A Million Little Pieces

By: James Frey

“Stop using or die!  -one man’s struggle with addiction.”

            A Million Little Pieces is a tale of one man’s mental, physical, and emotional struggle for sobriety and life itself.  Growing up, James was the child everyone’s mother warned their children not to talk to.  Always angry, sad, and empty inside, he looked to alcohol and drugs to kill his emotions and fill his emptiness.  He started stealing sips from drinks at age seven and drank regularly at age ten.  The drugs started in middle school when he was twelve.  The resulting addictions stuck with James until he was finally put in rehab and given a choice; either stop using or die.

            James Frey is ingenious in using a straightforward writing style that makes for a raw, honest, real story.  He doesn’t use figurative language to spice things up; it’s just simple and real.  Though his style and form are simple, it impacts the reader in a moving and gripping way.  His simplicity evokes as much, if not more, emotion as figurative language.  This book is an easy read and I would recommend it to everyone.

            A Million Little Pieces tells of Frey’s six week journey through a rehab center in Minnesota.  We become part of the story from Frey’s point of view.  We’re able to walk with him through his constant struggles. “I am what I am, which is an Alcoholic and a drug Addict and a Criminal, I am what I am because I made myself so.” Leonard, a middle-aged mobster, and Lilly, a fragile black haired girl with arctic blue eyes help to change his life.  

            Frey is constantly in pain, not just physically, but emotionally.  Every morning he vomits violently, due to years of substance abuse. He undergoes many examinations and the doctors conclude the severity of the damage he has done.  Frey has a choice; he can either quit using or die.  All he wants to do is feed the “Fury”, his addiction.  

            James meets Lilly and falls in love. The facility’s rules forbid them to see each other, but they sneak out at night until they are caught.  The plot keeps the reader engrossed as final events unfold. Will James and Lilly get clean?  Will one or both of them stay at the rehab center after they’re caught and split up?  Will they lose control and will James give into the “Fury” and feed his “hunger?”  If James does make it out, will he ever be able to look deep into the pale, green of his eyes in the mirror? Will James die?  All these questions and more will be answered if you read A Million Little Pieces.

            Overall, A Million Little Pieces is the best book I have read.  Reading it was a great experience and I think you would enjoy it too.  I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.  Join James on his journey through life.  Laugh, cry, mourn, and smile with him.  This story is eye-opening, gripping, and brutally honest, yet still inspiring in every way.

-Paige L.

“a compelling form of truth that captivates”

            Every person searches for an escape from life now and then. My personal escape is finding a good book and being swept away from the world I live in. The most recent book I have read is called A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.  This compelling form of truth captivated me. James Frey wrote about his personal struggle in a drug and alcohol treatment facility. The world he portrays in the novel is a great form of distraction from anything you’re escaping from.

          The first couple of pages capture the reader’s attention by explaining how  serious his addiction originally was. Many people have had personal experience with drugs and alcohol dependence, - their own or someone’s very close to them. The sources of addiction are difficult to pinpoint but intriguing.
 
            Anyone who is not interested in learning about addiction can enjoy the book through the relationships that Frey describes. He falls in love in this story, and to me personally, it’s the greatest type of love you can read in a book. In most romance novels, authors write about a form of love that can maybe happen one in one hundred times. People love that kind of stuff but, to me, it can be so unrealistic. The love Frey experiences is so real you can actually feel it. This being a memoir of his experience also adds an extra sensation, knowing that someone actually went through this.

          Frey has an interesting form of writing that I can’t help but fall in love with. He has a straight forward sense that causes you to feel as if you are there experiencing complications with him. You never feel confused in this book. I always knew what was going on, no matter how different his style is. He also was able to step down to the level where he could possibly reach out to people who need an opening. The collective thoughts of Frey are most likely able to touch many people’s lives. It caused me to understand the depth of people’s drug problems and it sparked an ongoing interest in the nature of addiction.

            The compelling and interesting descriptions from James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces still ring in my ears. It might be because I finished it yesterday, but for some reason I think I’ll remember it for a while. This book took me to a complete different place than most good books can. I recommend highly picking it up. Once you open the cover, it becomes very difficult to close.

-Elise S.


 

“Puking, mutilating, profanity, and fighting are all part of the story.”

 
            It’s hard to imagine going through life as James Frey did, always drunk or high on something, always in trouble with the law, always fighting yourself and the people around you. I know I cannot imagine it, but many people have done more than imagine it; they have lived it. Everyone struggles to some extent with his addictions. That is why Frey’s harrowing account of his life as an alcohol and drug addict and his struggle to overcome his demons. Anyone who is wrestling with some sort of addiction, or knows someone who is, should read this book.  Although often dark and depressing, A Million Little Pieces actually offers hope of being healed and the shot at a second chance.

            After blacking out from a drug overdose and falling down the stairs, Frey is checked into a rehabilitation clinic in Minnesota. Here he learns that if he ever picks up a bottle of beer or uses drugs again, he will die – that is how damaged his body now is. Frey is introduced to the twelve steps of AA and told that this is his only option for recovery, yet he remains wary of the steps and insists that he can fix himself. Angry and unsociable, Frey is a loner at the clinic until a man named Leonard befriends him. They become very close throughout the book, and Leonard stands by Frey the whole time, refusing to let Frey give up on himself. Another important person who enters Frey’s life is a thin, pretty girl named Lilly. Despite the clinic’s strict rules against male-female relationships, they secretly meet and help each other through their problems.

