A Million Little Pieces

Customer Reviews

• Description of treatment is fiction not fact.  Nov 17, 2005 (163 of 172 found this helpful)

  I have worked with alcoholics and addicts for many, many years, and I worked for the Hazelden Foundation, the treatment program the author indicates he attended. His description of the events in treatment never could have happened. All treatment centers are strictly regulated by a licensing board called the Joint Commission as well by state laws. What James Frey describes is in gross violation of these strict standards of accreditation. The treatment center would have been severely disciplined or shut down. Hazelden is one of the finest treatment centers in the world and is the pioneer of treatment as we know it today. Their treatment program is centered on respecting the dignity of each patient and preserving the safety of all who are admitted.
  
  James Frey would not have been admitted into treatment in such terrible medical condition without first being sent to a hospital for care and then admitted only after the hospital staff granted medical clearance. He wouldn't have been given stitches in his face at the treatment center, because treatment centers aren't licensed to give that level of medical care. Yes, recovering people can use anesthetic. Anesthetic is not an addictive drug, so no one needs to endure painful dental work or stitches or surgery without masking the pain. Pain medications (which are addictive) are used when necessary, such as after major surgery.
  
  There are no men in white coats with syringes tackling people who misbehave. People in treatment don't behave in ways the author describes. People are mostly kind, caring and thoughtful. Disagreements are generally mild in nature, and mood-swings are usually the worst we must contend with. When someone behaves in an unacceptable manner, they are asked to change their behavior or be discharged. Treatment romances are never tolerated because they are a precursor to relapse and disrupt the entire unit. Physical violence always results in discharge, as does destruction of property. A patient would be asked to leave immediately if he destroyed a room full of furniture, for example. (Accomplishing this feat, by the way, would be extremely difficult because the furniture is made of heavy wood, built for endurance.)
  
  The author's assertion that a doctor left the ER without treating him and then drove him to an airport is equally astonishing. Putting a patient on an airplane, where he cannot access emergency medical care while suffering from severe head injuries is unthinkable. That the airlines allowed James Frey on the plane is impossible to believe. These things simply aren't allowed to happen for very obvious and good reasons.
  
  It goes without saying that counselors don't drive patients to crack houses-or anywhere else-while they are in treatment. Doing so would result in immediate dismissal. Never have I heard people screaming in detox, nor would someone be left lying on a floor overnight. Patients are well monitored and vitals are checked on a regular basis to be certain that blood pressure isn't dangerously high due to the body coming off alcohol and/or drugs. Without close monitoring, we would risk strokes or heart attacks. It is also surprising that almost everyone the author went through treatment with has died or disappeared in rather unorthodox ways. I've never know of this to happen and none of my colleagues, whom I've asked, have ever heard of this either. We sometimes hear that one individual out of a treatment group dies, but even that is fairly rare. People do relapse after treatment, but that happens primarily because people don't follow their aftercare plan.
  
  I hope if you read this book, you will keep in mind that this description of treatment is fiction. No one who is thinking of going into treatment to seek help should be afraid, thinking they will experience things similar to what the author has described. All reputable treatment centers offer caring support, preserve patients' dignity

• Finally, what I really think  Jan 11, 2006 (133 of 144 found this helpful)

  I am an alcoholic, sober for ten years. I went through detox, rehab, AA, and all the rest. When I read this book a couple of months ago, I thought, "This is just nothing like what I went through." I bought it and intended to pass it along to my AA friends to share, but after I finished it, I didn't want to give it to anyone. It would scare anyone who was considering going into treatment, and that's a shame because treatment isn't like that. If I had pulled any of the stunts he did, I would have been out on my bum. I think the author is just needing attention badly--thus the rebellion and bad boy stunts that he tells about. In my experience, alcoholics/addicts with his attitude end up drinking/using again, because they have such a case of terminal specialness--the 12 steps work for those other losers, but I'm better than that, stronger than that. I don't need those crutches. This book is just sensationalism of the worst kind. I'm sorry I donated to James Frey by buying this book. I threw it away so it wouldn't fall into anyone else's hands.

