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One Question for James Frey
By JLP | January 27, 2006
I know, I know, the internet is full of talk about James Frey and his fake book “A Million Little Pieces.” However, being a personal finance blogger, I have one question for Mr. Frey:
What are you going to do with all the money you made from your fake book?
My guess is that this will fade from memory and Frey will not face any real consequences for his actions other than having to apologize (which I don’t think he really did because I don’t think he knows the difference between truth and lying). In fact, I bet MORE people will buy his book now. Even though it happens all the time, it is a shame that people can get rich off of deceit
I will say that I thought Oprah did the right thing.
Topics: Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »
January 27th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
At risk of sounding like a moral relativist, I have to interject that
Frey submitted the book as fiction to several publishers who rejected
it as such. It was only accepted as memoir.
In addition, it’s very popular within literary and publishing
communities to heavily blur the genre boundaries between memoir
and fiction, such that many critics and publishers don’t care
whether the events actually happened precisely as they’re portrayed,
as long as they convey an “emotional truth.”
While none of this excuses Frey, it does, perhaps, provide a context
in which he does not look like quite so much like a scoundrel and a
cad.
January 27th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
MoneyDummy,
According to my dictionary (American Heritage College Dictionary), a memoir is “an account of an author’s personal experiences.” Have we declined so far in society that truth no longer matters?
January 27th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
Apparently his sales ARE going up each week since this whole thing hit the fan. But he might have a hard time getting his next book deal. He’s not the first person to have blurred fiction and truth, he just did it more outrageously and sold more copies than most!
January 27th, 2006 at 10:44 pm
Oprah is just as bogus as Frey. She almost said she was perfect and that he was ruining that perfection. No one is perfect, not even billionaire Oprah Winfrey. As if she never manipulates?? Please. Gary
January 28th, 2006 at 8:46 am
JLP, your point that truth is important is a valid one. Clearly, by
the outrage that has erupted based on Frey’s falsehoods, “we as a
society” still value the truth, if that’s any comfort. I guess I’m
just trying to say that it doesn’t seem as though Frey set out with
full intent and consciousness of selling a pack of lies. It seems,
rather, that he was directed toward it by a group of people to whom
it simply didn’t matter, or matter much, whether the book was truth
or fiction.