            At the same time Frey’s descriptions evoke feelings of disgust and horror, his blunt honesty makes the reader feel sympathy towards him. Although I would not go as far as to say that I respect him, I admire Frey’s courage and determination. The graphic details are as essential to the story as is the plot. The puking, the mutilating, the profanity, the fighting, it is all a part of the story. “My body lurches and I close my eyes and lean forward. Blood and bile and chunks of my stomach come pouring from my mouth and nose. It gets stuck in my throat, my nostrils, what remains of my teeth.” What better way to discourage people from doing drugs or drinking excessively than this? Not only does Frey suffer from immense physical pain, he also must deal with all kinds of emotional issues. He finds it difficult to love his parents, despite all they do for him. Struggling with thoughts of self-hatred and suicide, Frey repeats throughout the book that he is an “Alcoholic… a drug Addict and Criminal.” He cannot forgive himself for knowingly hurting his family and friends for years but not being able to stop.

            This is the true story of a man and his battle to overcome addiction. He makes many friends along the way and learns to trust himself to make the right decision. Frey shares his life with the world in the hopes that maybe it will discourage somebody from starting something that they will not be able to stop. He wants the reader to know exactly what happened to him; he does not leave out the bad parts. He uses profanity to make the experience more real to the reader. From Frey’s conversations and relationships with others, it is clear just how messed up his life is. He knew all along what he was doing to himself, but he could not stop, and he hated himself for that. After all the damage and heartache he caused to those close to him, this book is Frey’s way of giving back. Hopefully this brave man’s story can save many lives in the future.

-Olivia E.

“I admit to the urge to put it down because of boredom.”

            A Million Little Pieces based on the true story of James Frey, has drawn  much attention since its publication in April of 2003. Combining a multitude of genres such as mystery, graphic reality, and also comedy, A Million Little Pieces has the ability to captivate any audience, from a troublesome teenager to a curious adult. Brilliantly written and meant to keep the attention of the audience, Frey uses brief sentences and simple language to exaggerate his simplistic tone. The novel reveals the harsh reality of the struggle of an addict whose life is devastated, who is given the choice to either live with courage and face his addiction or die as a consequence of his habits.
 
            At the very beginning of the novel, James Frey wakes up on a plane to find his four front teeth out, a hole in his cheek, and a broken nose. He is unaware of where he is going, let alone where he is coming from. When he arrives at the Minnesota airport, his parents pick him up and drop him off at a drug and alcohol treatment facility where he will spend the next few months. This is where our story really and truly begins.
    
            Doctors tell him that if he had waited any longer to check in to the rehabilitation center, he might not have lived another two weeks. As Frey adapts to his new restrictive way of life, he finally begins to discover the severity of his highly dangerous condition. He befriends other patients with similar problems including a female prostitute he meets in the line for medicine, an extremely driven hit-man, a one-time world boxing champion, and a man who was sexually molested all through his teen years. Throughout the book Frey portrays great physical and mental strength. He learns to use it to change from a victim to an independent human being.
 
           In conclusion, I feel that the book was between neutral and satisfactory. It was better than most books, but definitely not one of my favorites. The brief language of the author and the fact that he never uses quotation marks makes the book easy to read and exact. It made me read faster while understanding everything, and it also made it seem like the action was continuous. Frey only uses long and somewhat lengthy passages to describe things of extreme significance; he truly allowed me to picture the scene when it was happening. He uses extraordinary sensory imagery.
 
            However, I only found the last two hundred pages of the book incredibly interesting, and this is the reason I gave the novel an average rating. To me, the first one hundred pages are repetitive; the same thing takes place every morning, afternoon, and night. The events in these first chapters are consistent, and predictable. The graphic imagery slows down in the middle of the book, and I admit to the urge to put it down because of boredom.
 
-Chelsea B.


"This book gave me a new perspective on rehab and what addicts go through."

            A Million Little Pieces is written by James Frey, a twenty three year old who has been an alcoholic and drug addict for over a decade. He was sent to the best rehab center in the world after he woke up not remembering how his face had been destroyed. He is told that if he doesn’t stop destroying his body; he could die the next time he uses. The book is a memoir of his six weeks spent there in recovery. He faces many challenges with other people bothering him and “the Fury” taking hold of him. The people in his life vary from a judge to an ex heavyweight champion to an “Italian business man” to a girl with clear blue eyes to the clinic’s help. They all work together to overcome their addictions. James does not want to go to AA or do the Twelve Steps and wants to overcome the way he wants to although the clinic workers do not think he can without them.

            When I started reading this book, it took me awhile to get into it because it was very gruesome and I did not know if I wanted to be reading about clothes covered “with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood”. As the book went on I got more into it even though I couldn’t believe he had root canals done without anesthesia. As it turns out, many of the so called truths in this book are not true at all. Although I found out they were not true, I was already engrossed in the book. I wanted to find out what happened. The book has very strong language and I don’t think I have ever seen the f-bomb written so many times in one book. Hence, it is not appropriate for kids to read.

            The whole time I was wondering if he was really going to overcome this hardship without AA and the Twelve Steps. It was heart-rending to see him make such close friendships with Leonard and Miles and that he could even fall in love. This book gave me a new perspective on rehab and addicts. I really never knew what they went through until I read this book. James Frey used a lot of syntax with short sentences and no punctuation. It drew my attention in and kept me flipping the page. Something new happened every second. I could not put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good, mesmerizing story, but you have to be able to deal with some gruesome details.
James Frey was an addict, alcoholic, and criminal. As Frey accounts his life, he remembers all the details of root canals, hardships and fights that he had to go through. This is an admirable book with electrifying descriptions and one of the most engrossing stories I have turned the pages through. I recommend you go out and read it.

-Alexa R.