it can conquer all. Too bad Lilly was not able to wait for James.

I will not be proud to recommend this book because it's not all true.



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James Frey's memoir of drug addition and recovery was a bestseller even before Oprah Winfrey picked it for her book club in 2005, but the subsequent revelations about discrepancies between the story and the author's real life touched off a national debate about the line between fact and fiction.

Filled with graphic scenes of epic substance abuse and the torments of withdrawal, A Million Little Pieces was widely heralded upon its publication as a harrowing, self-lacerating, and courageously confessional autobiography. It received many admiring critical reviews, carried cover endorsements from noted literati, and was selected by Barnes & Noble as a 2003 Discover pick. (Our reviewer called Frey prodigiously talented, poetic, and unflinchingly honest).

In January 2006, the author acknowledged the truth of charges that many details in the book were embellished or fabricated. In a note to readers that was prepared for subsequent printings, he apologized to those who felt they had been misled and explained why he wrote the book the way he did. Reactions to these revelations included soul-searching by publishers about their responsibilities for ensuring accuracy, ruminations by critics on the line between fact and fiction in modern culture, and spirited defenses of the author by readers who maintained that the book's inspirational message was of primary importance. One thing seems certain: A Million Little Pieces is a book that promises to have a long-lasting impact.(from goodreads.com)

About the Author
James Christopher Frey is an American writer. He graduated from Denison University and also attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His first memoir, A Million Little Pieces, was published by Nan Talese/Doubleday in spring 2003. Its follow-up, My Friend Leonard (also a memoir) was published by Riverhead in summer 2005. Both books became New York Times #1 bestsellers. In late 2005 and early 2006, The Smoking Gun and other investigators discovered that elements of his memoir, A Million Little Pieces, were untrue. Frey, along with his wife and daughter, currently resides in New York City. He is also one of the authors that share the pseudonym Pittacus Lore, author of the Lorien Legacies.