More on the Frey nonsense

Frey Says Falsehoods Improved His Tale - New York Times: "Overall, his portrayal in 'A Million Little Pieces,' is of a person who 'I created in my mind to help me cope' with drug addiction and recovery. He said most of the invented material 'portrayed me in ways that made me tougher and more daring and more aggressive than in reality I was, or I am.'"

This story won't die. In between rushing to finish my thesis, working like a dog, and trying to find a home to buy, I've been spending an inordinate amount of time arguing about this story. First, I have to say that this is so completely overblown. No one would care if this hadn't been an Oprah book. And do we really think that no other memoir has been filled with this much bullshit? And do we expect anything else from a crack addict?

I've only read about the first twenty pages of the book, and I haven't bothered to read the Smoking Gun piece, so I can only comment about what I've read in media reports and on the whipping Frey took on Oprah. It seemed pretty obvious to me within the first few pages that the book is purposefully fantastical. I think that there are stylistic clues to tell us that we might not want to believe all that we read. Now, he's done a horrible job of defending himself, but I don't think he did anything dispicible. If it had been me I'd have told Oprah that she can believe whatever she wants to believe. I'd have let her think that it might all be bullshit. I only hope that this author's note makes some sense of what he did.