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About the Author |
facing the fury of a million little pieces
Written: Feb 25 '06 (Updated Mar 02 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: An amazingly complex yet straightforward account of a darkly impassioned, very real battle with addiction.
Cons: Frey’s admissions along with a structured narrative, make the integrity of his work questionable.
The Bottom Line: An amazingly shattering and deeply honest look into the horror of what alcohol and drug addiction can bring to an otherwise, relatively stable middle-class family.
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| firstcontact21's Full Review: |
Table of Contents...
I. picking up a million little pieces...
II. on a definition of memoir and creative non-fiction...
II. the structure and style of James Frey...
III. the hero's journey in a million little pieces... (Note: This section contains plot spoilers)
--- a. Act I: Departure, Separation...
--- b. Act II: Part I: Descent, Initiation, Preparation...
--- c. Act II: Part II: Descent, Initiation, Preparation...
--- d. Act III: The Return...
IV. controversy and a million little pieces...
V. solutions to the million little controversies...
VI. Conclusion...
I. picking up a million little pieces…
As a 2005 Oprah’s Book Club selection, there is no doubt that most people, even those with little access to North-American pop-culture, have probably heard about a million little pieces, a memoir by James Frey (pronounced “Fry”) that details his harrowing struggle over alcohol addiction, substance abuse and petty crime. With a million little pieces, Frey has written a powerful piece of creative non-fiction, that serves to question what memoir really is, and it also reveals just how dynamic a role the hero’s journey can play when used as a mirror on real life.
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II. on a definition of memoir and creative non-fiction…
Simply put, memoir is a genre that falls under the realm of creative non-fiction. William Zinsser, in his book On Writing Well notes that “Unlike autobiography, which spans an entire life, memoir assumes the life and ignores most of it. The memoir writer takes us back to some corner of his or her past that was unusually intense – childhood, for instance – or that was framed by war or some other social upheaval… Memoir isn’t the summary of a life; it’s a window into a life, very much like a photograph in its selective composition… To write a good memoir you must become the editor of your own life, imposing on an untidy sprawl of half-remembered events a narrative shape and an organizing idea. Memoir is the art of inventing the truth (Zinsser 137).
Specifically, the genre known as creative non-fiction is only about 50 years old, although people have been writing various forms of creative non-fiction since the dawn of time itself. The term creative nonfiction is derived from the genre’s use of fictional elements such as characterization, voice, point of view, style, scene and narrative flow. And whether you are writing a biography, a memoir (or autobiography), a personal essay, a lyric essay or a literary travel essay, the key to creative non-fiction lies in the personal exploration or journey that serves as a means for an author to seek out and explore possible answers to any number of questions that an author might have.
Brett Lott, in his essay Toward a Definition of Creative Non-fiction, notes that: “It is indeed self that is the creative element of creative non-fiction. Without you and who you are, a piece of writing that tells what happened is simply non-fiction: a police report. But when I begin to incorporate the sad and glorious fact that the way I see it shapes and forms what it is to be seen, I end up with creative non-fiction“ (Lott). Memory forms the basis of an author’s personal recollections, interpretations and thoughts that are drawn upon in creating a work of creative non-fiction – and it’s the journey of remembering that makes the writing personable and accessible. But it also leads to the question - can the narrators of non-fiction pieces be relied upon to tell the truth?
Brenda Miller, in her book Tell it Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Non-fiction, notes how “For me… as a writer it is not important what I remember – or even the factual accuracy of the scene – but why I recall it the way I do” (Miller 6). But what is acceptable – can one bend the truth, can one lie about their past? For Miller, “In creative non-fiction – more so, perhaps, than in any other genre – readers assume a real person behind the artifice, an author who speaks directly to the reader… For this relationship to work, however, the author must establish a certain level of trust… The reader needs to know that he won’t be deceived along the way, led to believe something that turns out to be patently untrue… The essayist pledges, in some way, both to be as honest as possible with the reader and to make this conversation worthwhile.” (78). Miller also asks the question of “Just how much emphasis do we put on ‘creative’ and how much on ‘non-fiction’?” (81). She suggests that “Some writers believe that nothing at all should ever be knowingly made up in creative non-fiction… Some writers willingly admit imagination into factual narratives; others abhor it and see it as a trespass into fiction. (82). She also notes how “It’s interesting to note that when a writer publishes a piece of fiction that contains highly autobiographical elements, no one flinches; in fact, such blurring of the boundaries is often presumed. But to admit fictional techniques into autobiographical work creates controversy and furious discussion (82). Finally, Miller comes to a resolution of sorts, arguing that “Though we’ve presented arguments that claim emotional truths can be just as veracious as facts, it is not acceptable to appropriate or wholly invent a history that has little or no relation to your own” (84).
Respected author Fern Kupfer, in her essay Everything but the Truth?, strongly argues against lying in creative non-fiction writing, noting how “We all like good stories, especially those taken from real life. But we also don’t like being lied to. Lying - like cheating and stealing - is almost always wrong from an ethical perspective. But shaping the truth when writing memoir is an acceptable aspect of the craft. So where are the boundaries” (Kupfer)? For Kupfer, these acceptable boundaries fall within three main areas in which authors can shape the truth. The first concerns an author’s ability to tell white lies regarding minute details that most people just don’t remember as they live life on a day-to-day basis. The second concerns an author’s ability to compress time, create composite characters and omit unnecessary detail. Finally, an author is allowed to have a sense of conjecture, that is, they are allowed to read into memories, photographs and postulate about the thoughts, feelings and ideas that tie into them in order to move the creative non-fiction narrative along. In closing she argues that “We need to give memoir writers permission to lie, but only when the reconstructed version does not deceive the reader in its search for the aesthetic truth…” (Kupfer) because for her, The truth of the story is the narrator’s perception of youth, of… time, of the longing to capture a golden moment” (Kupfer).
Contrast Kupfer with Sol Stein who, in his book On Writing, notes that “Literary non-fiction puts emphasis on the precise and skilled use of word and tone, and the assumption that the reader is as intelligent as the writer. While information is included, insight about that information, presented with some originality, may predominate… Like fiction, non-fiction accomplishes its purpose better when it evokes emotion in the reader” (Stein 224). And yet, Stein also warns against lying or misquoting others in works of creative non-fiction, warning that writers should “Never intentionally misquote. And never invent dialogue. Invented dialogue is usually a highly visible sign of untrustworthy writing. A few writers of non-fiction commit the same errors as some historical novelists. They provide dialogue that would have been impossible for anyone to record. I know of cases in which books were rejected by editors because some piece of attributed dialogue was so apparently contrived that it cast doubt on the reliability of the author for facts that could not easily be confirmed. Don’t tempt rejection… If you find yourself inventing dialogue, write a play, novel, or movie” (241).
