Rating: 
Summary: A book to be read over and over and over....
Review: I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an entertaining and almost addicting (no pun intended) book. This certainly isn't a book for the children of the family due to the language. James Frey wrote a tremendously well done book. The writing style is unlike any other, most commonly compared to the author of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius". The sentences are usually blunt and to the point, yet slide off the tongue easily. The book is a mixture of the reality of being addicted and the hilarity of it. I recommend this book to anyone. This book will take your breath away.
Rating: 
Summary: BADLY-WRITTEN BILE, LACED WITH SELF-IMPORTANCE
Review: Stylistically awful, kind of pretend-punchy Hemmingway meets Elmore Leonard (but without the talent), with the most irritating syntax and repetition. Market-driven drivel, really. The narrator comes across as a brat. There's no interior subtlety. No real inner world beyond the self-obsessed, self-indulgent anger that drives the narrative. It becomes pretty indigestible by half-way through. I noticed Nan Talese is thanked in the acknowledgements. I guess everyone is entitled to a bad day. Or that even good editors will sell out if the market looks like it gives a green light. This book stinks of the quick buck. Anyway there's nothing it's going to add to the sum total of the world's literature. Bet you any money this Bile Brat-Boy can't come up with a second novel that's any better. (And if the book really is true, it's hard to believe this guy hasn't relapsed by now -- which, one imagines, would make it hard to even get that second novel started.) Who the hell made the decision to left-justify all the paragraphs? It's an unspeakably annoying habit. Is this the new in-house signal for "groovy cutting edge" in publishing? I give the book one star, in a sense because the hilariously bad ending, when Frey "Just Says No", is such a classic of bad literature and is worth reading for a belly laugh. But you could do that standing in the bookshop. Try and imagine the Hollywood violins, amping up the emotions, in this scene in the film version of this book, which you can be sure will follow. If you want the real goods, a truly beautiful masterpiece on the addicted soul, I suggest "Candy" by Luke Davies is the one to read. It's an extraordinary and moving book. Deeply affecting, and we identify deeply, even those of us who have no experience of addiction. There's nothing really "moving" about Frey's limp memoir.
Rating: 
Summary: An Addict Replies:
Review: I am reading. I am reading James Frey's book, A Million Little Pieces, & I am angry. Really. Pissed. Off.
Because this spoiled little rich Boy, this spoiled Brat who has Parents. Parents that care. Parents that returned from Tokyo. Just to make sure their bad spoiled Boy gets the Care he needs. In the Hospital. For which they spend much Money. They have spent Money on him before. How do I know? I know.
I know.
Because.
He tells us.
He says: I am an Alcoholic. I am a Criminal, & I have been an Addict. And an Alcoholic. For 10 years. Since I was 13.
But this spoiled Boy spent at least 4 of those Years. At least 4, he tells us. In College. College where he met a beautiful Girl. A beautiful Girl who loved him too. Even tho he was an Addict. And an Alcoholic. And who paid for the Boy to be in College to meet the Girl while he was an Alcoholic? His Parents. His loving Parents who cry. But love him. Even when he smokes Crack. Even when he sniffs Glue. Even when he jumps Bail. His Parents love Him and cry. And pay. And this Boy has Friends. Friends who call the Brother. Friends who care if the Boy gets well. Friends who visit on Sundays, bearing Gifts. Friends who don't want to see the Boy walking bare-assed around the Hospital. Which his Parents are paying for. Some Addicts don't have Loving Parents. Some addicts don't have Friends who care about them & come visit on Sundays. Some Addicts had to spend their time in the Hospital walking around bare-assed because no one cared. Cared if they had clothes. Cared if they had toothpaste. Cared if they lived. Cared if they died. Some Addicts didn't have the luxury of 4 Years of College. Some Addicts didn't get to party while the Loving Parents paid for it. Some Parents don't cry. They just throw you out. Like Garbage. Like Sewage. They call the Cops. They don't care if you go to the Hospital. They don't care if you get well. They just don't want to see you again. Only, you don't have any Friends to tell this to. No one to hug you while you cry. No one to push away because you feel Vulnerable. No one. Period. So, spoiled James Frey, cry. Cry for what a Bad Boy you are. Cry because your Mama cried for you. Cry because you are an Addict and a Criminal. Just remember while you cry: some Addicts never had no crying Mama. Some Addicts can get clean without. Sturm. Und. Drang. Some Addicts have to do it. All by themselves. Because. No one cared.
Rating: 
Summary: NO dental anesthesia?
Review: I have only just started this book but am freaked out by the dental surgery this guy endured without anesthesia. I understand(I think) that addicts in recovery cannot have narcotics for anesthesia/pain b/c it starts the whole craving cycle up again but surely there was SOMETHING thy could have given this man. He may be a drug addict but he is still a human being. I would not do that to my dog. What if he'd suddenly developed chest pain and they found he needed emergency bypass surgery.....now they wouldn't have split his chest open without anesthesia would they? I'm not crazy about his writing style but I am compelled to keep reading this tragic story.
