"the man who conned oprah"

[datasuspect]

what does anyone else think of this james frey guy?

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html

i always thought he was a fratboy shitheel.

i think his book is a smack in the face to all the real addicts out there.

[Richardo]

1. ...and that will be his NEXT book.

"How I conned Oprah, and therefore, America"

[Common Sense Party]

9. That's exactly what I thought. It's a slap in the face

...to those who really overcame their addictions.

The guy wakes up on an airplane bleeding, with a hole in his cheek, covered in vomit? They wouldn't let him on an airplane.

[Montauk6]

18. What if he were wearing a "Bush Is God" t-shirt?

[jane_pippin]

2. Oh man, don't get me started on this smokinggun bullshit

I liked the book a lot, actually and while I can see why you would think that about it, I think as one man's story--as opposed to a you should do what I did, fuck AA tome, which I don't think it is--it's a compelling read.

[datasuspect]

3. it's a crock of horseshit from page one

"i get on a plane with no i.d. crusted with vomit, piss, and snot."




puh-leeze.

i've been an addict, the reality is nowhere as glamorous as he portrays.

unless your dad is an exec for whirlpool and can throw you in hazelden.



as far as "smokinggun bullshit goes" i love the pics of him in prep school and on the soccer team.

i guess you gotta be pretty HARDCORE when you go to a small liberal arts school. frat-life is pretty thugged out i heard.

[jane_pippin]

5. So, that makes it a bad read? Jocks or Rich Kids can't be addicts?

If they are, I shouldn't feel for them or find their story interesting?

Sorry. I thought it was a well written book and an interesting story despite exaggerations that might be in it. It's his life, his story, his interpretation of his life, his lessons, and he can write about it however he wants. I think the smoking gun beefs--other than the disputed jail time--are largely with details that, despite their claims, really don't have any impact on the point of the story.

It was apparently, interestingly enough, originally pitched as fiction. So I guess if Random House had decided to market it that way and it ended up on the shelf with Burrough's "Junky" nobody would care. I like it, and even if everything the smoking gun has to say turns out to be completely true beyond a shadow of a doubt, I'll still like the book for what it is--a good, compelling story.

[datasuspect]

6. that's not the only bad part

the writing itself is pure schlock.

i mean, it reads like a 10th graders journal.

that in itself should be enough.

i can understand a book like "junky" or "on the road."

these are guys who lived what they wrote.

frey was something different and something worse: a complete poseur who didn't just exaggerate--he outright fabricated, and then made this whole cottage industry of himself based on a fictional account.

as far as rich kids go: those were the ones who got burned out of their dope money and got to go to fancy rehab places.

life is a little easier when you got a cushion to fall on.

but then again, i've known 20 year crack veterans who never discharged as much effluent from their orifices as frey claims he has.

and in certain places where toilets don't work, you can actually verify this by the buckets where the crackheads go potty.

[Heidi]

10. I've never seen such poor punctuation in my life as what I read

in the excerpts of Frey's book. I've known people in the full throes of addiction who could write more elgantly and engagingly than this guy. I'd give a regular guy a pass on punctuation, but his editors ought to be spanked for incorrect capitalization alone in the book in question.

[jane_pippin]

12. Well, the capitalization was intentional to show that something was

important in some way, or had some kind of authority, or whatever. It was just a style choice and he's not the first nor will he be the last writer to use that tactic in a written work.

It's something you either like or dislike I guess.

[Heidi]

14. I like it when it's done well (see A. Ginsberg, J. Kerouac and others).

I don't like it when it looks like an untouched galley. :shrug:

[jane_pippin]

16. I like those too.

I like all kinds of books and this one just happens to be one of them as well.

I don't think it looks like an untouched galley either, but again, at some point this becomes a matter of personal tastes rather than issues with the fact or fiction drama.

Speaking of drama, I'm on a quest for lunch now.

Later all. :hi:

[jane_pippin]

11. I think your beef ought to be with his publishers who made it a memoir

instead of fiction rather than with him.

I happened to like the style of the writing, but things like that are as subjective as music tastes aren't they.

Sure life's a little easier when you have a cushion to fall on. Of course it is. But the presence or absence of that cushion isn't enough to make me accept or dismiss a person outright.

I will say that when I first heard these allegations it was a bit of a let down for me. However, as I've already said, that doesn't change how I feel about the book, the story, the words, the thing itself. I guess as a reader I've almost never been as interested in the author's life as I have been in what the author produced so maybe that's why I really don't care if this is true or not.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

[Heidi]

13. He's a published author who passed his work off as a memoir,

meaning a true account, and now that his facts are being questioned, he's squirming and blaming his publisher. In my estimation, he's no less accountable (and no more credible) than a journalist who falsifies news content. I was a journalist for more than 20 years, 15 of which I spent as an editor, and I've little sympathy for either Frey or his publisher. Both had jobs to do. Frey wanted to pass himself off as a non-fiction writer, and the past is coming back to haunt him. Doubleday wanted to make a lot of money, and the lack of fact-checking is coming back to haunt them. What goes around, comes around. :shrug:

[jane_pippin]

15. I see your point, I do.

I just don't get why any of this means I should hate the book. I don't.
They should have just let it be fiction then, I suppose, and then nobody would care and it would still be a book I enjoyed.

[Heidi]

17. Oh, my goodness. I'm not trying to influence you to hate the book.

Every individual's mileage may vary, but I think this author's claims should be taken with a healthy grain of salt. Enjoy your lunch, gf. I very much enjoy your posts, ya know. :pals:

[jane_pippin]

19. Oh hon, I didn't think that. You know I love you.

And if you didn't you do now. (and, of course I enjoy your posts as well!)

I just meant more in a general sense, not necessarily anybody on DU at all.