As such, it seems paramount that authors not lie or bend the truth beyond recognition when experimenting in the creative non-fiction genre. And when you read a million little pieces it definitely seems that Frey has done just that. He appears to have brilliantly recounted a series of very personal events by relying not only on secondary research (Frey claims to have relied upon police reports, medical reports, notes taken by therapists and upon a journal he had to keep during his recovery), but also on primary research - delving deep into his own memory and exploring his own thoughts and recollections about what happened to him. But has Frey really done this? Has he fit the definition of memoir by taking us into “…some corner of his… past that was unusually intense” (Zinsser 137)? Or has he, as Oprah now argues, created a false person by lying about certain events in his life? How much of a million little pieces falls safely within the three main areas in which authors can shape the truth? Can James Frey, acting as the narrator of a million little pieces, be trusted?
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III. the structure and style of James Frey…
Frey’s structure in a million little pieces is no doubt fairly unique and original among modern mainstream authors. a million little pieces appears to be based on a somewhat modified existentialist form. Frey’s created a deep, self-examining, borderline stream of consciousness where words, thoughts and scenes as recalled by Frey flow onto the page with relative ease. And even though a million little pieces seems disguised as a stream of consciousness, there is a definite narrative flow.
Overall, the writing is superb. All nouns of persons, places and things are capitalized, raising questions in the reader’s mind as to the weight of things in Frey’s life. The detailed, almost real-time descriptions of Frey’s physical and mental traumas that have occurred as a result of his addictions is gut wrenching, vulgar and horrifying. Transitions from the present to the past and back again are also handled confidently, ensuring that his readers never become lost. Although these flashbacks are rare, when they do occur they are significant and they don’t interrupt the narrative flow; instead they are signified with lines as simple as “I stare out the window and I think” (Frey 55) and often ending through an action occurring in the present, such as “We pull into town and it is empty” (56).
Dialogue is handled strongly, if somewhat unconventionally, providing strong characterization of the actors in Frey’s world. But be warned, there are no traditional dialogue markers in a million little pieces. There are no quotation marks, and at times the statement of one speaker will flow into the response of another speaker within the framework of a single paragraph. In spite of this unconventional method for dialogue, at no point did I ever find myself lost or confused.
It all makes for a very emotional ride, and the strength Frey must have had to confront his demons and present such a personal journey is truly phenomenal, remarkable and inspiring. As a text, a million little pieces is a strong, inventive work by James Frey.
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IV. the hero’s journey in a million little pieces…
The Hero’s Journey forms an important role in very foundation of storytelling as passed down through the ages. Christopher Vogler, author of The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers and Stuart Voytilla, author of the book Myth and Movies: Discovering the Mythic Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films both served to develop and apply Vogler’s study of Myth (as originally influenced by the studies of Carl Jung and Jospeh Campbell among others) to the realm of contemporary storytelling – the feature film.
For me, Vogler’s most pivotal thesis is in regards to the fact that the principles of the Hero’s Journey can actually be applied to everyday life. At first, I had trouble understanding how this storytelling form could apply to real life, but reading James Frey’s creative non-fiction memoir a million little pieces definitely helped me to visualize the path of the Hero’s Journey as played out in our everyday lives.
a million little pieces first and foremost depicts the personal drama that is inherent in the life of James Frey. Stuart Voytilla, in his book Myth and the Movies: Discovering the Mythic Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films, reminds us that “the key to the power of Drama is that it is driven by character. The characters of Drama face journeys not unlike our own – sickness, marital problems, discrimination, unemployment, aging and death. We can easily identify with the character’s plight. The character’s problem can be our own; his pain can be our pain, making the Journeys of the Drama the most difficult to watch. But Drama can also provide us with our most regarding Journeys, offering the audience the Elixir of awareness of our personal and societal problems. The Hero’s transformation can provide a catharsis that allows us to purge our own insecurities, giving us the strength to face our own fears, and even heal our inner wounds” (Voytilla 156). As such, what follows is my own personal interpretation of how the Hero’s Journey plays out in the memoir drama of a million little pieces.
WARNING – the rest of this section reveals the entire plot of a million little pieces. If you don’t want the plot to be revealed, please scroll down to section V, titled “controversy and a million little pieces”…
Table of Contents...
Act I: Departure, Separation…
Act I of the HERO’S JOURNEY introduces us to the first five steps of the JOURNEY, starting with the ORDINARY WORLD of the HERO (the first step) and the HERO’S CALL TO ADVENTURE (the second step). The HERO will often REFUSE the CALL TO ADVENTURE (the third step) and will also MEET WITH A MENTOR (the fourth) step) while preparing to CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD (the fifth step) into a SPECIAL WORLD that will hold secrets and new ways for the HERO to live life. a million little pieces also takes a structural element of Act II of the HERO’S JOURNEY, by providing a number of TESTS, ALLIES and ENEMIES for the HERO (the sixth step of the JOURNEY). In spite of its inclusion in Act I, it is important to note that the steps of the Journey are by no means exclusive, and some steps may occur out of sequence.
a million little pieces opens with the HERO of the story, James Frey, lost in his ORDINARY WORLD of addiction, alcoholism and crime (his OUTER PROBLEM). It is a world, which has its roots in Frey’s own inner anger, confusion and greed - what Frey calls “the Fury” (his INNER PROBLEM). As the story progresses, it will become clear that Frey’s INNER PROBLEM is also representative of his darkest desires – and thus serve to form his SHADOW. Throughout the course of the narrative, Frey will be torn between two sides – living with the fury controlling him or living life by exerting control over the fury.
At the beginning of the journey, through addiction, alcoholism and crime, Frey’s well being has been shattered in virtually every way possible – both mentally and physically. Frey has a LIMITED AWARENESS of the effects of his ORDINARY WORLD and the story is set rolling through Frey’s primary CALL TO ADVENTURE, which takes the form of his Mother, Father and Brother, who, acting as HERALDS, respond to Frey’s problems by taking him away from his ORDINARY WORLD and admitting him to the SPECIAL WORLD of a drug and alcohol treatment facility. This act is representative of purpose for the story’s first act, to serve as a means of DEPARTURE and SEPARATION from the ORDINARY WORLD.
In many ways, Frey is at first blinded to the SPECIAL WORLD because of the withdrawal from alcohol and drugs that he is going through at the beginning of his journey. Through this withdrawal, it becomes clear that Frey’s OUTER PROBLEM has compounded to a point so severe that any refusal at this point to this initial CALL TO ADVENTURE would literally result in James’s death.
Many social, mental and physical TESTS confront Frey early on at the treatment facility as Frey meets with a number of MENTORS and also begins to form ALLIES and ENEMIES at the treatment facility.
His first social test comes early on, as another patient of the treatment facility confronts Frey, wanting his chair. Frey however, is too physically ill to respond in any way to the patient, choosing instead to simply ignore him, a type of REFUSAL on the part of Frey to the CALL TO ADVENTURE and the rules of the new SPECIAL WORLD.
James Frey’s physical TESTS also come early in the book and include overcoming the physical ailments he is suffering because of his addictions. He is suffering from vomiting, passing out, a severely swollen face with broken teeth and a broken nose. Because of his addictions, he is not allowed to take painkiller medication, which makes the ailments an even more difficult TEST of his endurance. The only medications he can take are limited to detoxification drugs.
