Okay, could there possibly be any more press coverage about this whole James Frey thing with A Million Little Pieces??? Is this mass media hysteria because it was promoted as non-fiction or because Oprah is in the picture? She gets a little something that trips her up, puts her flat on her face, someone pulled the wool over her eyes and we all got to see. I think THAT is the issue at hand.
For those of you who don't know, my company didn't publish this book, but yes we published his second, My Friend Leonard. Sales were already good before the controversy. How long that will last, I don't know.
With all the lies that our government spouts every day, how much do I care that this guy promoted his book as being 100% accurate? It still is a great story. Did the smoking gun ever look into the truthfulness behind The Basketball Diaries or Naked Lunch? Would it make them less engaging or worthwhile as books?
All I know is the book was written very well, it is a captivating and entertaining work, and still one of the better things I have read in the past year, exaggerated or not.
The History Of Yoga
7 years ago
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Couldn't have said it better myself (and have had many discussions in the past 3 weeks). Enough with the Oprah Kool-Aid! I wish she could do some good for this world - like out Osama, or bring Bush down. Celeb's energies are directed in the wrong places. I give Angelia a little credit for at least helping out the disadvantaged. When's Oprah going to pull a Bill Gates and put her money where her mouth is?
Hunter S. Thompson and Truman Capote wrote "nonfiction" too.
James Frey seems like kind of an ass, but I guarantee if I go pick 20 random memoirs out of any given Barnes & Nobles, I'll have 20 books with exaggerations in them. Whose life is really interesting enough to fill a book? If I lost both my legs in a mountain-climbing accident next week, I'd take the check from the publishing company, title the book "Mountain Too High", and starting making up 29 years worth of crap that somebody would actually want to read about, as opposed to the 29 years of mundane banality my life has consisted of. Oprah be damned. She only backpedaled 'cause she was taking guff. No conviction whatsoever.
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