I think you're right about the grain of salt, and I think that's a good thing to do for just about everyone. That's partly why I rarely pay attention to the life of the author when I read books--I don't want it to influence what I think of the book. (I'll check it out after I'm done sometimes, but I try not to know too much while I'm in the middle of it if it can be helped, though that doesn't exactly apply in this particular case.)

Lunch was fantastic not because of the food but because it's January and I walked to the place in a hoodie instead of my giant stay-puffed marshmallow coat! Unheard of!

[snooper2]

22. Did you read the TSG 6 page report?

They did some pretty damn impressive checking, and this goofball got 2 DWI's in his life, that's it. Hit a cop, nope, baggies of crack, nope, under investigation by the FBI for selling drugs on campus, nope,

One big fat fucking lie. He did a great job pulling the wool over everyone's eyes, all about the all-mighty dollar. I bet his lawyer knows it's all bullshit too....

[Julian English]

23. I care that it is pitched as fact

I treat addicts and I found the book counter-productive. Frey makes it look like you can white knuckle it through addiction. Maybe you can if your folks have a pile of cash to bail you out, but I so seldom see anyone who can afford Hazelden, I don't know. I am not sure he was an addict--based on his press, his disease appears to vanity not chemical dependency.

I am also amazed that anyone would believe that this piece bullshit is factual. Everything about the book reeks of bullshit.

Someone admitted to hospital in such allegedly bad and given drugs even before they do a urine drop and give blood labs? Someone who gets facial surgery or dental surgery without lidocaine or novacaine? And a nonsurgeon resetting a broken nose that is so badly broken that it needs to be yet again broken? No painkillers, not even naproxen or tylenol, for any of these procedures just because your addicted? The first forty pages are so medically wrong, that they would make a malpractice lawyer about 5 million in fees.

And the he-man bragging, bragging of all the drugs, of having the highest blood alcohol*, etc. Total frat boy BS. It's about as realistic as a comic book.

I just can't believe that people are so stupid to believe--but then again they were dumb enough to believe Bush, and even dumber to keep believing even after Bush was shown to be a liar.

* a 0.36 is no record blood alcohol anywhere, even in Berrien County, Michigan. Real blood alcohol records go to the hospital, not the jail, and get treated as medical emergencies. People can die from record blood alcohol levels. Of course, Frey actually blew a .22, hardly a medical emergency even for a punk like Frey.

[fishwax]

31. it doesn't make it a bad read, it just makes it fiction

i haven't read it, but i heard it's engrossing. Either way, if it's fiction it should be labeled as such, and pretending (and still insisting) it's the truth makes the book/author a fraud.

[kay1864]

4. Agreed...

I don't like authors who present fiction as non-fiction.

(or pResidents, for that matter...)

[Heidi]

7. It's also a smack in the face to all _real_ writers of both

fiction and non-fiction, if The Smoking Gun's allegations are true. According to TSG, the guy couldn't sell his book as a work of fiction, so he passed it off as a memoir. When I think of the really fine writers out there (EstimatedProphet comes to mind) doing good work and looking a for a break, I'm incensed about the Frey situation. :grr:

[datasuspect]

8. that's also a good point

you have a guy who did pretty well with a shittily-written piece of fiction (passed as a memoir).

[hiaasenrocks]

30. It makes me mad, too. As a writer of fiction who

hopes to someday be published, I have to agree with you.

What a POS this guy is.

[fishwax]

32. good point n/t

[Ikonoklast]

20. There is a term for people like him....

...errr, ummm, could it be "Fraud"?

[bullwinkle428]

21. My mom had read the book, and offered it to me to read while

I was visiting her at Thanksgiving...she really found the story compelling. I started reading a bit of it, and something just didn't seem quite right to me - it didn't "pass the smell test", as some people like to say, although I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I don't have any history with drug abuse in my life or the lives of those around me, so I figured maybe I was just completely ignorant on the subject. When I first heard of the controversy surfacing a few days ago, I felt almost vindicated in a weird way...

[smirkymonkey]

33. I felt the same way - couldn't get through the book - it just didn't

resonate and I AM in recovery and have heard thousands of alcoholics and drug addicts tell their story. Something about his story just rang false to me - I ended up giving the book away without finishing it.

[Jamastiene]

24. Your subject line made me think of Tom Cruise immediately. n/t

[LostinVA]

25. I thought you meant Dr. Phil

Good old boy, caring psychologist turns into megalomaniac, homophobic, misogynist pig. Oprah loathes him now.

[sundog]

27. haha

:thumbsup:

[LostinVA]

28. *giggle*

[William Bloode]

26. I don't see the big deal really.

I expect folks to embellish their stories, it's very common. I am sure he is far from being the only person to take a few liberties to spice up their story.

Hell L. Ron Hubbard made a whole new religion based on lies about his life. Only thing is this guy got caught, and folks are making a big deal out of it.

[Lady President]

29. I recognize this guy from my college days

Let me say that my life has always been pretty dull-- safe, suburban, middle-class fare. Yet, I immediately recognized Jim's picture from his college days. Who knew the pubs I frequented were home to hard-core dealers and prostitutes? :eyes: I'm guessing he drank too much, smoked some pot, and went home with a few sorority girls. Period.

[RetroLounge]

34. Who really gives a shit?

I'm reading it, I like it, it's a compelling read, and I look at it as a fiction/memoir, embellished like only an addict can, and as an addict myself, I find it funny that I don't feel smacked in the face at all and wonder why someone else would. Jealous?

Maybe I'm just not a "real addict"?

:shrug:

RL

[Texasgal]

35. I agree...

I am currently reading it too.

It's a fictional account of a drug addict. I like his writing style, and I am enjoying the book so far.

I don't care if it's true or not!