James meets with Dr. Baker, another HAROLD who challenges him to overcome his ailments, and in some respects Dr. Baker also wears the mask of a THRESHOLD GUARDIAN, because until James is able to overcome his physical ailments, he will not be able to begin the journey toward true spiritual and mental recovery. Dr. Baker assesses Frey, stitches him up and resets his broken nose. He also arranges for Frey to meet with a local surgical dentist to take care of his teeth.
Shortly after his initial assessment by Dr. Baker, Frey meets Lilly. He shares an immediate attraction with Lilly, who over the course of the story will become his ANIMA; a female figure that personifies feminine strengths such as sensitivity, emotional wisdom, intuition, empathy and care that may be missing in the HERO, although the HERO will usually incorporate these traits into his psyche by the end of the journey. The ANIMA is also a character that the HERO will have to find and rescue, and finally the ANIMA may also serve as a LOVE INTEREST for the HERO.
Frey next meets Roy, another patient at the treatment facility. Patients of the treatment facility are given various tasks to perform during their stay at the facility and Roy’s task is to greet new patients and escort them to the particular unit that they will stay at during their time at the facility. In introducing himself to James, he wears the mask of the MENTOR, teaching James the rules of the facility, one of which is no interaction between men and women patients. The rules of the treatment facility represent a THRESHOLD GUARDIAN, by TESTING James’s commitment to recovery. As such, because of his helpful advice, it appears Roy is an ALLY. Roy shows James his unit and takes him to the room he will be staying at, introducing James to his roommates – Larry, Warren and John, all of whom will become Frey’s ALLIES, and they will serve as MENTORS by introducing James to his daily jobs.
Lilly, Roy, Larry, Warren and John, as patients in the treatment facility, are each on their own JOURNEYS, struggling to overcome their own drug and alcohol addictions. As such, from time to time, each person will wear different masks when interacting with each other, such as the masks of the MENTOR, HEARALD SHAPESHIFTER or TRICKSTER.
Next, Frey meets Ken, his Unit Recovery Counselor, and a staff member of the treatment facility. Ken will serve the role of MENTOR, and will represent James’s first true MEETING WITH THE MENTOR in his journey toward recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Ken will guide James, providing him with MOTIVATION, INSIGHT and TRAINING in the form of therapy, counselling and the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Here, during this first meeting with Ken, James also reveals that his parents tried to get him into treatment facilities when he was younger, but he was never willing to go, another form of a REFUSAL. He would threaten his parents, saying that he would disappear and they would never see him again. This was a form of control James had in his ORDINARY WORLD, but one he would ultimately lose as his addictions became worse, to the point where he had no other choice but to accept his family’s CALL TO ADVENTURE.
It is also during this first meeting that Ken challenges James to take the path of recovery. He asks him if he is willing to do whatever it takes to recover, but James responds that he is not sure if he is able to do whatever it takes, another form of REFUSAL by James. His refusal prompts Ken to wear the mask of the HERALD, where he warns and challenges James, noting that they can’t help him unless he is willing to accept the CALL TO ADVENTURE.
Later in the night, James describes standing in front of the mirror, trying to look into his own eyes. This act will become an important aspect to Frey’s story, serving as a metaphor for James looking into his own soul and confronting his own inner SHADOW – the fury.
Once he finishes his daily jobs, he has another MEETING WITH THE MENTOR, this time with Ken who introduces him to Hank, another staff person of the treatment facility. Hank will also wear the mask of the MENTOR but will also play a dual role by becoming an important ALLY for Frey.
Hank will drive James to visit the surgical dentist, Dr. David Stevens. In this first meeting, Dr. Stevens ascertains what will have to be done to James to repair the damage to his teeth – some of the teeth will be capped, and for the other damaged teeth, James will have to undergo root canals.
Upon returning to the treatment facility, Frey has his first real flashback, detailing memories of the life he had in his ORDINARY WORLD. Dealing with his past will become an important step toward his mental recovery and his ability to overcome his addictions.
James also meets Leonard for the first time. At first, Leonard appears to be a possible ENEMY, as Frey relied on the mask of the TRICKSTER in previous encounters with Leonard and others he encountered. Specifically, he had made fun of Leonard, but didn’t remember doing so because of his withdrawal symptoms. Once they deal with what happened, Leonard quickly becomes an ALLY and throughout the story he will become one of James’s closest ALLIES. Throughout all of these various interactions with his MENTORS, ALLIES and ENEMIES, James’s LEVEL OF AWARENESS is steadily increasing.
Another MEETING WITH THE MENTOR follows this, as Ken has James take a psychological TEST. This TEST will help Ken analyze James’s state of being, which will in turn provide Ken with a path for dealing with James’s recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.
James then calls and talks to a number of his old friends, as well as his brother and finally, his parents. They all provide James with encouragement and support, wishing him well on his JOURNEY.
James attends another Lecture, which all patients are required to attend while at the treatment facility. The Lectures are another form of a MENTOR and HERALD, providing the patients with information, motivation, insight as well as challenging patients to take a path that is free from drugs and alcohol. At this particular session, James learns more about Larry, who reveals how he ended up in the treatment facility. Another day has come to an end.
That night, James has a terrible nightmare. This is James’s first user dream, an attempt by his INNER PROBLEM and SHADOW, the fury, to tempt him to take up the old ways of his ORDINARY WORLD – to use drugs and alcohol. The dream is vivid, clear and frighteningly real for James. He even wakes up crying, and having to vomit violently. In many ways the nightmare represents another THRESHOLD GUARDIAN, testing James’s commitment and worth to the journey ahead. James then finds out that Larry is missing, and it becomes very clear that Larry lacked the courage necessary to commit to his own Journey. Larry has rejected his CALL TO ADVENTURE.
During his daily job of cleaning the bathrooms, James is confronted by Roy, who this time wears the mask of the THRESHOLD GUARDIAN, yelling at James to do a better job of cleaning the bathrooms. James responds in kind, yelling at Roy and their yelling escalates into a brawl that is broken up by treatment facility staff. At this point, James is clearly fed-up and frustrated with the treatment facility. He internally criticizes the processes of the facility, which is a form of REFUSAL of his CALL TO ADVENTURE. This encounter, combined with his nightmare, result in James having a breakdown of sorts. Each REFUSAL has served to steadily escalate the stakes for James and the only way that staff can calm James down is by sedating him and removing him from the Unit.
James wakes up the next morning, still at the clinic, but in a room away from his recovery unit. His outburst and confrontation with Roy forced the facility to remove him the SPECIAL WORLD, and he again has a MEETING WITH THE MENTOR, Ken. Ken introduces James to Lincoln (a staff member of the treatment facility), and to Joanne, a Staff Psychologist at the treatment facility. Wearing the masks of MENTOR and HAROLD, Ken, Lincoln and Joanne talk to James about what happened, providing him with information and advice, as well as another CALL TO ADVENTURE, to accept their knowledge, wisdom and tests that can provide James with a pathway away from drug and alcohol addiction.
