Rating: 
Summary: shocking, nauseating, heartbreaking, and worth the read.
Review: I found Frey's style to be refreshing, unconventional, and straightforward.
There are inconsistencies in this book, however, that detract from the sense that I am reading raw truth. Minute details are recounted with vivid imagery--yet one can't help but wonder how Frey's memory has stayed so firmly intact after the toxic amount of chemicals he claims to have put into his body. It is as though he wished to portray himself as the single worst case of addiction in the history of man, to form his words so that any other severe case of addiction would pale in comparison to his, at any cost, and with extensive help of a thesaurus.
Overall, his story is believable. I would give this book to any naieve person who think drugs and alcohol are glamourous. I honestly think twice now before I mix a drink--this book has haunted me long after the last page.
Rating: 
Summary: Cool Cover!
Review: And that's about it.This criminally overated clunker is as riveting as Brock Landers' steely gaze in Boogie Nights. The "technique" of following a sentence with a fragment or two or three or four fragments, which is then followed by a single word from said fragment is a very tiresome gimmick, not a means of achieving profundity. The "story" is uncompelling and contrived: R.P. McMurphy lite (with the Tao Te Ching(!) in his back pocket) and his gaggle of cliche-aracters vs a coterie of woefully ineffectual mental health professionals. And oatmeal. And a fat otter. With an armored tail. Which. Last. Time. I. Checked. Is a beaver. It's Time To Throw Up.
Rating:
Summary: A Million Pieces of Crap
Review: This is an amazingly bad book. Ridiculously pretentious,vain and stupid, James Frey wallows in self-pity for many pages. And his Writing Style is a satirist's dream:
He thinks he's "Edgy" but He just doesn't Know how to Write.
To write, in Words.
How to write. Words, words, words.
I'm James Frey.
I'm repeating myself. Myself, myself, My Self.
My Important Self. My Edgy, Drug-Addicted Self.
Look At Me!
My Rich Parents sent Me to Rehab and I'm Really Edgy!
I'm Writing.
In Sentence Fragments.
That Repeat and Repeat and Repeat. And I'm really Edgy and Maudlin. And in the End I Hug and Hug and Hug and My Stupidity is really an Inspiration to Everyone. One star: Good for a laff.
Rating: 
Summary: Along for the Ride
Review: I apologize if this review is a bit repetitive, but it is true to say this book is quite addictive. I could not put it down. Frey takes you along and puts you inside a place most of us will never see, and allows us to relate to someone with such a profound addiction and the people around him dealing with it, and healing for it. His unique writing style will surely drive the most strict English professors nuts- but for the rest of us, it is a refreshing take on getting feelings across from the narrator to the reader. I absolutely recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Shameful Con Job for the Credulous by a Trustafari Dabbler
Review: As an ex drug abuser,and as a writer, I've never been so offended or enraged by a book. Pretentious, overblown, self indulgent, lazy writing and patently, proveably false "confessional" It is loathsome beyond words to try and foist these ludcrously predictable characters and stale plot developments on the public as the "real" experiences of a recovering addict in Hazelden. If it really happened--how come every plot twist: the crackhead girfriend found with old man--the gangster with heart of gold and judge help out the hero for comfy plot resolution--for example-- telegraph themselves miles ahead--like a "very special episode" of Friends. And notice the sketchy--almost casual reference to"records being expunged"...and the shying away from the basic proveable biographical elements of the author's life. Notice that the author--though supposedly downing quarts of booze, fistfuls of crack--and incredibly, GLUE and GASOLINE, manages to graduate from college, spend a year abroad, keep his friends, and support himself. The supposedly badass hero will have us believe he intimidates and faces down everybody who gets in his face. Always ready to get all Eastwood. Yet he's laughably tiny in real life--and curiously devoid of scarring from the huge wound in his cheek the book opens with.There are holes in this story you could fit an MX missile through. And the sentences are bad. Judith Krantz bad. The fact that they are lined up like "poetry" don't make them any better. I hope some of his "classmates" at Hazelden decide to blab--or that someone chooses to look deeper into the story--as they did with Caracaterra's SLEEPERS. Should make really interesting reading. Nice to know Minneapolis has such a thriving drug district right by the station, too. Author boy seems to have avoided needle drugs and lead-related brain damage nicely as well.
