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Overview
Overview
A story of drug and alcohol abuse and rehabilitation as it has never been told before. Recounted in visceral, kinetic prose, and crafted with a forthrightness that rejects piety, cynicism, and self-pity, it brings us face-to-face with a provocative new understanding of the nature of addiction and the meaning of recovery.
By the time he entered a drug and alcohol treatment facility, James Frey had taken his addictions to near-deadly extremes. He had so thoroughly ravaged his body that the facility s doctors were shocked he was still alive. The ensuing torments of detoxification and withdrawal, and the never-ending urge to use chemicals, are captured with a vitality and directness that recalls the seminal eye-opening power of William Burroughs s Junky. But A Million Little Pieces refuses to fit any mold of drug literature. Inside the clinic, James is surrounded by patients as troubled as he is -- including a judge, a mobster, a one-time world-champion boxer, and a fragile former prostitute to whom he is not allowed to speak but their friendship and advice strikes James as stronger and truer than the clinic s droning dogma of How to Recover. James refuses to consider himself a victim of anything but his own bad decisions, and insists on accepting sole accountability for the person he has been and the person he may become--which runs directly counter to his counselors' recipes for recovery. James has to fight to find his own way to confront the consequences of the life he has lived so far, and to determine what future, if any, he holds. It is this fight, told with the charismatic energy and power of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, that is at the heart of A Million Little Pieces: the fight between one young man s will and the ever-tempting chemical trip to oblivion, the fight to survive on his own terms, for reasons close to his own heart. A Million Little Pieces is an uncommonly genuine account of a life destroyed and a life reconstructed. It is also the introduction of a bold and talented literary voice.- Format: TradePaperback
- Author: Frey, James
- ISBN: 9780307276902
- Condition: Used
- Dimensions: 8.01 x 0.90
- Number Of Pages: 448
- Publication Year: 2005
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Young addict finds himself in a treatment center for 6 weeks.
Christina D. - 7 years 7 months agoAt the time of the release of "A Million Little Pieces", it was assumed to be an autobiographical account of James Frey's time in a rehab center. It was later discovered that the book was a fictional summary causing many critics to write off the work completely. However, I still believe this book has an important message and could even go so far as to help someone struggling with addiction. It touches on key points of the vulnerability and fear many young people feel as they struggle through troubled times. Both the writing style and the characters help to deliver Frey's powerful message.
HPB Staff Review -
Why do we fall?
Danielle R. - 8 years agoYou've heard of James Frey's debut 'memoir', and it may be for all the wrong reasons. With such a controversy surrounding the validity of the story as exposed by Oprah Winfrey, many may question bothering to read 'A Million Little Pieces'. I'm going to tell you why you should. Fiction or not, this book is perhaps one of the greatest samples of realistic coping mechanics, and their variety, in existing literature. It perfectly details the dark spiral down the rabbit hole of drug and alcohol abuse, as well as the overwhelming weight of depression and anxiety. But just as it shares the author/character's experiences with downfall, it also shares his triumphs, little though they may seem, until he is on a rocky road to recovery. I wouldn't call it a success story. I would call it a painting of raw humanity.
HPB Staff Review