After the meeting, James is confused and afraid, and unsure of what to do. He is still very much reluctant to committing to the change required by the CALL TO ADVENTURE, he is still very much unsure of whether or not he wants to descend into the SPECIAL WORLD of the treatment facility.
At breakfast, James meets with Leonard, as well as with two new ALLIES, Ted and Ed. They then attend lecture together, where there is another brief encounter with Roy where James challenges Roy to curb his negative behaviour.
James is again taken to the surgical dentist by Hank, his ALLY. On the journey taken to the dental office, James has another remembrance of his past. During this remembrance, the weather changes – a storm is brewing. At Dr. Stevens’s office, James learns that he will not be able to take any painkillers or anesthesia during the medical procedures. By doing this, Dr. Stevens is acting as a THRESHOLD GUARDIAN, providing James with the ultimate TEST of his physical and mental state. James passes this TEST of endurance, and is taken back to the treatment facility by Hank. On the trip back to the treatment facility, the storm is now raging. At the facility, James will face more TESTS, in the forms of both positive and negative encounters with other patients.
James also has more MEETINGS WITH THE MENTOR, with Ken, Lincoln and Joanne. He reads and learns about the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, but doesn’t connect with it. He feels that people are replacing their drug and alcohol addictions with Dogma – a false addiction to a belief in some higher power. Frey also takes more trips into his past, thinking about events that he experienced, and contemplating actions that he took as well as the results of actions that he took. Finally, the physical symptoms of his withdrawal continue to plague Frey. He learns that he is in a severe physical and mental state, and he learns that if he ever drinks or does drugs again he will die. His body will not handle any more abuse.
More importantly, Frey goes through a very challenging internal struggle that comes to a climax at this point. James is in pain, and has his first conscious realization that if he leaves the treatment facility he will face either death or Jail. He realizes, that outside the clinic, there is no light. He is losing hope at being able to recover, and he makes the decision that he will leave the treatment facility, thereby rejecting the CALL TO ADVENTURE. He realizes that this refusal will most likely result in his own death.
He also encounters a significant TEST involving Lincoln, who accuses James of not doing his job – cleaning the group toilets. James denies this and there is a confrontation between the two men, as Lincoln demands that James clean the bathrooms properly. Ultimately, James tries to leave, but is stopped by Leonard, who for the first time, wears the mask of the HERALD, challenging James to stick to the path of recovery. Leonard asks James to stay at the center for another 24 hours, and he also warns James that no matter how many times he tries to leave the treatment facility he will have him found and brought back to this SPECIAL WORLD. James knows that Leonard has the power to do this as he has a shady background that may be connected to the mob or other illegal activities. James accepts his challenge, thereby COMMITTING TO CHANGE and thereby CROSSING THE FIRST THRESHOLD.
As such, Act I is complete, with the completion represented by a physical separation between the chapter that ends Act I and the chapter that begins Act II – a blank page with scribbling on it.
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Act II: Part I: Descent, Initiation, Preparation…
Act II functions to provide the HERO with a number of TESTS, ALLIES and ENEMIES (the sixth step of the JOURNEY), and as the HERO overcomes the TESTS he will APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE (the seventh step). This is followed by the SUPREME ORDEAL (the eighth step), which serves as the penultimate TEST of whether or not the HERO has learned to handle the rules of the SPECIAL WORLD. The HERO then receives a REWARD as a result of the SUPREME ORDEAL (the ninth step).
Act II is separated into two halves by another blank page with more scribbling on it, which occurs about halfway through the Act. The first half serves to cement the relationships that James developed in Act I. The second half of Act II deals with James’s APPROACH TO THE INMOST CAVE.
The first half of Act II opens with James considering the commitment he made at the end of Act I. It is still unclear whether or not James will stick to this commitment. Suspense builds as he counts down the hours until the time he will leave. A lot happens on this day. First, James receives a REWARD in the form of an apology from Lincoln, who learned that Roy was obsessed with getting James thrown out of the treatment facility and trashed the toilets to make it look like James was not doing his work.
Secondly, his brother and two friends visit James and they spend the majority of the day together. His brother presents James with a REWARD in the form of toiletries and books. The books in particular will become a MENTOR of sorts to James, with one of the books serving to provide him with an alternative vision and path to recovery. They go on a walk together and during this time James again encounters Lilly, whose grandmother is visiting. In this scene it is clear that a special bond is developing between James and Lilly. After the walk, James expresses his uncertainty regarding his ability to take the JOURNEY that lies ahead of him. They provide him with support and encouragement.
After the visit, he calls his parents who say they want to help him on his JOURNEY, suggesting that they come to the treatment facility to take part in a Family Program. James REFUSES their offer to come, emphasizing the importance of taking the JOURNEY on his own. There are further interactions with other people and the day ends with James talking to Lilly on the phone. It’s their most in-depth and revealing conversation to this point and they agree to see each other again. James, now smiling, feels a sense of new hope. The 24 hours have passed and he hasn’t left the treatment facility. It is now clear that James has committed himself to the JOURNEY offered by the SPECIAL WORLD of the treatment facility, but he will have to face more TESTS that will serve to strengthen his relationships with his ALLIES and his ENEMIES and prepare him for his APPROACH TO THE INMOST CAVE and his SUPREME ORDEAL.
The next day, James is again REWARDED with a new, easier daily job – making coffee. He no longer has to clean toilets. Throughout Act II, there are many scenes in which James interacts with and learns from other patients. Many of these interactions are thoughtful, some confrontational, some are sad and some are enjoyable. This is all a part of his PREPARATION for dealing with his SUPREME ORDEAL. They share stories about their lives outside the treatment facility. He develops close bonds with Leonard and Miles, who prove to be powerful ALLIES on his journey. Miles, who is a judge, will become James’s roommate at the facility. James’s physical recovery also continues and he slowly improves throughout Act II.
His mental recovery also continues throughout Act II, in two forms, the first represented by what the treatment facility has to offer. James continues MEETING WITH HIS MENTORS – Joanne, Ken and Lincoln. These meetings serve to further prepare and teach James about recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. James however, is still sceptical and still questions the methods they offer him for recovery and as such, these MENTORS also wear the mask of THRESHOLD GUARDIANS. At times, James even wears the mask of the TRICKSTER, mocking the methods being offered to him on his path to recovery.
The books he received from his brother represent the second form of mental recovery for James. In particular, the Tao te Ching, presents James with an ALTERNATE PATH toward recovery by revealing a philosophy that speaks to James, helping him to find the strength to recover. It is at the point when James begins exploring this book that Roy returns to the treatment facility (having earlier been released), only now Roy’s addictions have overcome him and he has gone mad. It is through this situation that Roy effectively becomes a mirror of what could become of James should he choose to return to his ORDINARY WORLD of alcohol and drug addiction.
