A Million Little Pieces

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A Million Little Pieces
JAMES FREY
2003

INTRODUCTION
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
PLOT SUMMARY
CHARACTERS
THEMES
STYLE
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
CRITICAL OVERVIEW
CRITICISM
SOURCES
FURTHER READING

INTRODUCTION

James Frey's book A Million Little Pieces caused a scandal in 2006. Originally published as a memoir in 2003, it was revealed on the website The Smoking Gun in January 2006 that some of the events of the book had been fictionalized, while others had been exaggerated or were altogether fabricated. More liberties with the truth came to light as others began to investigate the book and its author. At least sixteen lawsuits were filed against Frey and his publisher in the wake of the revelations.

In 2005, Frey's book was selected for Oprah Winfrey's high-profile book club on her syndicated talk show, and Frey appeared on her show in conjunction with the selection. After the truth about his "memoir" came to light, Winfrey insisted Frey return to her show where she confronted him about the deception. An apology and notes from both the author and the publisher about the controversy were added to subsequent editions of A Million Little Pieces. The book was also re-classified as fiction by a number of libraries.

One reason for the controversy over the book's veracity was the subject and nature of A Million Little Pieces. Written in first person, the narrative focuses on Frey's time in a rehab clinic for treatment for addiction to alcohol and drugs when he was twenty-three years old. In vivid detail, he describes undergoing the detox process, coming to terms with his addiction and anger, and developing a plan for long-term sobriety.

Though the book sold well before his initial appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, sales skyrocketed after Winfrey embraced Frey and his book. A Million Little Pieces sold at least 3.5 million copies, spent time at the top of several bestseller lists, and was the second-best selling book in the United States in 2005. Millions of readers who were riveted by the account or even inspired by the author's triumph felt duped, manipulated, and angry to learn that Frey may not have been entirely honest and sincere. Winfrey, in particular, was outraged as Frey's betrayal cast suspicion on her role as a powerful champion for literature.

Frey apologized and explained his actions, admitting he had a flawed memory about certain events. He also said he believed he had creative license to change facts to better mold the story and create a dramatic arc. "The Frey affair has been a train wreck," wrote Anne-Marie O'Connor and Josh Getlin in a Los Angeles Times article in early 2006. Frey told O'Connor and Getlin, "All I wanted to do was write a book that would help people get through tough times, and I never meant for any of this to happen, and I'm sorry that it has."

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

James Frey was born on April 12, 1969, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Bob and Lynne Frey. His father worked as an attorney, and Frey was raised in an upper-middle-class family. When Frey was twelve, the family moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, where his father took a job with Whirlpool. After completing high school there, Frey entered Denison University in 1988 and studied film production. Four years later, he briefly lived in Paris, France, with two friends from Denison while he worked for his father's company. In 1992, when he was twenty-three years old, he spent several weeks at the Hazelden Clinic for treatment for addictions. After his treatment was completed, Frey moved to Chicago and worked in retail and as a bouncer at several bars.

In the mid-1990s, Frey moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry, working as both a producer and screenwriter. He wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for the films Kissing a Fool and Sugar: The Fall of the West, both of which were released in 1998. Frey began writing what became A Million Little Pieces, a book about the time he spent in the rehab clinic, while still living in Venice, California, in 2000.

After initially shopping his manuscript to publishers as a novel, he started presenting it as a memoir to garner more interest. Frey finally published A Million Little Pieces as a work of nonfiction in 2003. In the book, he graphically describes the process he goes through to become sober while challenging the policies of the clinic. Frey received much critical acclaim for his courage and unflinching depiction of his time in the clinic. The book sold several million copies, with sales increasing after Oprah Winfrey selected it for her television talk show's book club in 2005.

Frey followed this book with My Friend Leonard (2005). This memoir, which features a disclaimer explaining that some facts had been changed, focuses on Frey's life after being released from the clinic, including his time spent in jail, the suicide of the girlfriend he met at the clinic, and his continued friendship with the organized crime figure he met in rehab. My Friend Leonard also became a hit with readers and critics alike.

Early in 2006, The Smoking Gun website and other sources revealed that Frey's first memoir was not entirely true but contained many fictional or exaggerated elements, as did its follow-up. These revelations led to a firestorm of controversy over the nature of Frey's books and public humiliation for the author, who was eventually dropped by both his publisher and his literary agent. As of 2006, he lives with his wife, Maya Rio, an advertising executive, and their daughter in New York City, where he continues to work as a writer, focusing on fiction and scripts for both television and film.

PLOT SUMMARY

Part I

A Million Little Pieces opens with a poem, in which a young man asks an old man for advice. The young man says he has broken something into a million little pieces. The old man replies that nothing can be done, that "It's broken beyond repair."

As A Million Little Pieces opens, James Frey, the author/narrator, is waking up on a commercial air flight. He does not know where he is or how he got there, just that he is covered in vomit and blood, has a smashed-up face, and is missing his four front teeth. When the plane arrives in Chicago, he finds his parents waiting for him. He is upset to see them, and they are shocked by his state. He goes with them to a family cabin in Wisconsin. During the ride there, James learns that a friend had taken to him to a hospital after he fell face-first off a fire escape while out of his mind on drugs and alcohol. The friend tracked down his parents and told them James needed help. He finds whiskey at the cabin and drinks until he passes out.

James's parents take him to an in-patient drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic in Minnesota. They pick up his brother in Minneapolis on the way there. James agrees to go, writing, "I don't have any other options … and for now I'm fine with it." After the initial interview, a nurse takes his vitals and records his history of drug use, which covers the gamut from alcohol to PCP to glue. His detoxification is an excruciating process that brings hallucinations and panic. A nurse shows him to the lounge, where he watches television when he cannot sleep that night. There, another patient yells at him for sitting in that patient's favorite chair. James is too weak to resist when the man drags him out of the chair onto the floor, where James remains all night.

The next morning, Dr. Baker visits James, gives him drugs that help him with the detox process, and runs tests. Dr. Baker examines James's injured face, stitching up the wound in his cheek and resetting his broken nose. The doctor has arranged for a surgical dentist in the nearby community to take care of James's teeth. As James goes to the dispensary to get his drugs for the first time, he meets another patient named Lilly.

As James's body continues to detox, he vomits and tries to remember where he has been for the past week or so. He recalls starting out in North Carolina, then making his way to Washington, D.C., and then Ohio. Waiting to be taken to a unit, James talks to Lilly in the lounge. He learns that she is twenty-two and addicted to crack and Quaaludes. Roy, who comes to take James to his unit, informs him that talking to female patients is against the rules of the clinic. Roy also tells him the many other rules James must now follow, as well as what he can expect in his daily routine. James is taken to his new room, which he shares with three other men: Larry, Warren, and John. He soon meets Ken, his unit recovery counselor. James tells Ken about his substance abuse and that he has legal charges outstanding in three states. He says he has been dealing drugs to earn money. He admits that he may not be willing to do whatever it takes to get sober.

