A Million Little Lies - Exposing James Frey

[realFedUp]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html

A Million Little Lies - Exposing James Frey's Fiction Addiction
William Bastone

"Book Club" author's best-selling nonfiction memoir filled with fabrications, falsehoods, other fakery, TSG probe finds
JANUARY 8--Oprah Winfrey's been had.

Three months ago, in what the talk show host termed a "radical departure," Winfrey announced that "A Million Little Pieces," author James Frey's nonfiction memoir of his vomit-caked years as an alcoholic, drug addict, and criminal, was her latest selection for the world's most powerful book club.

In an October 26 show entitled "The Man Who Kept Oprah Awake At Night," Winfrey hailed Frey's graphic and coarse book as "like nothing you've ever read before. Everybody at Harpo is reading it. When we were staying up late at night reading it, we'd come in the next morning saying, 'What page are you on?'" In emotional filmed testimonials, employees of Winfrey's Harpo Productions lauded the book as revelatory, with some choking back tears. When the camera then returned to a damp-eyed Winfrey, she said, "I'm crying 'cause these are all my Harpo family so, and we all loved the book so much."

But a six-week investigation by The Smoking Gun reveals that there may be a lot less to love about Frey's runaway hit, which has sold more than 3.5 million copies and, thanks to Winfrey, has sat atop The New York Times nonfiction paperback best seller list for the past 15 weeks. Next to the latest Harry Potter title, Nielsen BookScan reported Friday, Frey's book sold more copies in the U.S. in 2005--1.77 million--than any other title, with the majority of that total coming after Winfrey's selection.

Police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources have put the lie to many key sections of Frey's book. The 36-year-old author, these documents and interviews show, wholly fabricated or wildly embellished details of his purported criminal career, jail terms, and status as an outlaw "wanted in three states."

continued

[realFedUp]

1. Smokinggun's been threatened with lawsuit.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/jamesfrey/freysides/singerfrey1.html

In a January 6 letter to TSG, Frey's lawyer threatens a multi-million dollar lawsuit if we describe the author as "a liar and/or that he fabricated or falsified background as reflected in 'A Million Little Pieces.'"

[AZBlue]

2. I'm reading the book right now.

There's a lot in it that's hard to take as absolute fact. A LOT.

[realFedUp]

3. Is there anything people can do to get their money back?

Someone sold them a bill of goods and Frey and
the publisher profited.

[AZBlue]

4. Funny you should ask!

I just read this on msnbc:

"Random House will offer a refund to readers who bought James Frey’s drug and alcohol memoir “A Million Little Pieces” directly from the publisher, a move believed to be unprecedented, after the author was accused of exaggerating his story.

Readers calling Random House’s customer service line to complain Wednesday were told that if the book was bought directly from the publisher it could be returned for a full refund. Those who bought the book at a bookstore were told to try and return it to the store where it was bought."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10807257/

[AZBlue]

5. Hmmmm...scratch my last post.

Seems that was just a rumor:



NEW YORK - Random House will not be offering a refund on James Frey’s controversial memoir “A Million Little Pieces.”

The company released this statement:

Contrary to erroneous published reports, Random House, Inc. is not offering a special refund on “A Million Little Pieces.” It has long been standard Random House Inc procedure to direct consumers who want a refund on any of the tens of thousands of books we publish back to their retail place of purchase, unless they purchased the book directly from us in which case we refund it. Yesterday we had 15 calls to our customer service line specific to “A Million Little Pieces” and fewer than that today.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10807257/from/RL.4/

[ailsagirl]

6. Though he'll forever be known now as a liar, he still got VERY

rich from this book. I watched Oprah's show when she castigated
him and thought he looked like a scared rabbit.

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. It seems to be very easy to do a mass con job these days

I need to get busy.

[Raster]

8. Of course it is. Look at bush*.

[yurbud]

9. is there a reason to care if he isn't a public figure?