Finally, near the end of the first half of Act II, James’s relationship with Lilly reaches an emotional climax of sorts – they begin to share a strong mental and physical intimacy. And it is an intimacy that could tear apart everything they have sought to achieve by committing to the journey of recovery. The first half of Act II ends with James at rest, contemplating his life and his JOURNEY at the treatment facility. It ends poignantly, as he lies in bed, listening to his roommate Miles play the clarinet.
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Act II: Part II: Descent, Initiation, Preparation…
The second half of Act II opens with James having an extended user dream, one that won’t stop. It is a dream so intense that he keeps going back to it, even after he has awoken from it. James is even physically ill as a result of the dream. In many ways, the dream is representative of his DESCENT into his inner psyche, yet another TEST on his road toward CHANGE.
During the second half of Act II, James’s past comes to catch up with him in a number of ways. His dealing with his past represents part of his PREPARATION for the SUPREME ORDEAL. The first encounter with the past is in the form of his criminal past. Treatment facility lawyers work to find out the extent of James’s criminal past as well as ways to deal with it. It is discovered that in one state, James could end up spending years in jail.
The second instance of James’s past comes in the form of his parents who come to the treatment facility to take part in the Family Program. At first this upsets James, as it seems that part of his inner SHADOW (the Fury) is tied to his relationship with his parents. But through group sessions held between James, Joanne, Ken and his parents, James is able to work through the fury and his conflicted feelings toward his parents. Eventually, James is again REWARDED as he is able to come to develop trust and understanding with his parents.
The second half of Act II also illustrates the deepening of James and Lilly’s relationship. They secretly meet each other in the afternoon and at night, in the fields and woods surrounding the treatment facility. They develop a close bond and trust and for James seeing her helps him find the strength to carry on. They are able to share and discuss their deepest fears and darkest stories. They are able to learn how to love again. However, the relationship will threaten their ability to recover, as facility staff eventually discovers the relationship. Obviously, there is a confrontation between James and the staff because of the rules about men and women not interacting at the facility. This situation of discovery will lead to James’s SUPREME ORDEAL.
After they are discovered, James has a meeting with Lincoln, who again wears the mask of the HERALD. James is told that he will be allowed to finish the recovery program so long as he follows the rules and does not see Lilly any more. James is also warned that normally he would be kicked out of the treatment facility for such a breach of the rules, but that Joanne had worked to have him stay at the facility, which represents another REWARD.
Lincoln also tells James that these same conditions were given to Lilly, but that she refused the conditions and left the facility of her own free will because she could not stand the thought of not being able to see James. In order to recover, Lincoln tells James, she has to want to stay at the facility. James is enraged that they let Lilly leave, because Lilly still needs a lot of help on her JOURNEY of recovery. This prompts James to leave the facility, to try and find and rescue Lilly from falling back into drug and alcohol addiction. James has chosen to APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE to face his SUPREME ORDEAL. But as he is walking away from the facility to find Lilly, Lincoln and James’s ALLY, Hank, catch up to him and talk him into going to find Lilly together as a TEAM.
After visiting some places, they approach a crack house where Lilly may be staying. James ENTERS THE INMOST CAVE alone, as he must face his SUPREME ORDEAL on his own, leaving Hank and Lincoln waiting in the van. The house is abandoned, dark and lonely. The smell of alcohol and drugs and the feel of the place remind James of his user dreams. TEMPTATION surrounds James to give up on his JOURNEY of recovery by turning to the drugs and alcohol of the crack house. Ultimately, he finds Lilly and is able to RESCUE his ANIMA. Although she is in bad shape and fights him, she is physically and mentally distraught and eventually gives into him, allowing James to take her away from the crack house. Together, they all return to the treatment facility. With this ORDEAL, James has received his ultimate REWARD – he has faced the temptation of being able to use again and he did not use. He also successfully RESCUED his love and brought her back to the safety of the treatment facility where she may continue her own JOURNEY of recovery. Act II is now complete, and a blank page with even more scribbling on it again represents the division between Act II and III.
Table of Contents...
Act III: The Return
Act III serves to present the HERO on the ROAD BACK from the SPECIAL WORLD (the tenth step of the JOURNEY). On the ROAD BACK the HERO faces the CLIMATIC ORDEAL of the JOURNEY, which results in the RESURRECTION of the HERO (the eleventh step). With the RESURRECTION, the HERO essentially dies, and is reborn. As such, the HERO RETURNS WITH THE ELIXIR (the twelfth step), bringing the lessons of the SPECIAL WORLD into the ORDINARY WORLD.
Early in Act III, James meets again with Lincoln. This is perhaps James’s last MEETING WITH THIS MENTOR. Their conversation at this point reveals that they have both faced similar JOURNEYS. Specifically, Lincoln reveals that he too was once a drug addict and reveals that the Twelve Steps had saved him. They discuss how Lincoln saves people without having to risk anything. Lincoln also admits that he would not have had the courage to do what James did, by having to risk the possibility of using again by going into the crack house to rescue somebody else. Finally, he also asks James to prove him wrong, that if James can not return to using because of his beliefs that lie outside of the Twelve Steps, then to do that and succeed in that.
Next, James learns from the treatment facility lawyer who has been looking into his past criminal activities. He learns that the charges he was facing in one state that could result in serving a long jail term had been reduced. Specifically, evidence had gone missing and the state prosecutor had received phone calls on James’s behalf. As such it is clear that because of the friendships he has developed with Miles and Leonard, he has been REWARDED as ultimately his sentence is reduced to only a few months.
He is then challenged by Joanne to precede to his final TEST, Steps Four and Five of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Step Four requires James to search and confront his history – complete with his inner thoughts, fears and demons by writing them down. Step Five requires James to do an Admission / Confession with a Priest. This in-depth and difficult reflection on his life, combined with the work he has done already at the treatment facility provides James with a REDEDICATION TO CHANGE. This, combined with his reduced jail sentence will allow James to take THE ROAD BACK to the ORDINARY WORLD, with all of the LESSONS James has learned in the SPECIAL WORLD, whether it is from the Twelve Steps, the various programs he was involved with at the facility, or from the books his brother gave him, James has undergone GROWTH and RECOVERY.
James completes the final two TESTS of the treatment facility. What James writes and confesses to the Priest force James to tie up and deal with much of the reflecting he had done while at the facility. He even takes it a step further, admitting to some very dark and disturbing circumstances. In order to return to the ORDINARY WORLD, James must be RESURRECTED, having shed his old life in favour of a new one.
At this point, James also has his final significant encounter with past. Throughout the book it was revealed through James’s remembrance of the past that he had forged other relationships – one in particular with another girl at university. She sends him a package of old letters and photographs and they bring back more memories for James of his ORDINARY WORLD of addiction. He spends time with the package, remembering the significance of each photograph, but ultimately he burns everything in the package, as a means of severing himself from his old ORDINARY WORLD of addiction.
Having completed these final tests, he says goodbye to his fellow patients, and exchanges contact information with Miles and Leonard. Before leaving with his brother, he has a chance to say goodbye to his ANIMA, Lilly. They vow to REUNITE once he has served his sentence, to take the JOURNEY of life together.