After cleaning the group toilets, his job in the unit, James goes for his initial consultation with a dentist in the nearby small town. A man named Hank drives him. The dentist says he will need surgery, root canals, and restorations, and he makes the appointment for a few days later. When James returns to the clinic, he gets into a confrontation with a man named Leonard. Apparently, James has been calling Leonard "Gene Hackman," and although James does not remember doing so, he finds it funny that he would. After James refuses to be intimidated by Leonard, they become friends. He meets other patients and hears their tales of the tragedies addiction has made of their lives. At night, James has a "user dream" about doing various drugs and drinking.

When he wakes, he vomits "worse than usual" and cries, overwhelmed by the dawning awareness of the reality of his life. James, John, and Warren realize that Larry is gone, having probably sneaked out of the clinic in the night. While James cleans the toilets the next morning, Roy comes in and says that James did a bad job at it the day before. "Do a better job today or I'm telling on you," he says. What James calls "the Fury"—an intensely angry emotional response—wells up inside of him. James attacks Roy and goes on to trash his room until someone sedates him. He ends up in another part of the clinic, where Ken, Lincoln (the unit supervisor), and Joanne, a staff psychologist, talk to him about what happened.

At breakfast, the other patients want to know what happened between James and Roy. James is reluctant to talk about it, and instead just focuses on the challenge of keeping some food in his stomach. Later that morning, Hank drives James to his appointment with the dentist. Because he is undergoing treatment for addiction, he is not given any anesthetics during or painkillers after the procedure. James is strapped down and grips tennis balls as the dentist caps two teeth and performs two root canals. The procedures are nightmarish. James vomits blood when they are completed, but he refuses to be taken to a hospital. He returns to the clinic asleep in Hank's van.

When James awakes in the middle of the night, he is in the medical unit again. He notes, "I follow my usual routine. Crawl to the Bathroom. Vomit. Lie on the floor. Vomit. Lie on the floor." When he gets dressed, he notices that his clothes are looser. He returns to the main room of his unit and starts reading The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous in the lounge. James has been to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings before, and he does not agree with the philosophy behind it. He writes:

I find the philosophy to be one of replacement. Replacement of one addiction with another addition. Replacement of a chemical for a God and a Meeting…. There is no Higher Power or any God who will cure me. There is no Meeting where any amount of whining, complaining and blaming is going to make me feel any better.

He goes back to his room and finds that someone he refers to as the Bald Man is now one of his roommates. While taking a long, hot shower, James starts to acknowledge his self-loathing and loneliness. He thinks about his past drug use. He remembers a friend named Michelle who died in an accident when they were in the eighth grade, and how her family and friends blamed him for her death. As he is showering, his roommate John makes a pass at him. He rebuffs John and goes to sleep, only to have another user dream. He gets violently sick when he wakes up, but soon finds his appetite has returned. After eating a huge breakfast, he sees Lilly in the cafeteria and talks to her briefly.

James meets with Dr. Baker later in the morning, who tells him that though he is only twenty-three years old, he has done extensive damage to many organs. The doctor says that if James does drugs and starts drinking again, he will not live more than a few days. Lying on his bed, he considers the true facts of his life and all the bad things he has done to himself and others. He imagines his obituary and thinks, "It tells the truth, and as awful as it can be, the truth is what matters." He decides he will leave the clinic soon, find cheap drugs and alcohol, and die.

After another run-in with Roy over the condition of the toilets, James decides to leave during one of the required lectures. Leonard, who has taken an interest in James, follows him outside. After Leonard learns what James is planning on doing, Leonard stops him and convinces him to stay for twenty-four more hours.

Part II

While James has accepted his decision to stay another day, his body still craves drugs and alcohol. Sitting by a lake on the clinic property, James remember how he met his ex-girlfriend, with whom he was in once deeply in love. He knows that he destroyed their relationship. James can only think about leaving until his brother visits with two of James's friends, Julie and Kirk. They encourage James and bring him presents of clothes, food, cigarettes, and books. When the four are walking around outside, they run into Lilly, who is with her grandmother. After they leave, James calls his parents as his brother requested, but the conversation is not easy for him. James's roommate John tries to interact with him, but as usual, only seems able to say and do inappropriate things. John is mortified, but James refuses to let him wallow in his shame, and James insists that he come to eat dinner, telling him, "It's better to be around people. It makes it hurt less." James overeats and vomits. Later, Lilly calls him on the payphone to tell him her grandmother thought he was handsome. James goes to sleep happy and does not leave the clinic.

The next morning, James is surprised when he does not get sick as usual. He makes coffee, which is his new job in the group. After breakfast, he meets with Joanne and goes over his psychological tests. She tells him that he is very intelligent but very angry, suffering from a myriad of emotional problems, and with a propensity for addiction. James admits to her that he is an addict and almost left the clinic, but he adamantly insists that he will not participate in any twelve-step program. Joanne believes that it is the only way he will get well, but he disagrees. After some group activities, James goes for a walk in the woods, where he lies on the ground and lets his feelings wash over him. "Can't Stop. Have to stop. Can't stop," his thoughts begin. "Pipe. Torch. Bottle. Can't stop. Take it. Rage," they continue. "Stay. Fight. Live. Take it. Cry. Cry. Cry," he decides. The next day, James tells Joanne he has decided to stay and continue to work on his problems.

Ken decides to move James into the heart of his recovery and asks him to complete a "First Step" workbook and think of a goal he would like to achieve with his sobriety. He also gets a new room assignment as his old roommates, John and Warren, are finished with their program. John asks James to call his daughter when he leaves treatment and tell her that her dad "tried real hard in here" and is "not as bad a man as everyone tells her" he is. Walking around outside, the Fury again rises inside of him and James takes it out on a tree. Lilly comes up behind him and tells him everything is okay. He sobs while she holds him in her arms and tries to console him. When James goes back inside, he finds his new room and roommate, an alcoholic African American judge and amateur clarinetist named Miles. James immediately befriends him. That day, he sees Lilly in a lecture given by "a famous Rock Star who was once a Patient" at the clinic. The rock star seems to be glorifying his addiction, and James decides the lecturer is a fraud and a liar, and that his speech amounts to heresy. Nonetheless, James feels happy and calm instead of his usual state of anger and aggression.

Later in his room, James picks up one of the books his brother brought for him, Tao te Ching. Though it is classified as a religious book and he is initially skeptical, he finds truth in the first four poems. Frey writes, "They speak to me, make sense to me, reverberate within me, calm ease sedate relax pacify me. They ring true and that is all that matters the truth." After being awakened in the middle of the night by Roy in a crazed state, James wanders the unit and remembers his former girlfriend and the beginning of their relationship. He knows he should not be alive and have this opportunity to fix himself. Leonard finds him outside and tells James his life story—one of tragedy, excess, murder, and vengeance—that leads to his recovery at the clinic now. It was his adoptive father Michelangelo's dying wish that he get sober. Leonard also tells James that if he leaves this clinic, Leonard will have him found and brought back. James tells him he will stay. He believes he is finally getting better.

