James Frey

Born: September 12, 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Other Names : Frey, James Christopher; Lore, Pittacus
Nationality: American
Occupation: Writer
​
Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2008. From ​Literature Resource
​ Center.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2016 Gale, Cengage Learning
Updated:June 26, 2008

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Born 1969; married; wife's name, Maya (an advertising executive); children: one
daughter. ​Education:​ Attended Denison University. ​Addresses:​ Home: New York, NY.
Agent: c/o Author Mail, Penguin Group, c/o Riverhead Books Publicity, 375 Hudson St.,
New York, NY 10014.

CAREER:

Writer. Worked variously as a camp counselor, bouncer, film director, skateboard

salesman, picture-framer, film producer, busboy, hotel security guard, and as costumed
characters such as Santa Claus and the Easter bunny in department-store promotions.

AWARDS:

Hermosa Beach Film Festival, best film (director), 1998, and No Dance Film Festival,
best director, 1999, both for ​ Sugar: The Fall of the West.

WORKS:

WRITINGS:
​ ● A Million Little Pieces, N.A. Talese/Doubleday (New York, NY), 2003.
​ ● My Friend Leonard, Riverhead Books (New York, NY), 2005.
​ ● Kissing a Fool (screenplay), MCA/Universal Pictures, 1998.
● ​ Sugar: The Fall of the West (screenplay), Next Generation, 1998.
​ ● Bright Shiny Morning Harper (New York, NY), 2008.

Sidelights

James Frey became a public figure in early 2006 when it was revealed that his memoir
 ​
of addiction and recovery, titled ​A Million Little Pieces, is mostly fictionalized. Frey has
more recently published another purported memoir, titled ​My Friend Leonard.
A Million Little Pieces introduces twenty-three-year-old Frey, who has been an alcoholic
for ten years and a crack addict for three. He awakens on a plane, not knowing where
he has come from or where he is going, covered in a mixture of leaked and expelled
bodily fluids, missing four front teeth and bearing a broken nose and a nickel-sized hole
through his cheek. He is completely bereft of hope, physically and mentally, worn to his
lowest possible point by his multiple and converging addictions. He shortly finds out that
his battered state was due to a face-first fall down a fire escape, and that he is on a
plane to meet with his parents in Chicago, who plan to immediately put him into rehab in
a rural Minnesota facility since identified as Hazelden. The bulk of the book describes in
raw detail the exhausting, soul-wrenching work of kicking a half-lifetime's worth of
destructive habits and physical addictions. "Frey's lacerating, intimate debut chronicles
his recovery from multiple addictions with adrenal rage and sprawling prose,"
commented a ​Kirkus Reviews critic.
Frey's approach to his recovery immediately puts him at odds with the staff of Hazelden.
He refuses to commit to the required twelve-step program, declines to surrender an iota
of his life to any higher power, and declares that he will beat his addictions on his own
terms and in his own way. He takes full responsibility for the condition he is in and for
the person that may emerge after treatment. He refuses to see his addiction as a
disease. "What sets ​Pieces apart from other memoirs about twelve-stepping is Frey's
​
resistance to the concept of a higher power," commented a ​Publishers Weekly reviewer.
He also describes the many characters he meets during treatment, including Leonard,
an affable mobster; Lily, a heroin-addicted ex-prostitute with whom he falls in love; and
a variety of other lost and abandoned people who forge deep friendships in the crucible
of treatment that will lead to lives changed by recovery or doomed by addictions that
cannot be overcome. "Frey discovers that, aside from being some of the most
tormented souls on the planet, these are the nicest people he's ever met; together, they
shakily plumb the depths," observed ​Spectator contributor William Leith.
"Starkly honest and mincing no words, Frey bravely faces his struggles head on, and
readers will be mesmerized by his account of his ceaseless battle against addiction,"
commented Kristine Huntley, writing in ​Booklist. "What really separates this title from
other rehab memoirs, apart from the author's young age, is his literary prowess,"
observed ​ ​School Library Journal reviewer Jamie Watson. ​Library Journal contributor
Rachel Collins commented that "this raw and intense book reveals a rare author whose
approach to memoir writing is as original as his method to getting straight." Jennifer
Reese, writing in ​Entertainment Weekly, noted that "All the ferocious energy and will
Frey once devoted to self-destruction he turned toward fixing himself. Frey's prose is
muscular and tough, ideal for conveying extreme physical anguish and steely
determination" to succeed. A ​Publishers Weekly reviewer called the book "a remarkable
memoir​ of addiction and recovery." Louis Bayard, writing on the ​Salon.com Web site,
stated that "if this bullheaded, lionhearted book doesn't reach the level of masterpiece,
​
it's not for lack of trying. Frey has devised a rolling, pulsing style that really ​moves--an
acquired taste, perhaps, but undeniably striking."
In ​My Friend Leonard, Frey resumes his "memoir" as he gains sobriety and leaves
treatment. The book begins with him in jail, serving his time for offenses committed
while he was in the grip of his multiple addictions. When he is released, he heads to
Chicago to see Lily, but learns that she has committed suicide only hours before. Torn
with grief, Frey once again finds himself teetering on the edge of the abyss. However,
before he can descend, he renews his friendship with avuncular mobster Leonard, who
offers him financial support and the occasional simple odd job, usually courier work,
which is quite probably illegal. The memoir dwells on Frey's relationship with Leonard
and the contradictory elements of his friend's life of crime and stoic dedication to his
friends. Leonard teaches Frey that addictive substances are not the answer to any
problem, and that enjoying life and its simple pleasures is its own best reward. Though
there are still tragedies to endure, with Leonard's support, financial assistance, and
genuine affection, Frey manages to maintain the discipline of his recovery and avoid
any relapses into addiction.
"Frey's extraordinary relationship with Leonard is alive, a flesh-and-blood bond forged in
the agony of rehab and sustained through honesty and trust," commented a writer in
Publishers Weekly. "As smart as it is heartfelt, this tribute to friendship is a far sunnier
book than Frey's debut," remarked ​Newsweek reviewer Malcolm Jones. A ​ Kirkus
Reviews contributor called the book "a fine, grim tale, full of smarting immediacy, with
stylistic tics--repetitions, an aversion to commas, run-ons--that skip close to the irritating
but lend a musicality and remind the reader to pay attention."
In 2006 a ​Smoking Gun report claimed that parts of Frey's memoir ​A Million Little Pieces
were fabricated. Although Frey did not immediately confirm the allegations, the book's
publisher, Doubleday, offered refunds to its direct customers. While talk-show host
Oprah Winfrey, who had chosen ​A Million Little Pieces for her popular book club, at first
defended the overall message of the memoir as valuable despite any embellishments,
evidence soon mounted as to the extent of the fabrications. Doubleday reported that
new copies of Frey's memoir would contain a note with an explanation of the
controversy and an apology; the note was also posted on the Random House Web site.
In addition, Frey's literary manager announced that she would no longer represent the
writer. Ultimately, Winfrey apologized to viewers of her talk show, ​ Oprah, for initially
defending Frey's purported memoir. She then invited the now-notorious writer to appear
on her nationally televised program. Under Winfrey's grilling Frey admitted that his
memoir was almost wholly fiction and his book was officially removed from the Oprah
Book Club. Ironically, sales of ​A Million Little Pieces soared shortly thereafter. Later, on
November 2, 2007, a judge approved a final settlement with disgruntled readers who
sued Frey and his publisher over Frey's fabrications.
FURTHER READINGS:

FURTHER READINGS ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

BOOKS
● Frey, James, ​A Million Little Pieces, N.A. Talese/Doubleday (New York, NY),
2003.
● Frey, James, ​My Friend Leonard, Riverhead Books (New York, NY), 2005.

PERIODICALS
● Booklist, April 15, 2003, Kristine Huntley, review of ​A Million Little Pieces, p.
1432.
● Entertainment Weekly, April 4, 2003, Karen Valby, "James Frey Does Not Care
What You Think about Him (Please Love Him)," p. 60; April 25, 2003, Jennifer
Reese, review of ​A Million Little Pieces, p. 152; June 17, 2005, Thom Geier,
review of ​My Friend Leonard, p. 86.
● Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2003, review of ​A Million Little Pieces, p. 204; May 1,
2005, review of ​My Friend Leonard, p. 523.
● Library Journal, March 1, 2003, Rachel Collins, review of ​A Million Little Pieces, p.
106; April 15, 2005, Dale Raben, review of ​My Friend Leonard, p. 99.
● Miami Herald, June 29, 2005, Andy Diaz, "In His Latest Memoir, James Frey
Can't Make the Reader Care Whether He's Drunk or Sober," review of ​My Friend
Leonard.
● New Statesman, May 26, 2003, Julian Keeling, "The Yellow Gloom of Sleepless
Nights," review of ​A Million Little Pieces, p. 52.
● Newsweek, June 27, 2005, Malcolm Jones, "Friends in Low Places," review of ​My
Friend Leonard, p. 65.
● People, June 27, 2005, "Great Reads," review of ​My Friend Leonard, p. 47.
● Publishers Weekly, February 24, 2003, Charlotte Abbott, "One in a Million,"
review of ​A Million Little Pieces, p. 17; March 10, 2003, review of ​A Million Little
Pieces, p. 67; March 28, 2005, review of ​My Friend Leonard, p. 64.
● School Library Journal, August, 2003, Jamie Watson, review of ​A Million Little
Pieces, p. 188.
● Smoking Gun, January 8, 2006, "The Man Who Conned Oprah."
● Spectator, May 24, 2003, William Leith, "Plumbing the Lower Depths," review of ​A
Million Little Pieces, p. 40.

ONLINE
● CNN.com, http:// www.cnn.com/ (January 12, 2006), "Some 'Pieces' Buyers
Offered Refund"; "Winfrey Stands behind 'Pieces' Author."
● Salon.com, http:// www.salon.com/ (April 19, 2003), Louis Bayard, "The Sound
Bite and the Fury," profile of James Frey.*

Source Citation​ (MLA 8​th​ Edition)

"James Frey." ​Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. ​Literature Resource

Center,
 go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=desert&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CH10001
61947&it=r&asid=6ba9289930239004cf83c97a1360467a. Accessed 18 Feb. 2017.

Gale Document Number: ​ GALE|H1000161947