As he ventures onto THE ROAD BACK, they stop off at a bar, as James is determined to face his inner rage that wants him to drink. His brother is weary, worried that James has not learned anything from his JOURNEY and that he is about to fall back into addiction, which would result in him throwing his life away. James does order a drink, but because of the LESSONS he learned in the SPECIAL WORLD of the treatment facility James is able to confront and defeat his SHADOW by refusing to drink. Finally, James is able to confidently look himself in the eyes – to finally gaze into his own soul. This moment of RESURRECTION reveals that Frey has been able to MASTER HIS PROBLEM, and with his ELIXIR of knowledge, recovery and understanding, he is able to RETURN to the ORDINARY WORLD without relying on his former drug and alcohol addictions as a means of escaping his problems. As the story ends, he is able to hang out and enjoy a game of pool in the bar with his brother and friends.
END OF PLOT SPOILERS…
Table of Contents...
V. controversy and a million little pieces…
The body of my review above was written before the controversy surrounding James Frey’s a million little pieces in mid-January, 2006. On January 8, 2006, The Smoking Gun [an online website devoted to bringing its readers exclusive documents (such as but not limited to material obtained from government and law enforcement sources, via Freedom of Information requests, and from court files) related to hot-topic current events. The site was purchased in December 2000 by the CourtTV cable network] published a seemingly damning story that uncovered the “truth” behind Frey’s memoir:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html
The site alleged that a number of incidents as described by Frey in his memoir contained severe fabrications as well as alterations of criminal events that Frey purported to have experienced during his life. Frey immediately went on the defensive, appearing on CNN’s Larry King Live on January 11, 2006. A transcript of that appearance is located here:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0601/11/lkl.01.html
Frey admitted to having changed parts of a million little pieces but argues he did so in an effort to help emphasize the book’s underlying essence and message of rehabilitation and redemption. Oprah agreed, phoning into the show that night to show her continued support for Frey.
Since that appearance, further articles and television reports chipped away at the reliability of James Frey’s literary non-fiction mantel. On January 12, 2006 The New York Times had this to say:
“Writer Says He Made Up Some Details”
By EDWARD WYATT
The author of a best-selling memoir whose truth was called into question this week acknowledged yesterday that he had made up details of his life.
But Oprah Winfrey, whose recommendation last fall of the memoir, "A Million Little Pieces," by James Frey, made it the best-selling book by any American author last year, said Wednesday that she would continue to recommend it despite Mr. Frey's admission that he made up significant aspects of his story of addiction and recovery.
Ms. Winfrey's statement came last night in a phone call to "Larry King Live" on CNN, where Mr. Frey was discussing news reports this week that parts of his book differed significantly from arrest reports and other public records of incidents he recounted in the memoir.
The Smoking Gun, an investigative Web site, reported on Sunday that Mr. Frey had never spent the three months in prison that he claimed, a disclosure that raised questions about a host of events that the author said occurred to him in jail and that he said were affected by his jailing, including the suicide of his girlfriend.
"I've acknowledged that I changed things," Mr. Frey told Mr. King. But, he said, the events he changed totaled less than 5 percent of the book's content, "within the realm of what's appropriate for a memoir."
Mr. Frey, who appeared on the show with his mother at his side, said he never expected his memoir to come under such close scrutiny. But he maintained that what he believes is the essence of the book is true: that he was an alcoholic and drug addict who overcame his addiction.
In her surprise call, Ms. Winfrey agreed, offering an endorsement that had Mr. Frey, and in all probability many people in the publishing industry, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Although some of the facts have been questioned," Ms. Winfrey said, "the underlying message of redemption in James Frey's memoir still resonates with me, and I know it resonates with millions of other people who have read this book and who will continue to read this book."
While many details about Mr. Frey's life before and after his time in an addiction treatment facility were being questioned, "to me it seems to be much ado about nothing," Ms. Winfrey said. "What is relevant is that he was a drug addict who spent years in turmoil" and who found a way to tell his story of redemption.
Ms. Winfrey said it was up to publishers, whom she said she relied on to document the authenticity of a book, to decide what rules govern memoirs and how they differ from other forms of nonfiction.
That debate has exposed rifts throughout the publishing industry this week, not least one between a prominent author - Gay Talese - and the similarly prominent publisher of Mr. Frey's book, Nan A. Talese. The two, of course, are husband and wife.
Mr. Talese, a renowned author of nonfiction books and a former reporter for The New York Times, said in an interview yesterday that he believed it was unacceptable for an author or a publisher to present as nonfiction a work that contained any composite or fictional characters or events, or that otherwise blurred the lines between truth and fiction.
"Nonfiction takes no liberty with the facts, and it should not," Mr. Talese said. "I think all writers should be held accountable. The trouble with book publishers is that they don't have the staff or they don't want to have the staff to ensure the veracity of a writer. You could argue that they had better, or they're going to have more stories like this one. My wife is going to hate me for this, but that is what I believe."
His wife, Ms. Talese, whose Nan A. Talese imprint at the Doubleday unit of Random House published Mr. Frey's book, disagreed, saying memoir cannot be held to the same standard as history or biography.
"Nonfiction is not a single monolithic category as defined by the best-seller list," she said yesterday when asked to comment on her husband's remarks. "Memoir is personal recollection. It is not absolute fact. It's how one remembers what happened. That is different from history and criticism and biography, and they cannot be measured by the same yardstick."
"I adore Gay, but this is a debate that we've been having for 40 years," Ms. Talese said.“
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/books/12frey.html?ex=1138338000&en=9beb1160aba0cfbf&ei=5070
Since the publication of that article, The New York Times has further articles and interviews on this hot topic:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/technology/23link.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/books/24frey.html
And on January 25, 2006, The New York Times published interviews with two men who say they were with Frey during his time at the drug rehabilitation clinic and overall they support Frey’s work, although they did question the severity of some of the physical altercations that occur at the clinic:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/books/25frey.html
Finally, on January 26, 2006 the controversy climaxed with Frey appearing once again on Oprah.
http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200601/tows_past_20060126.jhtml
On the show, he affirmed that what had been reported was true:
- He elaborated on the police incident that landed him in jail;
- He elaborated on the amount of time he spent in jail;
- He elaborated on the importance of his involvement regarding the death of a friend he had in high-school;
- He elaborated on the events surrounding the dental work he received after arriving at the alcohol and drug treatment center; and
- He altered the events surrounding the death of Lilly and how she committed suicide.
Oprah challenged Frey and his publishers on these points and on this entire debate. She noted that she felt betrayed, disappointed and argued that by lying, Frey presented a false person to readers. Frey looked like a deer in headlights, and for better or worse provided some explanation as to his motivations and why he lied, but he ultimately failed to offer any kind of apology for what he had written. On February 2, 2006 Frey offered a “Note to Readers” on his online blog:
02/01/06 - 12:39 PM
Note To Readers
A Million Little Pieces is about my memories of my time in a drug and alcohol treatment center. As has been accurately revealed by two journalists at The Smoking Gun, during the process of writing the book, I embellished many details about my past experiences, and altered others in order to serve what I felt was the greater purpose of the book. I sincerely apologize to those readers who have been disappointed by my actions.