At breakfast, James calls out a new patient, a braggart named Bobby, as a liar, before running into Lilly, who slips him a note asking him to meet her at four o'clock in the clearing. After writing "I Don't Need This Bulls—t To Know I'm Out Of Control" in his First Step workbook and returning it to Ken, James is called to Joanne's office with Lincoln. They tell him that he is not making progress as quickly as the clinic would like and should consider living in a halfway house. James does not want to take this course, but instead wants to figure out a plan he can implement and then test on his own. They do not support his idea.

A few minutes later, James meets Lilly in theclearing where she kisses him. They trade some stories of their lives: Lilly tells him her grandmother brought her here, while James tells her how he lost his virginity. She later calls him on the pay phone from the women's unit. He tells her that he misses her and will see her tomorrow. Miles is playing the clarinet when he returns to their room. As James goes to sleep, he has greater understanding, believing he can hear words in Miles's wordless music saying, "It is all the same, Young Man. Take it and let it be."

Part III

Waking up early after a user dream, James vomits, takes a shower, and notices that his body is filling out. Later in the morning, James has a session with Joanne, who is continually frustrated by his resistance to the twelve-step program. He tells her that he does not believe in a higher power nor subscribe to a faith, and he does not need those beliefs to become sober. Afterward, he spends time playing cards and talking with the other patients: Leonard, Ted, Ed, Matty, and Miles. Bobby tells more outlandish stories, and James notices that Leonard is subtly paying attention.

Ken later tells James to keep his distance from Leonard, who is involved with organized crime. Ken also tells James that his parents have enrolled in the clinic's family program and are to arrive the next day, news that enrages James. He leaves the meeting angry and walks outside, where he finds a sense of calm. He decides to fight on his own. James moves to another part of the trail, where he again meets Lilly. They kiss, and he tells her that he missed her. He tells her more about his ex-girlfriend and a time he was arrested. She encourages him to be good to his parents because he is lucky to have them. Watching television that evening, James gets furious about the rosy depiction of addiction in the general media.

The next morning, James is still angry that he has to deal with his parents. When James meets them, he hates being touched by them. The point of the meeting is for James to tell his parents the extent of his use and abuse of alcohol and drugs. James begins in his early childhood and relates the story of his long-term substance abuse. Both of his parents cry, and his mother is particularly devastated. James tells them that it is not their fault and they did their best as parents, but he chose to be this way. Inside, he feels the Fury rising and thinks, "I don't understand why this happens, but every time I'm near them, it does happen. They try to love me, I hurt them."

After an afternoon group session in the family program, James finds his Tao book provides him with some sense of calm. He meets with his parents in Joanne's office that night. At Joanne's urging, James tells his parents how angry their presence makes him feel inside, as well as the horror and shame he feels. His parents tell him how his confession made them feel because they were unaware of the extent of his addictive behaviors. The meeting ends when his mother crying beyond control.

Later in their room, Miles tells him about his life and how he ended up in rehab for a second time. James then sneaks out and meets Lilly, though Joanne and others have warned him to stop violating the rules. James tells her about his sexual failures with his ex-girlfriend, while Lilly tells him about being sexually used and abused, and running away to her grandmother in Chicago. She cries in his arms and he thinks, "I'm not going to hurt her. I'm not going to leave her. I'm not going to judge her."

James and Lilly fall asleep outside and are awakened in the morning by Ted, who has been meeting his own girl outside. James arrives late to his meeting with his parents. With them is the clinic's attorney, Randall, who informs them that James's outstanding warrants in Michigan and North Carolina can be handled easily, but that his case in Ohio will probably lead to three years in prison. James says he will plead guilty if it will help keep him out of a maximum security facility.

When James is alone with his mother and father, the Fury returns but James fights it and, for the first time in his life, he initiates physical contact with one of his parents. He asks for his mother's forgiveness and hugs his mother and father. At a group session in the afternoon, James listens to the speaker talk about how addiction is a disease, but he disagrees, thinking, "Addiction is not a disease. Not even close. Diseases are destructive Medical conditions that human beings do not control." He calls his brother and several friends, and feels better. James meets with his parents again that evening. In the session, it comes out that James has resented how controlling his parents have been his entire life. His parents say they were trying to help and protect him, but he points out that it made him resentful and more resistant to control.

James also learns that his grandfather was an alcoholic and that when James was an infant, he screamed in constant pain for about two years because of a misdiagnosed ear problem. While Joanne sees this illness as a possible source of the fury James feels around his parents, James remains convinced that his own choices and his own weaknesses led to his addictions. He accepts responsibility for his own actions, and for the first time, Joanne sees some merit in his approach to recovery.

That night, Lilly stands outside of Miles and James's room and wakes them up. Lilly is angry because she thought James signaled a time to meet and then did not show up. After he explains the misunderstanding, she forgives him, tells him more about her past, and asks him about his parents. They kiss and hold hands as they walk around until dawn, and exchange declarations of love. When James comes back inside, he is confronted by Bobby and the man who was angry with James for being in his chair on the day James arrived at the clinic. This man knows Lilly from home and tells James that she used to exchange sex for drugs and laughs about a time that she was gang-raped. James grows angry, chokes him, and nearly kills him. Leonard breaks it up and scares Bobby simply by telling him his own full name, and later assures James that his love for Lilly is all that matters.

Meeting with his parents after breakfast, James learns that his father's business obligations are forcing them to leave right away. Before they leave, they talk about James's future. He tells them he can beat his addition without the twelve steps. He tells them, "Every time I want to drink or do drugs, I'm going to make the decision not to do them. I'll keep making that decision until it's no longer a decision, but a way of life." James and his parents also reach an understanding about their relationship, which has improved, but he also does not want them to provide a safety net if he returns to his addictions. He says that after he gets out of prison he wants to go to Chicago and be with Lilly.

After a lecture, James gets an urgent phone call from Lilly, who is upset because her grandmother is dying of cancer. They meet in the clearing, and James comforts her and promises not to leave her. Lincoln finds them there and takes them back inside. James is told to stay in his room, where he is in a panic worrying about what is going to happen to them. Later that day, Lincoln tells James that he is being given another chance as long as he follows the rules, but that Lilly left. James walks out of the building, worried about Lilly.

James walks off the clinic property and down the road, determined to find Lilly. Hank drives up in the van with Lincoln. Hank offers to drive James to find Lilly. They go to the bus station in the nearby city, where some young drug dealers tell him where he can probably find her. He and Hank look for her in the abandoned building they described. James finds Lilly using crack and performing a sex act with an older man. Though she resists in her drug-induced stupor, James removes her from the property. Hank drives them back to the clinic, where Lincoln promises they will take care of her.