Rating:
Summary: Should be read by everyone touched by addiction
Review: James Frey pulls no punches in this harrowing, rage-fueled book about his descent into addiction, and, more importantly, about his recovery. I could relate to his struggles (though my addictions are not the same as his) and his rebellious attitudes toward the treatment "party line." Though unlike him I ultimately embraced the 12 steps, there were many aspects of my treatment I surely didn't buy, and like him I went kicking and screaming and sometimes just did my own thing. I could relate to The Fury he described, the feelings of self-loathing, the struggles he and his fellow patients went through. I've heard their stories; they are at once the same and yet unique, and I think he captures that well. I think he also captures the joy that can come from recovery. I was amazed at how many times people smiled and laughed in the book. Yet I can remember all the smiles and laughter in my own three months in treatment.
As for the question about the 12 steps, here's my take on it. First, I think Mr. Frey doesn't totally understand the concept. He seems to think that people who believe in the 12 steps take no responsibility for their actions. That is not the case. True, we see addictions as diseases, brought on genetically, fueled by childhood traumas. But there is still choice involved, especially once we understand our addictions. I know food is an addiction for me; obviously, I can't stop eating, but I can choose not to have that dessert. The 12-step program gives me tools--people to call, a sponsor, meetings, readings--to help me make the choice not to eat compulsively. That said, the 12 step program is not a perfect program, and it doesn't work for everyone. One of the other things we learn is not to do other people's inventory. Mr. Frey has been sober for 10 years, so who am I to say that what he is doing isn't working? I will say that if someone is reading this book and is facing an addiction problem, don't give up on the 12-step method, but don't believe it is your only option, either.
Rating:
Summary: I really enjoyed this book.
Review: At first I didn't care for the writing style... no indented paragraphs and lack of quotation marks made it a tad difficult to figure out when he was talking in his head or talking to someone else. After a few chapters I caught on and really became very interested in the book.... I had trouble putting it down some nights!!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: A Million Little Pieces is a great work, and I found it very difficult to put down...Personally, I loved Frey's style - very much stream of consciousness in the first half of the book, as he is in the beginning of recovery, and more rational and coherent as he progresses. I have had no experience with addiction, but I feel that this book truly gave me a feel of what Frey's addiction and recovery were like. Great memoirs give you an opportunity to see the world through someone else's eyes; even if that world is one that you hope never to encounter on your own, you can learn a lot from those who have been there. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: There is a lesson to be learned.
Review: First of all, I have to thank James Frey for sharing this book with us. His is a story the likes of which I have never read. It is a comprehensive, heart wrenching, brutally honest account of substance abuse, addiction, self loathing and ultimately redemption. This book should be read by anyone whose life has been touched by any type of addiction. The writing is fantastic, James's uncoquerable spirit is present in every poetic line. I cannot believe he survived some of the things that are described in this book. Many times as I was reading, I had to put the book aside for a moment because it was all too much to take in at one time. Now imagine living like that. The best thing I can say about this book is even if the reader is the most cynical of people, he or she will come away having learned something. I know I did and I won't forget this story for a long, long time. Mr. Frey has such a unique voice and I look forward to anything else he writes.
Rating:
Summary: How Most Addicts Recover
Review: I don't know much about literary styles so regarding the author's I will only say that I became annoyed by his constant repetition of the same words and phrases. Having said that however, I was riveted to his story. It's unflinching, painful, ugly, and ultimately very uplifting. There are moments of unbelievable cruelty, but plenty more that are filled with genuine compassion from other addicts and clinic staffers alike. As for Frey's attitude about what it takes to remain clean, he is dead-on target. I applied the same basic principles of self-will to insure my own abstinence. And I too refuse to live in fear of the substances to which I once shackled myself, as do most former addicts. A previous reviewer assumes the worst for Frey because of his efforts. And while I don't know the reviewer (nor Frey), the comments are typical of many people who buy the 12-Step party lines about "self will running rampant", "denial", and "addiction-as-disease", and so forth. I believe that THESE ideas do far more to keep addicts hooked than does reliance on inner human strength and intelligence. Certainly the results of medically and scientifically "sound" recovery methods as used by the Hazelden Clinic (where Frey dried out) support my belief. Perhaps the reviewer missed the comments made by Frey's addiction counselor; that Hazelden has the best recovery rate of any clinic in the world: a whopping 17%! Thats right... 17%. This is not an accident but rather an indictment against currently accepted "treatment" modalities. The public as a whole has yet to catch on to the truth about self-recovery from addiction. Theres a lot at stake in remaining uninformed about this very issue. It's also another reason why Frey's story is so important.
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