I first sat down to write the book in the spring of 1997. I wrote what is now the first forty pages of it. I stopped because I didn't feel ready to continue to do it, didn't think I was ready to express some of the trauma I had experienced. I started again in the fall of 2000. I had been working in the film industry and was deeply unsatisfied with what I was doing. I had wanted to write books and was writing films. I saved enough money to give myself eighteen months to write the book.
I didn't initially think of what I was writing as nonfiction or fiction, memoir or autobiography.
I wanted to use my experiences to tell my story about addiction and alcoholism, about recovery, about family and friends and faith and love, about redemption and hope. I wanted to write, in the best-case scenario, a book that would change lives, would help people who were struggling, would inspire them in some way. I wanted to write a book that would detail the fight addicts and alcoholics experience in their minds and in their bodies, and detail why that fight is difficult to win. I wanted to write a book that would help the friends and family members of addicts and alcoholics understand that fight.
As I wrote, I worked primarily from memory. I also used supporting documents, such as medical records, therapists' notes, and personal journals, when I had them, and when they were relevant. I wanted the stories in the book to ebb and flow, to have dramatic arcs, to have the tension that all great stories require. I altered events and details all the way through the book. Some of those include my role in a train accident that killed a girl from my school. While I was not, in real-life, directly involved in the accident, I was profoundly affected by it. Others involved jail time I served, which in the book is three months, but which in reality was only several hours, and certain criminal events, including an arrest in Ohio, which was embellished. There has been much discussion, and dispute, about a scene in the book involving a root-canal procedure that takes place without anesthesia. I wrote that passage from memory, and have medical records that seem to support it. My account has been questioned by the treatment facility, and they believe my memory may be flawed.
In addition, names and identifying characteristics of all the treatment patients in the book and all of the facility's employees, characteristics including occupations, ages, places of residence, and places and means of death, were changed to protect the anonymity of those involved in this period in my life. This was done in the spirit of respecting every individual's anonymity, which is something we were urged to do while in treatment, and to continue to do after we left.
I made other alterations in my portrayal of myself, most of which portrayed me in ways that made me tougher and more daring and more aggressive than in reality I was, or I am. People cope with adversity in many different ways, ways that are deeply personal. I think one way people cope is by developing a skewed perception of themselves that allows them to overcome and do things they thought they couldn't do before. My mistake, and it is one I deeply regret, is writing about the person I created in my mind to help me cope, and not the person who went through the experience.
There is much debate now about the respective natures of works of memoir, nonfiction, and fiction. That debate will likely continue for some time. I believe, and I understand others strongly disagree, that memoir allows the writer to work from memory instead of from a strict journalistic or historical standard. It is about impression and feeling, about individual recollection. This memoir is a combination of facts about my life and certain embellishments. It is a subjective truth, altered by the mind of a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. Ultimately, it's a story, and one that I could not have written without having lived the life I've lived.
I never expected the book to become as successful as it has, to sell anywhere close to the number of copies it has sold. The experience has been shocking for me, incredibly humbling, and at times terrifying. Throughout this process, I have met thousands of readers, and heard from many thousands more, who were deeply affected by the book, and whose lives were changed by it. I am deeply sorry to any readers who I have disappointed and I hope these revelations will not alter their faith in the book's central message – that drug addiction and alcoholism can be overcome, and there is always a path to redemption if you fight to find one. Thirteen years after I left treatment, I'm still on the path, and I hope, ultimately, I'll get there.
James Frey
New York, January 2006
Source: http://www.bigjimindustries.com/news.php
So the question remains, is Frey a fraud? I’m not so sure. Certainly blame can be laid at both the feet of Frey as well as his editors and publishers. But one thing is certain, the controversy has spurred a new and heated debate about what exactly creative non-fiction really is.
The Smoking Gun seemed to only have access to police reports and court records. Their article did not attempt to refute or discredit any other parts of the memoir, nor did its authors have access to the diaries and journals he kept in rehab, nor did they have access to Frey’s medical records from that period of time. And although further accounts have since come out to either back-up or refute what The Smoking Gun claimed, part of me still comes back to what Fern Kupfer said, that “We need to give memoir writers permission to lie, but only when the reconstructed version of the story does not deceive the reader in its search for the aesthetic truth.“
There are some who claim a million little pieces paints a harrowing picture of the horrors of drug and alcohol addiction, as well as the pains surrounding the difficulty of recovery. And this still continues to be the case, even if you diminish the importance of how bad James Frey was as a person during the time of his addiction to drugs and alcohol. On the other hand, there are some who claim his picture is not a true representation of the reality it tries to paint. But for others, a million little pieces does seem hold a number of strong elements of truth to it, because in the end, every person’s experience with addiction and recovery is different.
There are also some who claim that Frey wrote a million little pieces simply to scam everyone and to make money. Now, perhaps I’m being naïve, but I don’t think Frey wrote a million little pieces to make money. If he wanted to make money - why write a book? Thousands of books are published every year, as are thousands of movies. Thousands more are probably passed up and never see the light of day. There are far easier ways to make a quick buck then shooting in the dark with a book, memoir or otherwise. a million little pieces took more than two years to find its way onto the best-sellers lists and only then did it catch the attention of Oprah.
Table of Contents...
VI. solutions to the million little controversies…
So is there a way out from all of this? Yes, there are a number of ways, including…
A. Restore readership trust in authors and publishers…
Throughout this controversy, it seems remarkable that more wasn’t done by the publishers to ensure the reliability of Frey’s story – finding the police records that The Smoking Gun found wouldn’t have been that hard to do. Author Zoe Landale, a creative-writing instructor at Kwantlen University College noted how “It is remarkable that no fact checkers were employed. When I did a piece for Reader's Digest a couple of years back, and I talked about having a specific medical condition, man, they tracked down the doctor who'd dealt with me twenty-five years before and verified what I'd said. So having a book publisher who didn't do the same thing is unfortunate.“ During her January 26 show, Oprah called on the publishing industry to be more diligent in regards to their fact checking. All future publications of a million little pieces will also include a disclaimer that some events have been altered and will also include a new foreword by James Frey. Those statements have been published online at the Random House website:
http://www.randomhouse.com/nanatalese/
Direct Link Number 1: http://www.randomhouse.com/trade/publicity/pdfs/AMLP012706.pdf
Direct Link Number 2: http://www.randomhouse.com/trade/publicity/pdfs/AMLP020106.pdf
But why wasn’t this done to begin with? The publisher had a duty to check the facts and to also place a disclaimer at the front of the book clearly stating that some of the names and events may have been changed, compressed or altered for dramatic effect. If they had done that, all of this debate might have been avoided, or its impact, lessened. Which leads me to the last article I found on this subject, as published on January 19, 2006 from one of Canada’s leading newspapers, The Globe & Mail:
ON MEDIA: THE PRIZE FOR LITERARY FRAUD ARTIST
Publishers are just as guilty as the likes of Frey
By RUSSELL SMITH
Thursday, January 19, 2006 Page R1
I know everybody has already had a bash at last week's literary pinatas, the James Frey and JT LeRoy scandals, but these controversies have generated so much ink because the questions they provoke are at the heart of contemporary literary culture and current media ethics. And with the finalists for the Charles Taylor Prize for literary "non-fiction" announced yesterday, it's a good time to reaffirm that there really is such a thing.