Part IV

James has a user dream that includes Lilly. The next morning, Lincoln tells James that he is impressed by what he did to save Lilly. Lincoln also wants to have a better relationship with James and for James to succeed with his unconventional method of dealing with his addictions. After James has lunch and attends a lecture, he meets with Randall and Ken. The situation in Ohio has changed and James now only faces a few months in a county jail as long as he turns himself in within ten days. Randall is unsure how this deal happened, but James figures out that Leonard and Miles helped him. Ken wants James to do the fourth and fifth recovery steps, the moral inventory and confession of wrongs to another person, even though he has not done the first three steps.

After James thanks Miles and Leonard for their help, he continues to find comfort in his Tao book. He decides, "Good and bad they will both come. I will accept them in the way that I am accepting myself right now. Let them come." Miles comes back upset from a telephone call with wife, and James comforts him. Leaving the room to give Miles privacy, James goes to the lounge where Leonard has prepared a celebration to mark his own completion of the program. Leonard has arranged for cable television to be installed so the men can watch a boxing championship fight and for an extravagant meal of steak and lobster to be served. James has one of the happiest nights of his life, but in the end, all he can think about is missing Lilly.

Before Leonard leaves, he gives James all his contact information and asks if he can call James his son. He tells James that he can protect him in jail, and that he will make sure Lilly has the money to continue her treatment. They promise to make contact on the outside. At lunch, Miles shares the news that his wife is going to give him a second chance and enroll in the family program. Later, James writes an inventory of his every bad thing he has done, but for one incident. He reveals that incident the next day when he shares his inventory with a priest on staff, Father David. After leaving Ohio and jumping bail, James returned to Paris, where he had been living. He considered killing himself by jumping into the Seine but instead cried and went into a church. There, a priest approached him and was supportive, but also made sexual advances. James beat this priest to a pulp and worried for some time that he would be arrested. Nothing ever came of the situation.

Leaving Father David's office, James feels better. He sees Lilly in the cafeteria, and although they cannot speak to each other, she smiles at him. James meets with Joanne and Ken, who want him to attend AA meetings after he leaves the clinic. James still refuses. Returning to his room, James finds a package from his ex-girlfriend with pictures of them together. He burns them along with his written twenty-two-page moral inventory.

That night, James has trouble sleeping as he fears what is going to happen to him when he leaves. He accepts his fear, and then laughs at it. The next morning, he says good-bye to everyone. Lilly defies her supervisor to say good-bye to James, and they again declare their love and kiss. James's brother and friend Kevin pick him up. James demands that they take him to a bar, and they reluctantly do so. With money borrowed from his brother, James orders a pint glass of bourbon. The Fury inside him tells him to pick it up and drink it, but James resists and has the bartender dump it out. As the book ends, James joins his brother and Kevin as they play pool.

Epilogue

The epilogue tells of the fates of the patients at the clinic. Roy was sent to an institution for the criminally insane. Warren died drunk in a boating accident. Bobby was murdered. John was sentenced to life in prison on a drug conviction. Ed was killed in a bar fight. Ted is serving life in prison. Matty was killed outside a crackhouse. Miles is well. Leonard died sober. Lilly committed suicide, apparently sober. James remains sober.

CHARACTERS

The Bald Man

The Bald Man is a patient at the clinic. An alcoholic, he moves into James's room after Larry leaves. One morning in a group session, the Bald Man tells the story of why he is at the clinic. While he cries, many of the other men laugh at him and his story. Though James also finds the Bald Man's story humorous, he also sees strength in his actions and courage in the Bald Man's ability to cry.

Baker

Dr. Baker is the clinic's medical doctor. He administers some of James's initial diagnostic tests, gives James detox drugs, and tends to his facial wounds. Dr. Baker later informs James that if he continues to drink and use drugs, he will die.

Bobby

Bobby, a patient at the clinic, is a braggart from Brooklyn who claims to be a millionaire and have connections to organized crime. James and his friends do not believe much of what he says, they but sometimes allow him to hang around them.

Daniel

Daniel is a counselor with the family program who works with James and his parents.

Miles Davis

Miles is a patient at the clinic and James's roommate when he is moved to a two-person room. Miles is a federal judge from New Orleans, who also plays the clarinet. He is an alcoholic in his second stay at the clinic. Miles and James become friends, and Miles helps James with his legal trouble in Ohio.

Ed

Ed is a patient at the clinic, his fourth time in rehab to address his addiction to alcohol. He is a short man who is a steelworker in Detroit. Ed is friends with Ted, Leonard, and James.

MEDIA ADAPTATIONS

A Million Little Pieces was released as an abridged audiobook by HighBridge Audio in 2003. It is read by Oliver Wyman.

Eric

Eric, also called Roy's Friend, is a patient at the clinic. He tells the staff that Roy lied about James.

John Everett

John is a patient at the clinic and one of James's first roommates. John is a nervous man from Seattle who is in his mid-thirties. He comes from a rich family and was sexually abused by his father beginning at the age of five. John has spent some time in prison, has an addiction to crack cocaine and cocaine, and has been cut off by his family. After James takes a shower one day, John makes a pass at him. John also offers James sexual favors from the daughter he has not seen in many years.

David

Father David is a chaplain at the clinic. Before James leaves, he reads his inventory of the bad things he has done in his life to the priest. James also tells him about an incident in Paris in which he beat up a priest who made sexual advances toward him.

Bob Frey

Bob Frey is James's father, a businessman whose work is demanding. Generally supportive of James, he arranges for his son to go to the clinic and wants him to get the help he needs. With his wife, James's father remains in telephone contact with James throughout his son's stay in the clinic and agrees to help James on his son's terms.

Bob Frey

James's brother Bob is supportive of James's recovery. He is divorced and lives in Minneapolis. He visits James and brings friends and gifts, including the Tao te Ching, giving James a reason to stay and complete his treatment when he plans to leave and die. James's brother also picks James up when his treatment is finished and takes him to a bar so he can test his new sobriety.

James Frey

James is the primary character, narrator, and author of the book. He is a twenty-three-year-old with a severe addiction to alcohol and drugs. Though James acknowledges his addictions and his need to conquer them, he resists treatment at first. He resolves to stick with it with the support of family and friends.

Throughout the text, James works through his past and his problems and develops his own philosophy toward recovery. A developing relationship with a fellow patient, Lilly, helps him greatly, as do several friends he makes. A book his brother gives him, Tao te Ching, also provides guidance. James even reaches a better place in his relationship with his parents by conquering "the Fury"—a deep sense of anger he feels around his parents and other times when he is fuming and nearly out of control.

Lynne Frey

Lynne Frey is James's mother. Lynne frequently cries in reaction to events of the story. She tries to be supportive of her son and wants him to get better, but sometimes she can be exacting. At one point, she wants James not to smoke around her while he is talking about drug and alcohol addiction. James's mother soon realizes that she was being petty and apologizes. She is later deeply moved when James reaches out to her and his father at the end of their visit in the clinic's family program and remains supportive after they leave.

