We started reading A Million Little Pieces, [we were, of course, unable to resist the scandal of it all] and just finished Frey's horribly graphic [and fake] account of a root canal sans novocaine.
It probably feels a lot like having Oprah work you over on national TV.
Oprah -- who's single-handedly responsible for the fact that we've even heard of James Frey -- ripped the dude into a million little pieces on her show today for being a big, fat liar.
It was an awesome hour of TV. Here's what we took away:
• Never, ever, ever piss off Oprah. Ever.
• James Frey probably won't ever write again. [No great tragedy, in our opinion.] Sales of this book will soar, however, and he might wind up with his own cable talk show.
• Expect to see disclaimers and caveats on EVERY future memoir.
• All non-fiction and memoirs should be fact-checked for "truth" or, it is now patently obvious, a publishing house violates
some fundamental law of the universe. [Clearly, we were wrong to take that class called "Creative
Non-Fiction"]
• Frey actually did manage to do some damage, and here's how: Oprah's current book is Night ,
Elie Weisel's harrowing memoir of the Holocaust. Frey's antics could discredit it and give some extra ammo to those morons who believe that the Holocaust is exaggerated.
James Frey had the last laugh after the dust settled in this whole mess.
Take that Oprah.
Posted by: Greg | February 01, 2006 at 02:04 PM
In a lot of ways, the whole thing seems to have backfired against Oprah. I wonder if it'll be Oprah's "jump the shark" moment.
Posted by: scribblista | February 02, 2006 at 02:11 PM