A Million Little Pieces- James Frey

"Utterly compulsive" Observer.

Aged just 23, James Frey had destroyed his body and his mind almost beyond repair. When he enters a rehabilitation centre to try to reclaim his life, he has to fight to determine what future, if any, he has.
I literally could not put this down and believed it to be the best rehab memoir I had ever read. I was moved to tears by Frey's story, and was fascinated by the other troubled yet colourful characters. I was left feeling desparate to know what happens next and could not wait to read the sequal, "My Friend Leonard". I demanded that practically everyone I know read it. I confess to being horribly disappointed when the truth of Frey's embellishments was revealed. Throughout the book, Frey's apparent honesty and candour made him a lovable anti-hero, yet we now know that some of the events in the book never took place. This knowledge somewhat colours my review of this "memoir".
I liked the style of writing Frey uses, choosing not to use quotation marks to denote conversation, and often the writing mirrors the confusion and chaos Frey faces. I applauded his rejection of the AA principle of being powerless over an addiction and loved Frey's rebelliousness in finding his own way in recovery from his addictions.
This book was selected for Oprah's Book Club in September 2005, and when the controversy over Frey's embellishments was made public he appeared on her show to defend himself. He admitted that the same "demons" that had made him turn to alcohol and drugs had also driven him to fabricate crucial portions of his "memoir"; it first having been shopped as being a fiction novel but declined by many, including Random House itself.
Despite all the controversy, A Million Little Pieces is a wonderful, heartbreaking and moving story about triumph over addiction, the nature of frienship, family love and the strength of human spirit. Well worth a read.

"Harrowing, poetic and rather magnificent" FHM.