Hank

Hank is an older man who works at the clinic as the van driver and is the boyfriend of Joanne. A former addict, Hank drives James to his dental appointments and also drives James when he looks for Lilly. Hank likes James and gives him a warm coat to wear when James has none.

Matty Jackson

Matty is a patient at the clinic who suffers from an addiction to crack cocaine. He was once a boxer, the featherweight champion of the world, before his addiction took over his life. Matty also has a problem with swearing, which he works on at the clinic as well. He is friends with Leonard, James, Ed, and Ted.

James's Ex-Girlfriend

Throughout his stay at the clinic, James remembers and reflects on his ex-girlfriend from college.

Joanne

Joanne is the staff psychologist at the clinic and Hank's girlfriend. Though Joanne is skeptical of James's method of dealing with his addictions, she tries to help him. Joanne intercedes on several occasions to ensure that James stays at the clinic when others believe he should be ejected. Joanne eventually comes to support what James is trying to do, though she tries to get him to join Alcoholics Anonymous and believe in the twelve steps.

Julie

Julie is a friend of James who visits him with James's brother and their friend Kirk one Sunday.

Ken

Ken is James's unit recovery counselor. Like all the employees at the clinic, he is a former addict. Ken is a tall, thin man in his early thirties. Ken and James have a somewhat hostile relationship, in part caused by James's disdain for twelve-step programs and because he does not answer questions about his recovery the way Ken would like. Ken tries to help James as best he can.

Kevin

Kevin is a friend of James who comes with James's brother to pick him up from the clinic. Kevin accompanies James and his brother to the bar at the end of the book.

Kirk

Kirk is a friend of James who visits him with James's brother and Julie one Sunday.

Larry

Larry is a patient at the clinic and one of James's first roommates. Larry is from Texas and in his mid-thirties. He was addicted to crystal meth and learns during his stay at the clinic that he has contracted HIV. He leaves a few days after James arrives.

Leonard

Leonard is a patient at the clinic. He is a wealthy man who is involved in organized crime. Leonard is a larger-than-life figure who takes bets from the other men, arranges for outside food to be brought in, and pays for cable television in the lounge so the men can watch a boxing match.

Though Leonard and James get off on the wrong foot, they soon become close friends who share much about themselves. When James wants to leave the clinic, it is Leonard who helps convince him to stay. Leonard helps to get James's charges in Ohio reduced and pays for Lilly's stay in the clinic after she returns. Before Leonard leaves, he informally adopts James as his son.

Lilly

Lilly is a patient at the clinic who becomes James's girlfriend. She is twenty-two years old and being treated for an addiction to crack cocaine and Quaaludes. Lilly has led a tough life, with a heroin-addict mother who began giving her drugs at the age of ten and made her a prostitute at the age of thirteen. She continued to live this way to support her own drug habit. Lilly's only caring family member is her beloved grandmother, who brought Lilly to the clinic.

Lilly's Grandmother

Lilly's grandmother is the only person in Lilly's family who cares about her. James meets her once on the day James's brother, Julie, and Kirk visit.

Lincoln

Lincoln is James's unit supervisor at the clinic. James has a somewhat hostile relationship with Lincoln. He believes Roy's lies about James until Roy's friend tells him the truth about the situation. Later, Lincoln reluctantly accompanies Hank when they pick up James as he looks for Lilly.

Man With No Arms

The man with no arms is a patient at the clinic who arrives near the end of James's stay. He is a heroin addict. James tries to be kind to him, but the man reacts with hostility.

Michael

Michael is a patient who arrives near the end of James's stay. He is a college administrator with an addiction to cocaine and prostitutes. Because James has the job of greeter, James introduces himself and his friends to Michael.

Michelle

Michelle is a friend of James's from the eighth grade. He remembers that he helped deceive her family so she could to go on a date with an older boy, during which she died in an accident. Her family and friends blamed James for her death.

Patient Who Taunts James

During James's first night in the clinic, he gets into a confrontation with another male patient, whose arms are covered by needle marks, over where James is sitting in the lounge. This patient later confronts James over Lilly, telling James a sordid story about her past in their hometown. James physically attacks him for what he says about Lilly.

Randall

Randall is an attorney who works for the clinic and helps James sort through his legal problems.

Roy

Roy is a patient at the clinic. At the beginning of James's stay, Roy escorts him from the medical to the men's unit and informs him about certain rules. Roy and James get into a fight when Roy accuses him of doing a bad job cleaning the toilets. Though the employees at the clinic believe Roy's side of the story at first and nearly gets James forced out of the clinic, Roy's friend reveals the truth about Roy and the situation. Roy later returns to the clinic in the middle of the night with a stick and insists that he is named Jack. James later learns that Roy was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder.

Sophie

Sophie leads some of the group sessions in the family program that James attends.

David Stevens

Dr. Stevens is the dental surgeon in the nearby community who takes care of James's dental needs. He performs the two root canals and caps two of James's teeth without administering any anesthetic.

Ted

Ted is a patient at the clinic. Ted is friends with Ed, Leonard, Miles, and James. He is addicted to crack cocaine. Ted is a drug dealer and car thief and has many legal troubles. He has an outstanding warrant for statutory rape in Louisiana and is trying to avoid life in prison under the three-strikes law by going to rehab.

Warren

Warren is a patient at the clinic who also shares James's first room there. Warren is in his fifties.

THEMES

Addiction

The primary focus of A Million Little Pieces is addiction and its effects. Because the book is set at a rehab clinic, most of the characters are addicts or former addicts. The text's narrator, James, has had a profound addiction to drugs and alcohol for many years and is told by the clinic's doctor that he will die soon if he does not give them up. At the beginning of the book, James realizes that if he wants to live, he must conquer his addictions. It takes time and support for him to fully accept this fact and find his own path to recovery. Though doubts emerge for him along the way, James fights his fears and emerges a stronger person in the end. He also meets many other addicts, some of whom succeed in the same quest while others stumble or fail completely. The difficulty of admitting one's addiction in the first place, and of succeeding in recovery in the second place, are illustrated on every page of the book.

Pain and Suffering

The concepts of pain and suffering play significant roles in the book, underscoring the price of addiction. James arrives at the clinic in terrible physical condition because he is an addict. He then suffers severe physical pain because of his addictions and the detoxification process. Detox involves vomiting, shaking, fatigue, hallucinations, panic, and user dreams, which make the recovering addict relive the feelings of using drugs. James also has other physical problems when he arrives, including four broken teeth, a broken nose, and a wound in his cheek. He undergoes extensive oral surgery and reconstruction. As a recovering addict, he is forced to face the gruesome ordeal without anesthesia.

