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
Rating: 
Summary: fragmentary and adolescent
Review: i found the style of this book fragmentary and incoherant, not 'raw' as many of the reviews claim. I pined for complete sentences and more introspection from the narrator. Frey made good points about the ineffectivness of the assembly-line AA recovery system which i appreciated as a fellow recoveree (self determination is more effective than AA). Most points were lost in his adolescent ego. I tired of the defy-the-status-quo/system attitude. By the end, I didn't care whether the narrator remained sober or not. This book contributes little to the bloated glut of recovery memoirs.
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Summary: Revelations of a Life Shattered into a Million Little Pieces
Review: James Frey was a tortured drug/alcohol addict, and his autobiography was a grueling manual on the forays of living a self-induced purgatory on Earth. After reading about Frey's abuse of crack, alcohol, glue and every other possible inhalant, I experienced the author's torture first hand, and I was stirred accordingly. At one point in his recovery plan, Frey was forced to write a comprehensive account of his sins (in addition to those involving substance abuse). Frey's account of misdoings was full of hatred, evil and cruelty. Frey was not a likable guy. Ironically, Frey was of the opinion that all blame for his descent into Hades rested solely on his shoulders. Frey refused to blame his environment, his parents, biological influences or heredity. Far be it for Frey to name genetic anomalies for his abusive drug induced life. However, during one therapy session, it was revealed that Frey suffered from a horribly painful ear infection during infancy that went untreated/undetected until he was a youth. The parents recognized their son's constant crying as abnormal, but had no way of knowing that it was a cry of physical pain. Perhaps infant Frey developed hatred towards his parents and used drugs to lash out at them because of a subconscious memory of his constant untreated physical agony. Nevertheless, even faced with this possibility, Frey refused to blame his parents and their inability to alleviate the ear pain. When the book began, Frey awoke from a stupor on an airplane. He was a physical mess, and he had missing teeth and a hole in his cheek. His clothes were covered with spit, urine, vomit and blood. Frey's despondent parents were finally able to get their tortured son into rehab. Almost all of Frey's account occurred inside the rehab center. Frey met many intriguing damaged individuals (an ex champion boxer, a judge, a university professor, etc.) inside the unit, and his account of their stories was mesmerizing to read. Frey also met a troubled drug-addicted whore in rehab and fell deeply in love with her. All of these stories, along with Frey's own personal elucidation, made for an incredible read. Sadly, Frey remained unconvinced that the AAA 12-steps program or God had anything to do with his sobriety before, during or after rehab. Frey was convinced that the changes that converted him from a near dead zombie to a chain-smoking, married, drug-free, relatively valuable member of society were totally self-induced. Frey simply made the choice to stop abusing and that was enough to make it so. Sure Frey! Jay's Grade
A-
Rating: 
Summary: My name is James and I am an alcoholic, NOT !!
Review: I think some of the reviewers here are being a little too melodramatic when reviewing this book, why get angry? LOL. The book does snag your interest, but then kind of loses its grip about 3/4 through. Still, it is one of the most entertaining books I have read in awhile. Yes I am sure some of it is jazzed up a bit for shock value. For instance, James is convinced he is such a tough guy, and the other patients were so afraid of him in the recovery unit, that they were afraid to look at him. Um, no. If Mr. Frey walked into the rehab unit bone thin with skin hanging off his body and could barely walk, I doubt they were so terrified of him. As a matter of fact he would have been put in his place several times over. But I suppose the bad boy image sells more. As far as the grammar and punctuation goes, I like the free style. Not every novel has to be Shakespearean. It is almost like poetry, and conveys his message perfectly. Remember a junkie wrote this, not a scholar. I had one problem, Mr. Frey says in the book, that at age 23, he has wasted his life on drugs. Now, this is almost laughable. At 23 your life is just beginning , I am sure Mr. Frey went through some tough times in his youth, but at age 23 , he is hardly a hardened junkie/criminal. I do appreciate that he doesn't blame his addictions on genetics or his upbringing, I also have this belief that addiction is your own choice, and do not blame it on genetics or your childhood. At least he doesn't have a "poor me" attitude. I much prefer his bad ... image over the usual whiney victim syndrome. I also like his view on AA and its higher power bologna. All in all, good book, whether it is juiced up a little or not doesn't matter, Mr. Frey makes his point, he makes it loud , and he makes it clear. Recommended highly. I would give it 3 1/2 stars.