I was astounded by how many people bought Frey's "emotional-truth" hogwash; I was astounded that people kept repeating this "creative-non-fiction" mantra, as if any writing is not creative, and as if the truth of any historical account were no longer relevant.
I was even more shocked that even after seeing Frey's skin-crawling performance on Larry King -- his whiny, mealy-mouthed refusal to answer any direct question with a straightforward answer -- even after this embarrassing display of evasiveness, of genuine sliminess, even after this, people were saying, "Who cares if it's true, it's a good story. . . ."
Even Oprah, who was seriously conned by this fraud, refused to criticize the crook.
They refused to admit that the success of James Frey's book depended almost entirely on its being perceived as a true story, the life story of a real person who could appear, as himself, on a talk show and talk not about a book but about his life story.
Frey's manipulation was of the media and its adoration of personalities -- and of the publishing industry, with its abject dependence on that very media addiction.
People seem to think that the JT LeRoy hoax -- which has also embarrassed a number of people, such as author Susie Bright, who were so taken with the life story of the teen-hustler androgyne that they used him as a poster boy for the marginalized and the transgendered -- is a much more complicated moral question than the Frey memoir, because LeRoy, or the person or people who claimed to be LeRoy, at least called the work fiction. And that fiction (unlike Frey's overblown and inarticulate sentimentality) is actually pretty good. The work still deserves to be read and analyzed as fiction.
This is true -- the author's identity does not detract from the quality of the art (if the work is indeed claiming to be art and not fact). But LeRoy was not just another literary hoax, like so many of the great hoaxes of the past, whose aims were usually critical or humorous, or humorously critical; that is, they aimed at uncovering some kind of failing in the literary establishment. Their point was eventual discovery: Their authors would fool the eggheads at a certain magazine, by submitting works by Emily Dickinson under an Inuit name, or whatever, and then make the editors' responses look silly when the truth was revealed. The team behind JT LeRoy had no such intention; they wanted to keep making money off the poor, sad, druggie trannie boy for as long as they could.
And what about pseudonyms? Aren't they a respected literary tradition, and wasn't JT LeRoy just another pseudonym, like George Orwell or Mark Twain? Well, no: Usually, the point of a pseudonym is not to create a three-dimensional false author, but to hide one. The point of a pseudonym is the opposite of celebrity. It's to take attention away from a real person, so that the work may be judged without the filter of a personality.
But we all know that that doesn't work terribly well these days. Publishers need to sell books, and to sell books they have to get media attention, and to get media attention you need a real, live author who can be interviewed on TV and radio and profiled in magazines. If that author has a fascinating life story, then that will be the subject of interviews -- we all know that to discuss a book on television is an instant channel-switcher, as you know that the vast majority of your viewers have not read the book in question.
This is why publishers are much more eager, on the whole, to publish memoir rather than fiction. And, what do you know, Frey initially submitted his book as a novel, and was advised to call it a memoir. It is indeed hard to imagine this book receiving so much attention had it been called a novel: It would have been judged by a different standard, an aesthetic one, not a didactic-religious one, and it might not have made the grade.
Similarly for JT LeRoy: I first heard about this author about three years ago, because a friend was a huge fan of his writing. But the first thing she told me about him was not what she liked about the stories but his amazing life story: He was a teenage hustler who dressed in drag and dated beautiful celebrities (it was Asia Argento at the time, I think -- which turned out to be false). I was intrigued, too. Maybe he would have eventually received recognition for his writing without the elaborate persona, but that recognition would have come from different channels, and more slowly.
Both the Frey and LeRoy frauds were cynically preying on this publishing/media craving for celebrity. That craving comes from all of us: from our collective desire to know secrets about people we don't know. Another word for this is gossip. It was only a matter of time before a few bright people figured out how to exploit that prurience. Instead of proudly making art -- the most difficult aspect of which is indeed its made-up-ness, its artifice -- and being justifiably proud of inventing something that seemed real, they decided to hide its artness and call it something cheaper. They decided to call it gossip, and it paid.“
B. Throw out the lawsuits related to this controversy…
I can understand why readers feel cheated by Frey and his admissions. But in regards to the many lawsuits that have been launched against Frey and his publisher, I think they should be thrown out. There will always be some level of subjectivity to how an author recalls events and details – that’s how memory works. Allowing them to be held legally liable for getting those recollections wrong could damage the creative non-fiction genre beyond repair. It could scare authors away from the genre, and it could also stop publishers from investing in the genre altogether. Frey’s done enough to damage public perception toward the creative non-fiction genre as it is, and now it’s up to him, other authors as well as publishers to pick up the pieces.
But I’m not saying that Frey should be let off the hook altogether. I’d call on Frey to donate all future personal proceeds from a million little pieces and its sequel, my friend Leonard to charity, perhaps to the drug and alcohol treatment center he went to. He’s probably made enough already off of the to-date sales of the books as well as the deal to turn a million little pieces into a feature film to sustain himself for the rest of his life. Frey is also apparently working on some new works of fiction, which should also sell well, without him having to rely on future revenues from a million little pieces and my friend Leonard.
C. Frey could reveal all of his sources…
Finally, I think Frey should publish all of the documents he used in researching his book - the journals, medical records, court and police documents, interviews with people who were at the clinic with him - as part of his own set of notebooks that lay out for the reader the path that he took while writing a million little pieces. Such a publication could be timed for release alongside the film adaptation of a million little pieces by director Mark Romanek (of One Hour Photo fame, based on a script by Frey).
Alternatively, these documents could be included in some kind of documentary that could be included alongside the inevitable DVD release for the film. With a documentary, you could present all of the above documents, as well as all of the various interviews that have been done with people on both sides of this debate. In the end, either option could do nothing but help boost the sales of the book and the film, while also helping to honour the book’s emotional core.
Table of Contents...
VII. Conclusion…
In spite of the controversy surrounding a million little pieces, I still find myself willing to recommend James Frey’s memoir to readers. I leave each reader to make up their own mind on whether or not they feel that the essential truth of a million little pieces has been violated by how Frey chose to structure and reveal himself through his story. Overall, even though Frey embellished certain parts of his book, the emotional resonance of his journey is still strong and I do find that I’m still very attached to the text of the book. Ultimately, Frey still has a lot to answer for, but that doesn’t make a million little pieces any less worth reading.
Grade: A -
(C) February 25, 2006, Steven H. Lee
Read More On Writing...
Tell It Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction by Brenda Miller & Suzanne Paola (New!)
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser
On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies by Sol Stein
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: Steven Lee
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