Even after the physical pain of detox and dental work subsides, James must deal with the emotional pain and suffering caused and masked by his addictions. James himself deals with an extremely destructive inner anger he dubs "the Fury" and the toll his addictions have taken on his life as well as the lives of his parents and friends. His fellow patients also face the destruction their addictions have wrought in their own lives.

Interpersonal Relationships

Interpersonal relationships are important to most of the characters and their recovery in A Million Little Pieces, especially to James. It was friends who called James's parents and put him on a plane so they could get him help. At the clinic, friends like Leonard and Miles help him remain with the program, deal with his legal issues, and face his addictions. While friends like Ted and Ed are less significant, they provide company at meals and a sense of camaraderie, which helps James continue to move forward. More significant is James's romantic relationship with Lilly. Though the pair break clinic rules to interact, James draws much strength and hope from Lilly in their telephone calls and secret meetings in the clearing. He gets strength from his desire to be strong for Lilly's sake.

James's relationship with his parents is more complicated than his friendships. He finds it difficult to be around his parents, and he becomes extremely angry whenever he has to deal with them, especially in person. Therapy with his parents brings them closer together with better understanding of each other. His parents open themselves to anguish to help James recover. James understands how he has hurt them and accepts responsibility for his life. The process is painful for all involved, but they all face it in order to move on.

Belief Systems

Belief systems, including philosophy and religion, are threads that run through the text. James is dismissive of the spiritual aspects of Alcoholics Anonymous and twelve-step programs. He repeatedly states that he does not believe in God or any type of higher power. He believes he is responsible for his own problems and his own fate, and he refuses to embrace any philosophy that says otherwise. The counselors and patients embrace the twelve steps, but James sees it as a farce. The counselors gradually come to see that James's approach is valid for him. Instead of such organized religion, James finds an inspiring life philosophy in a small book given to him by his brother. The poems in the Tao te Ching give James a framework for developing his philosophy for his recovery and life as a former addict.

STYLE

First-Person Narrative

Whether A Million Little Pieces is a work of fiction or nonfiction, it is presented in the style of a memoir, or the author's recollection of an important time in his or her life. Many novelists, tellers of tall tales, and conmen also employ this point of view to make their stories more believable. Memoirs focus only on a specific time or event, whereas biographies and autobiographies are meant to tell the story of a person's whole life. The first-person narrator tells the story as it appears to him, using "I" and "me" to present his point of view. The narrator shares his own thoughts and conversations, as those are the only details the limited viewpoint of a real, non-omniscient memoirist can provide.

Stylized Writing

One of the most distinctive aspects of A Million Little Pieces is the highly stylized manner in which the text is written. Frey's language and grammar represent his stream of consciousness, capturing the way people think and speak, unconstrained by the rules of formal communication. Describing his mother's tears during one of their family sessions at the clinic, for example, Frey writes, "My Mother continues to cry. She cannot will not is unable to stop."

Frey's usage of type mechanics is also creative. He does not use any quotation marks to separate dialogue and narrative. He capitalizes words to give weight to certain things or concepts but does not capitalize them consistently. In addition, Frey does not use exclamation points but employs a bold typeface to indicate shouting or emphasis. Such stylistic idiosyncrasies sometimes make the narrative hard to follow, but they also create a distinctive voice that is full of character.

TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY

In A Million Little Pieces, James Frey uses unconventional punctuation, grammar, and text elements to enhance the mood of his story. Pick a mood to convey in writing—joy, fear, boredom, desperation—and try to develop a graphic style to represent it. Experiment with the ways upper and lowercase letters, fonts and type styles, grammar and punctuation change the prose's voice.
Research the origins and effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which was founded in the United States in the 1940s. While Frey is dismissive of the usefulness of the group, at least for himself, AA is often considered an essential part of an alcoholic's program of sobriety. Present your findings, touching on why you believe Frey does not support AA for himself.
Divide the class into small groups of about five students each. Each group should read and analyze several poems in the Tao Te Ching. In group discussions, answer such questions as: Why the poems inspired Frey? What support do they provide for recovering addicts? What truths do they hold for your life?
Research the life and writings of another writer who chose to not conquer his addictions, such as William S. Burroughs or Charles Bukowski. Write a paper in which you compare Frey's life and literary stylings as a former addict with the life and work of an addict writer who lived with his or her condition.
A great uproar resulted when it came to light that A Million Little Pieces is more a work of fiction than a memoir. How does that knowledge change the book's impact on readers? As a group, discuss the value of literature and if that value changes depending on whether a book's events are true or invented. Consider why so many readers were so outraged to discover Frey's deception.

Anti-Hero

In writing the character of James, Frey fashions him as an anti-hero. An anti-hero is not a traditional "good guy," but he is someone the audience identifies with and roots for nonetheless. While he is the primary character in the book, James is not heroic but is an outcast and rebel who follows his own path. James is dismissive of much of the philosophy of and values supported by the clinic. He refuses to accept many of the principals taught there, primarily related to twelve-step programs and Alcoholics Anonymous. James does not believe in a higher power, nor will he submit to many of the twelve step-related teachings clinic employees like Ken, Lincoln, and Joanne try to get him to embrace. They believe James will fail to stay sober if he follows the plan he is fashioning for himself.

Many of the clinic employees also believe that James is socializing with the "wrong" patients. His relationship with Lilly is forbidden because of clinic rules. Though such romantic relationships are taboo for the patients' own good as they overcome the control of their addictions, James's relationship with Lilly is healing for him. The employees of the clinic also disapprove of his friendship with the mobster Leonard, a friendship that helps keep James at the clinic and finding solutions to his recovery. As with such relationships, James recovers on his own terms and with his own methods.

Flashback

At several points in A Million Little Pieces, flashbacks give details about James's past. A flashback looks back to action and events that happened before the story at hand began. Most of James's flashbacks revolve around his relationship with his ex-girlfriend, including how they met and how the relationship ended. James has other flashbacks as well, including memories of his eighth-grade friend Michelle whose death he was blamed for and of a priest in Paris whom James beat—possibly to death.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Treatment for Alcohol and Drug Addiction in the United States

Every day in 2002, about one million people in the United States were receiving treatment for alcohol or drug addiction. By 2003, $133 billion per year was spent treating the long-term and short-term medical consequences of addiction.

In 2002, about 11 percent of addicts in the United States received initial treatments at inpatient facilities like Hazelden (the clinic represented in A Million Little Pieces) or at hospitals, if they could afford it or had insurance that would cover the cost. Beginning in the 1960s, such facilities, based on the so-called Minnesota model of short-term inpatient care, offered addicts the chance to detoxify and move toward sobriety in a controlled environment for several weeks. The term of twenty-eight days was a norm, though some nonhospital residential treatments lasted from a few months to two years. While government support of such treatment in lieu of time in prison or jail ebbed and flowed between the 1960s and early 2000s, the Minnesota model became the standard for such clinics, both private and public. By the 1990s, most clinics treated both alcoholics and drug addicts in the same facility.

