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Summary: Read Dry Instead!
Review: I bought this book and Dry by Augusten Burroughs on the same day. Both deal with addiction and recovery. While Dry was a pleasure to read...insightful, witty and wonderful. This was completely laborious, a chore, a bore. Don't bother. The writing is on Reader's Digest level. 11th grade. TOPS.
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Summary: The stranglehold of addiction
Review: Certainly unlike anything I have read before, this novel will grab you from the opening paragraph and hurtle you along on a wild ride. A powerful and provocative look at the world of addiction, complete with a cast of characters undoubtably being chosen by Hollywood as we speak(I'm hoping for James Gandolfini in the role of Leonard) The author's unconventional style of writing does take some getting used to, but it keeps you on your toes and adds to the overall feel of unease. In many ways this novel is like a bad car accident, you are repulsed and fascinated at the same time. This book speaks to the stranglehold of addiction and offers no apologies for the author's unorthodox philosophies on recovery. It's certainly not to everyone's tastes, but there is no denying the author has captured the essence of something that most of us will be fortunate never to experience. 4.5 stars
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Summary: Powerful Message
Review: Talk about a powerful message! 'A Million Little Pieces' is not for the weak of heart. It is a very accurate and thorough description of not just the misadventures of an addict, but the mindset of an addict. It is a rough ride to read; there is an abundance of raw material that embodies the raw emotions of addiction. In terms of accuracy and entertainment value it is as viciously engrossing as 'My Fractured Life.'
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Summary: addictive!!
Review: The best piece of post modernist stream of consciousness literature I've ever read! It may be shocking to see that there are no quotation marks, indented paragraphs and that all the margins have been slashed in half but once you start reading you won't care.
The protagonist is a dynamic character that doesn't just change by the end of the book ... he seems to demonstrate subtle changes every few pages. There are some incidents that are hard to read (I have yet to read the toenail-pulling section) but the claustrophobic pages keep you riveted and turning.
For addicts who despise the 12-step process and the ultimatum that you believe in a higher power or you relapse, Frey's experience becomes cathartic and therapeutic. (Maybe that's why it is on its 7th printing in less than 9 months.)
Even if you're not an addict don't care about memoirs don't need any fancy-shmancy stylistic attempts at literary genius you'll enjoy this book. I hated to put it down. In fact, I opened it just to read the first paragraph before bed so i would look forward to getting into it the next day ... i ended up reading for two hours straight....
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Summary: Incredible
Review: "A Million Little Pieces" is not about a likeable person. It doesn't try to be. It is a true and honest account of an addict's life. For that reason, it is incredible. Books that deal accurately about the life of an addict are rarely about a happy person being raised by Mary Poppins. People who turn to drugs and alcohol are looking to fill a void in their life, and thus as people obviously are flawed. "A Million Little Pieces" is an incredibly written and incredibly accurate book by an addict about being an addict. I put it in the same league as Rikki Lee Travolta's tragically beautiful "My Fractured Life," Augusten Burrough's brilliant "Running With Scissors," and Jim Carroll's ode of self-destruction "The Basketball Diaries." To hold its own in that list speaks volumes on the caliber of this book. I strongly recommend it.
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Summary: A story of life, of lost control, of winning it back
Review: James Frey is breaking new ground in this searing memoir in somewhat the style of Dave Eggers's Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. They're both self-glorifying at the same time they're self-deprecating; the authors are both experimenting with new and original writing techniques; and both deal with pain and heartbreak by writing themselves out of it.
Frey is dealing with addiction, and he writes from within the experience with a surreal immediacy that takes the reader along, after two horrific months in the detox unit, on his journey down the Rocky Road to Recovery. He proves to be a difficult patient at the rehab center - and that's putting it mildly - but it is his very rage and uncooperativeness that are also his strengths.
The present tense increases the gritty reality of Frey's tale, and unlike some who found his free-wheeling habit of playing fast and loose with rules of punctuation, I found his techniques enhanced the reading experience. The aside stories of his fellow inpatients make wonderful vignettes in their own right, but really, none can compete for sheer drama and excess with Frey's own tale, told so well.
I wish him the best.