• Complete fiction  Dec 28, 2005 (69 of 73 found this helpful)

  This book seems like complete fiction -and bad fiction at that. I'm stunned that Oprah's group didn't do any research - no airline would let this guy on the plane covered in vomit and blood. No rehab facility would let meals be catered, patients gamble to televised football games nor, especially, let one of the patients lead a counselor into a crackhouse in search of a patient that left the facility. James Frey is a failed screenwriter that came up with his best dose of fiction and a lot of desperate people bought it. Funny how the "people" or should I say "characters" that could have exposed him are all dead. I doubt that any really existed, particulary "Leonard" the mobster who says the author is the toughest kid he'd ever met. Pure, awful, dangerous fiction.

• Fantastic Fiction, but 90% fabrication - it's mostly a lie!  Jan 12, 2006 (72 of 77 found this helpful)

  I am an alcoholic with my last drink being August 7, 1998. I did not go to AA and could relate to James Frey. As I was reading this amazing and riviting story, I kept turning to the back to make sure he was still alive! I could not believe what he went through. I have done drugs, but at a much lower level than claimed by James. Alcohol was my area of weakness. I literally could not put the book down. The fact it was a BIOGRAPHY hit me in ways books rarely do. I felt changed and also was able to understand what I went through during my withdrawls.
  
  Then today I read an article on The Smoking Gun website - http://www.thesmokinggun.com/jamesfrey/0104061jamesfrey1.html. The article is exhaustive and very well written. The bottom line is James made most of the book up and what few events did take place were horrendously exagerated. He NEVER went to jail after release from the center. He NEVER ran over a cop. He NEVER was beatan by police outside bars. His girlfriend when he was a kid was NEVER his friend (confirmed by her parents!).
  
  As most addicts will state, we hate hypocrites. Nothing is worse than a person bragging and exagerating how much they drank, smoked or took. Getting sober is very hard and not something to be glamourized. It is painful and you learn many things about yourself you wanted to keep buried. Therefore when a person spills their life in print you emphasize and take note for their courage to tell the world. To find out the author LIED for money, makes a mockery of what we went through. There is nothing glamorous about blacking out or throwing up. But to make it more than it is, well, that is down right wrong.
  
  The article also posted a letter of defamation from James Frey's lawyers. The letter stated if they posted anything about their findings, he would sue them. James also conveniently states he had his records expunged and are not verifiable. Furthermore, most of his witnesses are conviently dead. For a person that is so open about everything, I find it amazing he would not turn over his expunged records. How can a person be open in one area, but not in another? The only answer is he is LYING!
  
  Read the article before buying the book. Look at their proof and then make up your mind if you wish to go further with A Million Little Pieces. It is written in a style I truly enjoyed. It is powerful and amazing, but it is also 90% fiction. I am an alchoholic and James Frey made me feel violated.

• A Million Pieces of Crap  Jun 14, 2003 (64 of 68 found this helpful)

  This is an amazingly bad book.

  Ridiculously pretentious,vain and stupid, James Frey wallows in self-pity for many pages.

  And his Writing Style is a satirist's dream:
  
  He thinks he's "Edgy" but He just doesn't Know how to Write.
  To write, in Words.
  
  How to write. Words, words, words.
  
  I'm James Frey.
  I'm repeating myself. Myself, myself, My Self.
  My Important Self. My Edgy, Drug-Addicted Self.
  Look At Me!
  My Rich Parents sent Me to Rehab and I'm Really Edgy!
  I'm Writing.
  In Sentence Fragments.
  That Repeat and Repeat and Repeat. And I'm really Edgy and Maudlin. And in the End I Hug and Hug and Hug and My Stupidity is really an Inspiration to Everyone.

  One star: Good for a laff.