Outpatient clinics, such as the halfway houses discussed in the book, are a less expensive and more popular option for treatment of addicts. In 2002, about 89 percent of addicts in the United States were in such programs. These outpatient clinics also give alcoholics a chance to avoid jail and receive attention for their condition, which is becoming generally accepted as a disease, not a crime, character flaw, or a mental illness. Those who seek treatment in outpatient clinics go to a care center on a daily to weekly basis. There, they receive counseling and take advantage of other resources to help them manage their addictions.

After release from an inpatient clinic or as part of outpatient treatment, addicts are generally expected to join a self-help group such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or its counterpart, Narcotics Anonymous (NA). Both are based on the twelve-step program Frey rejects in A Million Little Pieces. Such programs promote the idea of addiction as a disease. They also give recovering addicts a support system to keep their addictions in check. AA and NA are often seen as the only way for addicts to stay sober in the long term, primarily because of the peer support at the meetings, which are an essential part of the experience. There are dissenters who agree with Frey, viewing AA and NA as cults and replacement addictions.

Another treatment for alcoholism that gained more acceptance in this period are drugs to help alcoholics stay sober. Antabuse is a medication that works by making users ill with nausea, vomiting, and other physical symptoms if they drink alcohol. In the mid-1990s, another drug came on the market that helped alcoholics after detoxification; Naltrexone deals with both the physical and psychological effects of alcoholism, by easing cravings for alcohol and preventing relapses for heavy drinkers.

Despite such treatments, most alcoholics and addicts do not achieve long-term sobriety. For example, by 2002, the California-based Center Point treatment facilities saw one third of its patients leave before completing their program. A study mandated by the U.S. Congress in this same time period found that half of those who conquered a cocaine addiction as well two-thirds of those addicted to both heroin and cocaine began using drugs again within a year.

CRITICAL OVERVIEW

When A Million Little Pieces was published, the memoir was praised by critics for its brutally honest depiction of addiction and rehabilitation. In a review in the San Francisco Chronicle, James Sullivan wrote, "James Frey's staggering recovery memoir, A Million Little Pieces, could well be seen as the final word on the topic [of addiction]." Julian Keeling, a former patient at Hazelden (the setting of Frey's book) commented, "His intense, repetitive prose accurately captures the physical experience of being in recovery."

Critics also noted Frey's distinctive style and generally had praise for its effect. David Kamp of the New York Times Book Review noted, "From the get-go, his book sets itself apart, its narrative unspooling in short, unindented paragraphs and barely punctuated sentences whose spare, deadpan language belies the horror of what he's describing—a meltdown dispatched in telegrams." John Freeman of the Boston Globe called A Million Little Pieces "mesmerizing," adding, "Unlike other memoirists, whose fidelity to realism limits their ability to shock or astonish, Frey throws all the rules of writing out the window and rebuilds language from there."

Some critics found Frey's depiction of himself off-putting. New York Times reviewer Kamp described it as "an unwelcome narcissism" and remarked, "it's evident that the sober Frey still digs the supertough, supersick baddie he was." Others saw different problems with the book. Janet Maslin of the New York Times wrote that Frey's book follows a prescribed pattern, with all the high notes and low notes of familiar memoirs. Of the crisis around Lilly leaving the clinic, she wrote, "although every detail of it may be accurate, it powerfully and sadly resembles pulp fiction."

Though Laura Miller of the New Yorker called the book "a good show" that is "[hard] to forget," she expressed some doubts about its veracity before the truth about the book's untruths came to light. "This is the Dirty Harry model of recovery, and the cinematic quality of some of Frey's exploits makes you wonder whether the facts in this memoir have been enhanced," she observed.

In 2006, after the Smoking Gun website revealed that A Million Little Pieces had been partially fabricated and other information came to light that Frey had exaggerated or made up aspects of the story, critical opinion changed dramatically. While a few still found the book to have value, many condemned Frey and his publisher for the deception. Tom Scocca in the New York Observer charged, "James Frey is a liar. (By the way, so is 'James Frey.') His best-selling memoir, A Million Little Pieces is a fraud. It is a seamless mass of falsehoods, told deliberately, for the purpose of making money."

Several commentators did not accept Frey's excuse of a poor memory for his fictionalization of the truth. Writing in Newsweek, columnist Anna Quindlen asserted,

Memory is what accounts for confusing an overcast day with a clear one. Lying is what we wordsmiths call turning a single night in custody into three harrowing months in the clink. And lying matters. Truth is a rock; if you chip away at it enough, you wind up with gravel, then sand.

Others went further, charging that Frey's action and his book undermined the credibility of other writers. Moira Farr of the Ottawa Citizen asserted, "Mr. Frey's laissez-faire attitude about what's true or not in a memoir … tarnishes all journalists and non-fiction writers who base their professional integrity on their ability and desire to get the facts right."

CRITICISM

A. Petrusso

Petrusso is a history and screenwriting scholar and freelance writer and editor. In this essay, Petrusso argues that the revelations surrounding Frey's exaggerations and falsifications in A Million Little Pieces change how the book is read and how to regard Frey's character therein. Instead of Frey as rebellious sober addict superhero, Frey becomes a star in a cautionary tale about hubris.

When James Frey's stark memoir of his intense recovery from drug and alcohol addiction was published in 2003, a number of critics praised the power of A Million Little Pieces, impressed with the tough yet effective way he described himself. Writing in the Boston Globe, John Freeman gushed, "Within a few pages, one feels as imprisoned in Frey's head as he was then—trapped, in fact, by his pain, his misery, his self-loathing, and his desire for drugs." Other early reviewers did detect some conceit in his depiction of himself, but the gripping story and the unflinching presentation often pushed aside such concerns about his character.

However, Frey's true egotism came to light in 2006 after revelations of falsehoods in the book appeared first on The Smoking Gun website and later in newspapers and magazines. Many key events in the book were embellished or did not happen at all. For example, the death of his only friend in junior high school in a car wreck, a girl called Michelle in A Million Little Pieces, actually happened while he was in high school to two popular girls named Jane Hall and Melissa Sanders. Though Frey claimed to have contributed to "her" death by covering for "her" whereabouts, he had nothing to do with the real-life incident.

Other "facts" about Frey's life both before and during his visit to the clinic were also shown to be fabrications. He did not run away to Paris after being arrested in Ohio. Frey had a job there with his father's company. In fact, his Ohio arrest was not even for the charges he claimed in the book. He did not spend three months in jail, only about five hours when he was initially arrested. Some investigators also doubt many of the details about Lilly, with a few wondering if she existed at all. In the epilogue to A Million Little Pieces, Frey writes that Lilly hanged herself in her Chicago halfway house the day he was released from his three-month sentence in Ohio, though the latter event never happened. There was no record found of such a suicide, her burial, or such a person with any similar details found in the Chicago area.