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Summary: an addict is an addict is an addict
Review: I am absolutely dumfounded by the 1000 top reviewers remarks on this incredible book. I am also furious with the idiot who says he or she has lost respect for amazon. GET A LIFE! James Frey tells HIS story, no-one elses...and you cant criticise a persons truth!!!!! SO WHAT if he had it all going for him, we are supposed to know, those of us at least who have a first hand knowledge of addiction, that the disease of alcoholism and drug addiction goes across the board when it comes to who it afflicts.....it is NOT PECULIAR to any particluar race, creed or social status. For GOD SAKES its an illness...does cancer only take those who can deal with it...or who have all the support they need, does it take only those with nothing to lose, does it take only the elderly or evil? i think NOT. so button it, miss bigot 2004! James Frey tells it like it was for him, take it or leave it...did she read it to the end...if so why? she reminds me of those people who watch sex and violence on t.v. and then spend all their free time calling the t.v. station to complain. WHY DONT YOU JUST SWITCH OFF THE T.V.? I have passed this book around to a lot of people who were profoundly moved by it. i have reordered a signed copy because i admired the authors honest account of his dislike of A.A. I myself am an alcoholic and have been sober at writing this review for almost 8 months. I owe it to my strength to stop, to God for showing me my options and to A.A. for constantly re-inforcing my desire to stay sober one day at a time. So why arent i pissed at J.F. for trashing A.A.? Because the man is etitled to his opinion thats why. So PLEASE to anyone reading this review, look beyond the bias of those who wrote bad reviews and keep in mind this is not a badly written novel...it is not even badly written...it is how James Frey dragged his ass out of the gutter and found a way back. I consider myself blessed to have read it.
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Summary: Raw look at Addiction
Review: This is a terrific book, although brutal. It is a raw look at addiction that ranks among the most honest in the genre.
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Summary: Good Luck Mr. Frey
Review: Thousands of alcoholics and drug addicts may read this book and get hope that they too can make it without AA and God. Most of them, maybe all, will die. Thanks Mr. Frey.
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Summary: Many Pieces Trying To Become Whole
Review: James Frey has written a riveting book. It is at once a horrible inside look at drug and alcohol addiction, and a truthful review of detox and what a body and soul go through. I can still feel his pain and torture and will for a while.James Frey's first chapter grabs you and puts you in the middle of his life. I could feel and still can feel the cold, awful trembling of fear when I glimpse a little of what his life was like. How horrible to be kept in the middle of nothingness- wanting that next fix, that next drink, not caring about anyone or anything, at least not conciously. Not wanting the human warmth but wanting it so badly, and not knowing how to obtain it. James Frey awakens on a plane, badly beaten, bloody, open wounds, not knowing where he is and how he got there. The attendant tells him he is on his way to New Jersey. He tries to walk off the plane and can get but only a few feet- the attendant must assist him with a wheelchair. At the end of the ramp, his parents await. He sees his mother's face, and she starts crying when she sees his. His parents drive him to their family cabin where he consumes a bottle of whiskey. The decision is made to admit him to an institution in Minnesota known for their success with alcohol and drug abuse. So starts the two months of unending pain, physical and emotional. The Dentist and the drills, and this part of the book is hard to describe in terms that I can type in this review. The horrible, gut wrenching pain of dental surgery without anethesia-in detox no pain medication can be given- it will, of course, reverse the detox process. This all done in the dental chair-I will never look at my dentist in the same way again. How he withstood this pain is a testament to this man's inner strength. James Frey forms some friendships while in detox- a mobster, a fighter, a man who's wife has given birth to twins and he finds out he has HIV, a young woman, Lilly, addicted to crack and various and sundry other characters. They are all real and come to life under Frey's pen. He has a great writer's pen,and this book is an undeniable great book. It is a hard read. I had to put it down several times and shake myself free of the grit and pain for a bit. But I took the book up again and read it through. Some critics think the book is too long, but it seems that James Frey needed this space to fully explain all that had happened and all that he explored. It is 400 pages and sometimes appears repetitious, but that is ok, it is James Frey's story and so well told, we need to forgive the length. To all who thought that drugs and alcohol were glamorous, read this book. A Tylenol now seems too excessive. Read, ponder, not an enjoyable book, but a thoughtful one. Discuss with your friends, family, colleagues and children- no one will go away unchanged. prisrob
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