"A Million Little Pieces" - James Frey

[Bullwinkle925]

Just finished this book a couple of days ago and am still thinking about the characters and others who are living lives of substance abuse.

Thoughts from anyone else who has read this?

[Kukesa]

1. It's Oprah's book of the month now

(or whatever she calls it) so I'll bet there'll be plenty of discussion.

I intend to read it.

[swimmernsecretsea]

2. I've posted about this book before.

And sent it to nine of my friends, and the sequel to a few more.

This book is why I read. I want to read something that will move me emotionally, make me think, make me new. I want a book to surprise me, shock me, give me something I didn't expect and maybe didn't think I wanted, to take something away and then bring something else. I have written about this book to others and every time I write about it I say something different.

[heidiho]

3. I'm about halfway and I am very moved by it -

Explains addiction like I've never known it. I have read passages of this book to friends on the phone every day.

It is blowing me away and giving me an understanding of addiction that I never had before. I have known several people who have killed themselves who were addicts and I now feel like I truly understand what was going on in their heads a little better.

This book is having a very deep impact on me.

[indigo32]

4. I am about 2/3 of the way through it

it is amazing, painful, eye opening. I did not realize there was a sequel. I'll be reading it.

It is sad really, how little success we have treating addiction. That this man has defeated it so far is a miracle

[swimmernsecretsea]

5. It is a miracle

It makes one rethink how addiction and recovery is being treated in the US. The dismal statistics from AA itself show that the current treatment method is just not working well enough.

The sequel, "My Friend Leonard," is a completely different book, but has the same writing style. What happens to both Lily and Leonard is heart-wrenching. At the reading I went to in Berkeley, someone brought up the "root-canal" scene in AMLP. While explaining writing about it, he said something that surprised me; physical pain is easier for him to take than emotional pain because he knows it's going to end. He finds the feelings of loss and hurt unimaginably difficult.

[JohnKay1000]

6. Have you read "House Of The Turtles" ?

House Of The Turtles: Healing From Child Abuse by John Kellermeyer is a factual, documented account of surviving seventeen years of sexual molestation and abuse at the hands of an adoptive mother, a former legal secretary to the late Congressman Sam Devine.

It's based in the suburbs of Columbus Ohio, and is the first in a series on the topic of Healing from Child Abuse, not just survival.

It's available at www.houseoftheturtles.com