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Summary: Don't recommend this to an addict
Review: If you have an addict or alcoholic in your life and are invested in their recovery, DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT recommend this book to them. James Frey's memoir is gripping if monotonous, inspiring if tedious. His sparse style rivets...you feel you are walking alongside him in the bright, too bright hallways at Hazelden. The writing is powerful. But while Frey's account of coming off a life-long addiction to drugs and alcohol is vivid, his self-awareness of his own process in sobriety is stunningly absent. Every person has a right to write their own story. I grant Frey the right to write his. And he is a great writer. His memory for the day to day details is mesmerizing. But he misses the bigger picture of his own recovery in a way that is obvious, ridiculous and downright dangerous. This makes his story a peril to those who still suffer.
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Summary: Frey just doesn't get it
Review: James Frey may still be dry/sober, but he comes off as a miserable, depressed person by doing it HIS way. He rejects the concept of a Higher Power, yet has made himself the god of his own world. He illustrates the description of an alcoholic/addict as an egomaniac with an inferiority complex. I very much question most of the details of rehab as he describes them, and I speak from experience and many years of sobriety. Drinking: A Love Story is by far the best description of the mental process in addiction I have read so far,(and Dr. Henry Tiebout's pamphlet, Compliance vs. Surrender perfectly describes removal of the compulsion to drink or use) but if this book helps some people, great. I just hope readers don't unconditionally accept as truth everything in the book. It just doesn't ring true.
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Summary: a kind of dark poetry, a labyrinth, and brilliant.
Review: I am annoyed and yet unsurprised at the tendancy for certain ungenerous readers to lump AMLP into the "drunk" category of fiction, an imaginary subdivision which can only be minimizing at best. that would place elie weisel into the "conecntration camper" category and so on. how tedious and unecessary, when there is geuine talent to be plumbed and applauded, or at least appraised on its own merits. I very much doubt nan talesse would have assumed championship of this work had it nnot shown extraordinary talent and an honesty that is rare and well put, a kind ofdark poetry in those pages is what i suspect she saw. and now this book, a triumph. it was so compelling, i cradled it. this rarely happens. there are addicts everywhere, but where are the addicts who tspeak of truth? and how are they received? i for one am a fan for life. the naysayers will continue to pop up like small ducks in an arcade. but i think this writer will bear the test of time. a very courageous and brilliant debut, and one i bought in first edition hardcover as any sensible person would. the epilogue was heartrending, these people had become real to me, a part of my emotional sphere - may they rest in peace. "the arc of universal justice is long, but it bends toward justice" - martin luther king jr. well done, mister frey. well done.
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Summary: so real i could feel it
Review: I have never read a book that made me actually taste and feel the words on the page....I lived this book down to my bones. James Frey physcially led me through his experience as a drug/alcohol abuser by the heartstrings. I couldn't put this book down and I have been thinking about it ever since I finished it 2 weeks ago. He proves that the "one size fits all" philosophy is [wrong]. I don't even know him, but I am proud of him for choosing to save his life by the terms that he knew he could live with. I admire his strength, perseverence, humor, and honesty. This is the best book I have read all year and I have been singing its praises all over Boston.
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Summary: never happened
Review: i quit reading this book, when the author began to describe having his teeth worked on, early in recovery, without analgesia. this would never have happened for a number of reasons. this lowered the author's general credibility to near zero. fortunately, i was able to get my money back.
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Summary: What a book, what a guy
Review: The book is phenomenal. I suppose having come from a background of addiction and being in a treatment center, I relate. I advise the entire world to read this book. We should all know what it is like to feel the things an addict feels, and James completely and totally shares himself with us.
I just want to meet him, and hug him. Outstanding.
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