Furthermore, there is no record Frey underwent two root canals without any anesthesia or painkillers in the area around the Hazelden Clinic, where he was receiving treatment for his addictions. If he had, he would have received some sort of anesthesia during the operation, but no painkillers after the procedure was completed. The president of the Minnesota Dental Association, Dr. Scott Lingle, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune (quoted in the New York Post), "I wouldn't give him a narcotic post-operatively, but Novocaine wouldn't affect an addiction."

Finally and most importantly, Frey would not have been allowed to remain at Hazelden if he had flouted the rules as he claimed he did in A Million Little Pieces. Former patients and counselors at the clinic stated in interviews that Frey would have been expelled after physically attacking two others or getting caught meeting Lilly. Carol Colleran, who was employed at various Hazelden locations for nearly two decades, told Edward Wyatt of the New York Times that in terms of the clinic's operating procedures, "98 percent of that book is false."

Critical opinion generally changed after these and other truths about Frey's book came to light. For example, Mark Mordue of the Weekend Australian charged "you can see the recipe for hubris oozing through the language, a penchant for self-worshipping edginess and machismo that already signals a somewhat one-eyed and inflated view of his world." Overnight, Frey went from being a successful revolutionary to a pathetic man-child who fashioned himself as the character readers wished he was. Frey tried to make himself into an epic anti-hero, but was only an impostor in the mythology of his own life. He undermined himself as well as the power and potential of his literary work to do good for other addicts and those who love them.

Reading A Million Little Pieces after the scandal broke, what becomes clear is that Frey sees himself as an iconoclast. Such characteristics are not as obvious when reading the book without knowing the truth about it. If the memoir were indeed true, Frey would be a survivor, an ideal American do-it-yourself anti-hero, ready to inspire readers around the world to win over addictions or anything else on their own terms. He would epitomize the alternative Generation X attitude in his own cool, tough guy, nouveau-Steve McQueen kind of way. Unfortunately, as Frey was forced to admit several times on national television, he is a liar. He lied about such qualities and he lied about himself.

Examining Frey's depiction of himself while knowing the truth about his deceptions, it is easy to see the superhuman characteristics he gives himself in A Million Little Pieces. Throughout the text, Frey is always right when moral judgments are at hand. He does not need to follow the rules of the clinic because his relationship with Lilly betters them both. Frey can physically attack Bobby's friend because the man was questioning Lilly's honor and he deserves to be punished by Frey. Frey can also physically attack Roy because Roy deserves it for lying about Frey. Those who doubted Frey eventually know the "truth." Frey will not be expelled from the clinic even when those in charge believe he should be because Frey's personal qualities allow someone, usually Joanne, to be on his side—the "right" side. Other powerful men like Leonard and Miles also recognize James's epic character and use their influence on his behalf. The rebel is embraced by the authority who sees his righteousness.

While Frey wrote that he tried to keep an open mind about the clinic's program and what he could learn there, he adamantly refused to submit to much of the clinic's twelve-step program. Frey would not participate in the steps in the way the clinic's program was laid out, though he would do parts on his own terms. He also dismissed the suggestion to join AA after leaving the clinic, believing it was nothing more than trading one addiction for another. Frey also steadfastly refused to believe in, need, or surrender to a higher power. He implies some disillusionment with the Catholic Church because of the incident with the priest in Paris. He also seems to have embraced a compatible, if not self-centered, moral philosophy in the Tao te Ching.

The real reason for Frey's uneasiness with the idea of a higher power was that there could be no higher power than himself in A Million Little Pieces. While Frey evolves in the book, accepting that he has made a mess of his life in the past and learning from his many admitted mistakes, he is also the compassionate all-knowing one because of the experiences he purports to have had at the clinic. Frey finds strength in the Bald Man's public tears, comforts Miles, feels compassion for John, and saves Lilly from herself and her still-strong addictions by rescuing her after she leaves. Dealing with his parents, the trigger that often sets off his "Fury," even comes under his control because god-like Frey can learn a lifetime of self-control from one meeting with his mother and Joanne. He never gives into temptations to use drugs and alcohol. Frey does not make mistakes in A Million Little Pieces. Every action he takes after he enters that clinic is depicted as the right one. He draws himself as an all-knowing being whose life became livable once he accepted his own righteousness.

WHAT DO I READ NEXT?

My Friend Leonard (2005), is the second book by Frey. It is a follow-up to A Million Little Pieces, covering several years after he left the clinic.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962), a novel by Ken Kesey, tells the story of patients in a mental asylum with varying degrees of problems and illnesses, who are captivated by a new patient who refuses to accept the status quo.

Angela's Ashes (1996), a Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir by Frank McCourt, focuses on the author's miserable, tragic childhood but is a gripping personal story of triumph over adversity.

Permanent Midnight: A Memoir (1995) is a memoir by Jerry Stahl recounting his years of working as writer in Hollywood while sinking deeper into drug addiction.

Drinking: A Love Story (1997), by Caroline Knapp, is a memoir about Knapp's life as an alcoholic. She successfully competed rehab and embraced Alcoholics Anonymous.

What is ironic about Frey and the controversy surrounding the truth, or lack thereof, in A Million Little Pieces is that Frey repeatedly claims to see the falsehoods and illusions of others, from the posturing former patients who return to share their stories to the counselors, Ken and Lincoln, who have him all wrong. Yet Frey willfully embraces many such falsehoods and illusions in his own story. He did not lose his only friend in junior high because of his deceit. He did not have two root canals without anesthetic. He did not spend three months in jail in Ohio, and he did not commit the crimes he said he did. He did not enter rehab knowing all the answers, and he did not live above the law when he was there.

Such lies also make one wonder about the extent of Frey's addiction to begin with, as well as the reality of his detox and treatment. Was he an alcoholic? Did he really use crack? Does it matter in the face of his many untruths? Frey really did spend time at Hazelden, but to what end? A Million Little Pieces would not have worked as a novel because the character of "James Frey" is written too unbelievably to be taken seriously had it not been a given that his story was true. To work as a piece of fiction, the protagonist would have to ring more true. Thus, the whole of the book has to be questioned.

Frey admitted to the ultimate irony about the whole situation surrounding his book. Shortly after the scandal broke, Wyatt of the New York Times wrote, "James Frey … offered the first detailed explanation of why he embellished and lied about events in A Million Little Pieces, his best-selling book: it made a better story." Unfortunately, it was not marketed as just a good yarn, but the alleged truth about one man's alleged addictions and alleged recovery. When his fans—many actual addicts who found hope and inspiration in his tale—discovered the truth, they were outraged by the betrayal. In the end, Frey's story does contain some mythical qualities; unfortunately, he turned out to be more of an Icarus than a Hercules.

Source: A. Petrusso, Critical Essay on A Million Little Pieces, in Literary Newsmakers, Thomson Gale, 2007.