Get a Refund!
This month my book clubs selection is "A Million Tiny Pieces" by James Frey. I have to say I have no desire to read this book. I read the synopsis and reviews, and it just sounds like so much cussing and graphic violence and puking and detox, just for the sake of being graphic. I've got enough stress in life I don't need to read about someone else going through hell. One girl in the club actually quit reading it, but then a few others have raved about it.
But now all this news is coming out from The Smoking Gun, that most of this guys memoir is a bunch of bunk. Extremely expanded upon versions of what might have happened in his life. But even better yet - the publisher is offering refunds if you bought the book directly from them, and telling people to try and get refunds from the bookstore if that's where they bought it from. That's pretty bold.
What sucks is I still have to buy the stupid book because it's the selection for the month - UGH!!
When I was reading the reviews for the book, this was the one I liked the best - really made me NOT want to read it:
Mediocre Pulp Fiction At Best, January 11, 2006
Reviewer:
Kavity Killer (denver, colorado United States) I'm a dentist. I work at a public health clinic. I do all sorts of procedures on all sorts of people. Addicts, convicts, meth heads, you name it. I can tell you unequivocally that Frey's nightmarish tale of dental work is absolutely false. I use local anasthetic on all of the above and worse with NO problems. So what's the big deal if Mr. Frey wants to spin an interesting fictional tale and attempt to pass it off as a memoir? Well, for one it exploits the sympathies of well meaning but naive book buyers. Secondly it sesationalizes, and thereby trivializes, the suffering of REAL addicts. Third, it just fosters the type of outrage and disillusion that this world really doesn't need any more of. Mr. Frey, you are a dishonest, greedy, loser. For all your talk about "throwing down" why don't you step up and tell the truth like a man?
But now all this news is coming out from The Smoking Gun, that most of this guys memoir is a bunch of bunk. Extremely expanded upon versions of what might have happened in his life. But even better yet - the publisher is offering refunds if you bought the book directly from them, and telling people to try and get refunds from the bookstore if that's where they bought it from. That's pretty bold.
What sucks is I still have to buy the stupid book because it's the selection for the month - UGH!!
When I was reading the reviews for the book, this was the one I liked the best - really made me NOT want to read it:
Mediocre Pulp Fiction At Best, January 11, 2006
Reviewer:
Kavity Killer (denver, colorado United States) I'm a dentist. I work at a public health clinic. I do all sorts of procedures on all sorts of people. Addicts, convicts, meth heads, you name it. I can tell you unequivocally that Frey's nightmarish tale of dental work is absolutely false. I use local anasthetic on all of the above and worse with NO problems. So what's the big deal if Mr. Frey wants to spin an interesting fictional tale and attempt to pass it off as a memoir? Well, for one it exploits the sympathies of well meaning but naive book buyers. Secondly it sesationalizes, and thereby trivializes, the suffering of REAL addicts. Third, it just fosters the type of outrage and disillusion that this world really doesn't need any more of. Mr. Frey, you are a dishonest, greedy, loser. For all your talk about "throwing down" why don't you step up and tell the truth like a man?
posted by Ren at 12:18 PM
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