Book Review A Million Little Words by James Frey

chillibreeze writer — Tanushri Shukla

As a 23-year-old, James Frey found himself addicted to crack, cocaine, alcohol, and glue, aboard an aircraft, covered in his own feces and vomit, on his way to a treatment center, where a doctor informed him that another drink would almost certainly kill him. His life had, figuratively, been shattered into a million pieces. As a 34-year-old, fully recovered, Frey became the author of A Million Little Pieces, a best-selling book revolving around the six weeks he spent recovering at that center. The book achieved cult status when Oprah Winfrey selected it for her book club. Soon after, however, the fame was replaced by infamy when Frey found himself back on Oprah, this time apologizing to an enraged public for fabricating parts of the book.

Literary releases about addict protagonists have always been popular—Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream, and The Basketball Diaries are some examples. This is perhaps because they offer the general public a glimpse into the usually dramatic and always painful life of an individual trapped in a cage of chemicals. Or perhaps it is because many of these books have featured a dark humor, showing how hope floats even in the murkiest of waters. Unfortunately, Frey does not exhibit any real humor, and the gritty, “hard reality” parts of the book—for instance, the author getting two consecutive root canals with no anesthesia—were proved to be lies. Frey’s book is also marked by plenty of self-aggrandizing—the writer, for instance, refuses to follow the treatment program, preferring his own rigorous routine, invoking the irritation of the facility staff and the reader alike. This borderline ‘Poor Little Rich Boy’ syndrome and affected portrayals of self-loathing and compassion for fellow inmates may put some readers off. However, Frey’s sensitive portrayal of his growing love for Lily, a fellow inmate, and his sparse, stark writing style, minimal punctuation and terse, staccato sentences, are why you should read the book.

Speaking of writing style, at just over 500 pages, the writing could have definitely been less flabby. Like many good writers Frey’s book suffers from stylistic overkill. He uses a single creative writing technique too much for it to remain impressive. In this case, it is the painful, dragging, constant repetition of his thoughts. Perhaps he believes it makes the writing lyrical, most especially his perennial chant, “I am an Alcoholic and a Drug Addict and a Criminal.” Having said that, the excessive detail does manage to achieve a critical goal of fiction—to take the reader along for the ride. As Frey’s descriptions of each day at his center get increasingly detailed and repetitive, as a reader, you suffer the same gloom of his daily grind, over and over - wake up, vomit, eat, vomit, attend lectures, eat, vomit, sleep, suffer nightmares, wake up, and begin the routine all over again. Thus, Frey’s singular greatest achievement is to make the searing reality of a drug addict, identifiable.

It is for this reason alone that, despite all his faults, Frey ultimately evokes a strong empathy from the reader, not the sympathy that protagonists of similar-themed books have received in the past. It is why as a reader I found myself rooting for Frey and the ill-fated friends he makes at the facility. “My Friend Leonard” is a sequel to AMLP describing his close relationship with Leonard, a mob boss he befriends at the facility. I found myself hoping the doomed love story between two former cocaine addicts, Frey and Lily, would survive the harsh realities of poverty and jail time. I found myself ready to overlook the lies and appreciate Frey for being honest enough to admit to the truth on national television. It reminded me of the part in the book when Frey was made to sit across from his weeping parents and come clean about the awful truth of his drug habit and criminal activity for the first time. Frey’s healing process, evidently, continues beyond the pages of the book.

“A second is no more then a second. A minute is no more then a minute. A day is no more then a day. They pass. All things and all time will pass. Don’t force or fear, don’t control or lose control. Don’t fight and don’t stop fighting. Embrace and endure. If you embrace then you will endure.”
—A Million Little Pieces

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Book Review A Million Little Words by James Frey

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