Rating:
Summary: Similar to My Fractured Life
Review: The thing that strikes me the most is the similarity to the book "My Fractured Life." Both are very candid about drug addiction and alcoholism. Both use sarcastic and unappologetic humor. The other one (My Fractured Life) is a little better writen only because it is more believable. This one (A Million Little Pieces) is excellent though. Reading it was like a shot of something fun and illegal.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, as it should be
Review: I work for adults combating concurrent mental illness and substance abuse. Most of them are chronically homeless, frequently incarcerated, and their bodies are scarred from fights with their dealers, their pimps, and their so-called friends. Many of the women have their front teeth missing (making them appealing to John's who want oral sex). Most are barely literate. They don't have hope now, and can't remember a time they ever did. Unlike the author, they have no families to fall back on, no one who will hunt them down to save them, no one who will care whether they live or die beyond the dealer they owe money to. Yet somehow, this book accurately reflects so much of their internal dialogue. This book is about pain...wrenching, murdurous, inescapable psychic pain. It offers a glimpse of what is experienced by many of the nameless people you pass on the street and avert your eyes from. It promises no solutions or redemptions except for what worked for this one specific, fortunate-in-some-ways individual, which is (I suppose) how it must be. I highly recommend it, but only if you are strong enough to live with the resulting uneasiness it is bound to leave you with, especially if you are the type of person that hopes to leave this world a better place than what you found it.
Rating:
Summary: This book should be listed as FICTION
Review: As an author, I'm not keen to insult the work of others, but this book is infuriating. It struck me as disingenuous in the extreme. I would hope the book IS fiction, even though it is ostensibly an autobiography, since the author speaks boastfully of beating a man, possibly to death, while in a homosexual panic. One of the most blatant lies in the book is his assertion that the treatment program he attended demanded that he have root canals and tooth extractions performed without anesthesia. This ridiculous lie caused him to lose credibility, very early on in the book. The author's tone is self-aggrandizing, needlessly cruel and childishly petulant throughout. The characters are drawn with such broad strokes, and are so conveniently designed to serve at the altar of this author's ego, it's impossible to believe they are not fictitious. The one thing I do like about this book is that it provides a very clear example of the miserable attitude, anger and ego-based thinking that so often accompanies the "white-knuckle" brand of sobriety of which this author is so proud. There are many, many fine books written about addiction and recovery. This book is not one of them.
Rating:
Summary: I kept hoping the narrator would kill himself....
Review: ...and spare the world the tedious whining he tortures us with in "A Million Little Pieces." I was attracted to the book by the cover artwork, which is brilliant. Too bad the story itself isn't half as good. By page fifty, I kept wishing the narrator would meet a painful, bloody end. While there was the potential to make this an insightful and educational story...instead what we get is a pathetic monologue that goes nowhere, and takes a long, long time to get there.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible and Harrowing Journey
Review: One of the first reactions I had after finishing this remarkable book was a deep desire to meet the author and shake his hand (or give him a hug if he would allow it). I cannot remember having been as deeply affected (or disturbed) by a book in a long time. Quite simply this is the story of a person completely addicted to multiple substances, and how, after he lands in a rehabilitation program, he fights for his life against unrelenting and daunting odds. I have to honestly say that I have never experienced substance abuse, but I have a daughter who fell into that black hole for several years. I watched her disintigrate both physically and emotionally. She reached a point where she recognized that she was either going to climb out of her hole, or destroy herself completely. She chose the former, and is now healthy and sober. Reading this book gave me some insight (I am convinced that no one can really understand the draw of addiction without having been addicted themselves) into what makes an addict an addict. I have reconsidered much of my thinking (such as "if they really wanted to get off of drugs or alcohol they could" and "they are simply paying the consequences of their own poor decisions") I found this book so painful at times that I had to put it down, and read it in small doses. Nothing is spared in this book. Mr. Frey's brutal honesty will shock and quite possibly offend many readers. I cannot imagine how painful this was for him to write - to recall all the pain and horror of his life and then spill it all out on the pages of a book. I do know that I am grateful to him for doing so. And one cannot help but admire him for taking his own path, not necessarily the traditional ones offered in rehabilitation centers. My daughter did the same - she made a decision to stop the madness on her own, and became sober totally on her own, with no outside help, and she has stayed clean and sober for 3 years, with no desire to return to drugs and alcohol. This book should be read by everyone, certainly by anyone who knows or loves an addicted person. This book helps show that given enough strength of character and a strong support system of friends and/or family, a person can learn to rise above their demons and reclaim their lives. Thank you, Mr. Frey, for opening my eyes and mind, and for the pain you endured to share this remarkable story with us.
Rating:
Summary: Be Prepared for a Powerful, Honest, Brutal Look at Addiction
Review: A friend of mine saw me reading this book. He asked what it was about and I said "It's about a man's addiction." He asked what he was addicted to. "Everything," I said. James Frey walks into a treatment clinic in Minneapolis. He is literally hooked on everything: alcohol, pot, crack, heroin, glue, everything. It's hard to imagine anyone who has abused his body to this degree and isn't dead. Frey is hanging on by a thread. This is a horror book, there's no other term for it. Even if you are familiar with drug and alcohol abuse, you'll find this book frightening. It is a very honest, powerful look at addiction and how it affects not only the individual, but also every person and institution he touches. Throughout the book, Frey is adamant about several things: He believes that addiction is not a disease. He believes that there is no God. He believes that his addiction is his fault, no one else's. And he denies the Twelve-Step Program. Over and over. Just what does he believe in? His parents, who help him understand what may lie at the root of the problem? A girl that he meets in the treatment center? His own abilities to heal himself? "A Million Little Pieces" is a hard book to read, not because it's formatted differently than most other books (no paragraph indents), but because you really can't stand to read such harrowing events for too long a time. Taken in small chunks, the book is very enlightening, but it's not fun reading. I came away wondering what addicts do to get clean. Frey did not believe in the Twelve-Step program, but you never really know what got him through it. Maybe he's not sure himself. Regardless, this is an extremely powerful book. If you're easily offended by language, violence, and sex, this is not the book for you. 385 pages
| 
