Product Description

James Frey wakes up on a plane, with no memory of the preceding two weeks. His face is cut and his body is covered with bruises. He has no wallet and no idea of his destination. He has abused alcohol and every drug he can lay his hands on for a decade – and he is aged only twenty-three.

What happens next is one of the most powerful and extreme stories ever told. His family takes him to a rehabilitation centre. And James Frey starts his perilous journey back to the world of the drug and alcohol-free living. His lack of self-pity is unflinching and searing.

A Million Little Pieces is a dazzling account of a life destroyed and a life reconstructed. It is also the introduction of a bold and talented literary voice. (20040322)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #203445 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The electrifying opening of James Frey's debut memoir, A Million Little Pieces, smash-cuts to the then 23-year-old author on a Chicago-bound plane "covered with a colourful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood." Wanted by authorities in three states, without ID or any money, his face mangled and missing four front teeth, Frey is on a steep descent from a dark marathon of drug abuse. His stunned family checks him into a famed Minnesota drug treatment centre where a doctor promises "he will be dead within a few days" if he starts to use again, and where Frey spends two agonising months of detox confronting "The Fury" head:

I want a drink. I want fifty drinks. I want a bottle of the purest, strongest, most destructive, most poisonous alcohol on Earth. I want 50 bottles of it. I want crack, dirty and yellow and filled with formaldehyde. I want a pile of powder meth, 500 hits of acid, a garbage bag filled with mushrooms, a tube of glue bigger than a truck, a pool of gas large enough to drown in. I want something anything whatever however as much as I can.

One of the more harrowing sections is when Frey submits to major dental surgery without the benefit of anesthesia or painkillers (he fights the mind-blowing waves of "bayonet" pain by digging his fingers into two old tennis balls until his nails crack). His fellow patients include a damaged crack addict with whom Frey wades into an ill-fated relationship, a federal judge, a mobster, and a former championship boxer (who throws a hilarious surf-and-turf bacchanal, complete with pay-per-view boxing, upon his release). In the book's epilogue, when Frey ticks off a terse update on everyone, you can almost hear the Jim Carroll Band's brutal survivor's lament "People Who Died" kicking in on the soundtrack of the inevitable film adaptation.

The rage-fuelled memoir is kept in check by Frey's cool, minimalist style. Like his steady mantra, "I am an Alcoholic and I am a drug Addict and I am a Criminal," Frey's use of repetition takes on a crisp, lyrical quality which lends itself to the surreal experience. The book could have benefited from being a bit leaner. Nearly 400 pages is a long time to spend under Frey's influence, and the stylistic acrobatics (no quotation marks, random capitalization, left-aligned text, wild paragraph breaks) may seem too self-conscious for some readers, but beyond the literary fireworks lurks a fierce debut. --Brad Thomas Parsons, Amazon.com

Evening Standard
‘Frey really can write. Brilliantly. And if you don’t think so, f*** you’

Review
‘Excellent ... Frey's storytelling feels compulsive, involuntary ... poignant and tragic. The forthcoming film will almost certainly be a cult hit ... The good thing about Frey is that he writes as if he needs to; I hope his new compulsion thrives’ (William Leith, Spectator )

‘James Frey’s utterly mesmerising account ... [is] easily the most remarkable non-fiction book about drugs and drug taking since Hunter S Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ... As a memoir, it is almost mythic. You can imagine it made epic by Martin Scorsese, the auteur of wayward American maleness in all its extremity ... Utterly compulsive’ (Observer )

‘Frey really can write. Brilliantly. And if you don’t think so, f*** you’ (Evening Standard )

‘Clear sighted and intellectually honest’ (Literary Review )

‘A heartbreaking memoir ... inspirational and essential’ (Bret Easton Ellis )

‘This book is definitely going to be huge ... There is no question that he’s a good writer. As soon as you start reading the book, Frey’s voice rings out. It’s clear and sharp and turbocharged ... We love rehab memoirs. This is a good one. It might even be a great one’ (Independent )

‘An extraordinary and deeply moving book that will make you think about family, friendship, love, religion, death and perhaps most of all, the human spirit’ (Irish Sunday Independent )

‘Startling and ultimately breath taking’ (Kirkus Reviews )

‘Horribly honest and funny ... Read this immediately’ (Gus Van Sant )

‘Harrowing, poetic and rather magnificent’ (FHM )

‘James Frey spent ten years addicted to alcohol and crack before going into rehab at the age of 23. This unrelenting memoir of his recovery spares no detail. Luckily, he is a good writer – indulgent and uncompromising’ (Metro )

‘Frey is selfish, egocentric, violent and pompous . . . What redeems this insufferably bad mannered book is that, at the end of the day, Frey can write. Brilliantly’ (Scotsman )

'Frey's writing style vividly conveys the horrors of addiction ... dark humour and sharp observations are evidence of a keen intelligence and an unusual strength of character ... a totally absorbing book' (The Magistrate )

‘Harrowing and unflinching ... This is not a book about drugs but about their aftermath ... Though definitely not for the faint hearted, Frey is often darkly and self deprecatingly funny. This is, in essence, a story of redemption and an incredibly moving one. This is a great book’ (Waterstone's Books Quarterly )

'This book is a raging, brilliant debut.' (Waterstone's Books Quarterly )

‘Crafted from genuine, raw emotion.’ (Irish Examiner )

‘Blisteringly written ... The prose is superb’

(Daily Express )

‘James Frey propelled the memoir of dysfunctional life to the top of the bestseller lists’

(Daily Telegraph )

‘Frey’s book combined high quality drug porn with memorable characters and a strong narrative arc that describes a modern version of Rake’s Progress.’

(Druglink Magazine )

‘The last remarkable book I read... I couldn’t put it down.’

(Q Magazine, Dave Matthews )

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Customer Reviews

Good 'story' from a pompous man
I agree with one of the reviews on the inside cover of the paperback edition which calls Frey selfish, egocentric, violent & pompous. I sensed from the off that something wasn't quite right about the tale Frey was telling. Ultimately he seems more concerned with telling a good story than saying anything that may benefit other recovering addicts. His stubborn rejection of the 12 step programme made him seem like an idiot. As an adult he recalled a childhood 'prank' of him locking his pal in a box. He showed no remorse and said that he still found it funny. The passage of time had not taught him any sense of humility or to care for anyone other than himself. This recollection occured as he was reluctantly working through the early stages of the 12 steps, which he selfishly agreed to do in order to get released from rehab. I regret spending good money on this book and adding to the wealth of this odius man. I would not pay to read the sequel 'My Friend Leonard'

Adolescent fantasy
I got clean and sober by going through rehabs. It took me several attempts. None of them were anything like James Frey's picture. He seems to have missed the point completely. This book is just a fantasy about being 'heroic'. If he ever was a 'real' addict/alcoholic, things are not looking good for him. Recovery requires honesty. Frey is completely dishonest. If you want to find out what rehab and recovery are really about, read 'No Big Deal' or 'Addiction and Recovery for Dummies'.

who cares!
i bought this book after it came up on my recommendations. I had previously seen it in stores and it hadnt grabbed me but thought i would give it a try anyway. I have read a few other books about addiction/mental disorders/treatment and recovery etc and this was by far the least interesting. i do not feel that i found out anything about the character. I couldnt have cared less whether he died, went back to drinking/drugs, or went on to lead a productive life. The book was very repetitive and did not hold my attention.