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Just Call Me James Frey

Everyone probably knows about the James Frey hooplah by now.  If not, let me sum it up : James Frey wrote a book called "A Million Little Pieces", a memoir of his drug addiction.  After the book being on the New York Times best seller list, it came out that he embellished and changed some facts.  It was a huge deal : he was humiliated, called a liar, and publically shamed by Oprah and her massive ego. He went from praised author to a conman.  He is being sued by readers who claim they just wasted their time.

It's been quite awhile since this story broke and it still flames me to no end. Especially the whole Oprah fiasco.  After the facts started coming out, Frey was on Larry King.  Oprah called in and defended him, saying, regardless of his embellishments, she believed the story was important and inspirational.  As soon as her flock started bleeting at her that they were upset, she threw a fit, called him a liar and whined that she was duped, and had him come back on her show so she could spit at him in front of the world.

Sick. I'm still just sick over it. And it's why I never wrote about it before.

Sure, he changed some facts. Sure he added a little here and there.  His book people KNEW it wasn't fact - he even tried to publish it as fiction - shouldn't THEY be the ones getting spanked by Oprah?

The real reason I brought this up is because of my own embellishing.  It's part of my writing - I add or remove a little, depending on what makes the story flow a little better.  I noticed it when I wrote my magazine articles the other day.  Most of it was true, but that one extra (false) sentence just tied it all together. The blog about the tornado?  All true...except maybe a few minor details (I didn't really run out and yell at the sky, people.) 

Many of my posts are a little askew.  Nothing to change the story at hand or the meaning behind it, but not everything I say is factual.  Does this make my blog a con and I should repay you all for wasting your time reading it? Do you feel duped?  Are you going to tell Queen Oprah on me?

I ask you : how important is truth? 

April 27, 2006 12:06 PM |
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Comments

WHAAAAAAAAAA! WHAAAAAA!!! You did I just know you did yell at the sky didn'tcha? Please just say you did!!!
Posted by Muse at April 27, 2006 12:43 PM

Ha. Good post. We all do it to one extent or another. However, for the record, I did lock the car doors and the windows. I should get a shirt or something. And I'm with you on the whole James Frey thing. Seriously, could anyone really fill an entire book with their life w/o some embellishment?
Posted by Kristen at April 27, 2006 12:54 PM

She's louder on paper than in person, so maybe she didn't actually, physically yell at the sky. I'm sure that she did so on the inside, however. And yes, I do feel duped. ;)
Posted by Pappy at April 27, 2006 12:54 PM

A lot of people confuse "facts" with "truth". There's overlap, but they are NOT synonymous. His facts weren't 100% accurate, but was he describing something true? Probably.
Posted by Mary at April 27, 2006 01:15 PM

Hell, when I tell a story in PERSON I embellish for comedic effect. Doesn't everybody? I felt the same way about Oprah, BTW.
Posted by chilihead2 at April 27, 2006 02:16 PM

honey, it's a BLOG. it's not your MEMOIR. the word memoir is synonymous with autobiography. autobiography equals "truthful account of real things that happened to a real person in their real life." blogging is for you, to enjoy us enjoying you, and to learn about yourself while practicing/honing your writing/communication skills. if it was your memoir, it would be boring, because memoirs are boring. you can't disagree. real life is comprised of flashy moments of really breathing sparsely sprinkled on top of brushing your teeth, sleeping, commuting and peeing (and other stuff that everyone does as well). please, pet the sweaty things instead of sweating the petty things.
Posted by jennifer at April 27, 2006 02:55 PM

Muse - Ok, fine. I did. I'm sorry I lied again. :P Kristen - I had no doubt you actually did that. And you totally deserve a shirt!! Or, like, some kind of award for bravery! LOL You damn freak! Pappy - You don't feel duped...you feel pooped. Go have the nurses change your diaper again. Mary - Good call. I like that analysis. :) Chili - So do I, actually. Sometimes, when I say things, I think "what am I talking about??" I guess I'm ok as long as I don't start believing them. Heh. Jennifer - Oh, no...I'm certainly not sweating anything as far as my blog. I'm gonna make up stuff and people will just have to deal with it. Hehe! I was just sayin'...I feel sorry for the guy. EVERY writer does that. It's called *gasp* writing! :)
Posted by Chase at April 27, 2006 04:24 PM

As long as the essence of a story is the truth, that's all that really matters to me. I read A Million Little Pieces and, let me tell you, knowing it's not entirely true took nothing away from the experience for me. It was still an incredible book. Wanna see my take on this whole thing? I don't think you were reading my site back then.
Posted by Kevin at April 27, 2006 04:57 PM

Oprah eats babies.
Posted by Chanakin at April 27, 2006 06:53 PM

Ooh, yes! Repay us with more semi-factual blog entries, please! I agree with Mary - truth, to me, is whether your version of reality resounds with people, whether it impacts them on some level. Emotionally or intellectually, whatever. It should not be about relaying just the facts. And to answer your question, no, I don't feel duped. Human nature makes embellishers (is that a word?) of us all - how many of you can truly say that everything you write on your blog is 100% exactly as it went down in real life? Huh? Not many. And besides, it'd be a damn shame to ruin a good story by excluding the punch line.
Posted by Erin S. at April 27, 2006 07:55 PM

Ah, a little embellishment to make a story more entertaining isnt the same as lying.
Posted by Michelle at April 27, 2006 09:59 PM

Truth varies from person to person because we all have different perceptions. In Philosophy 101 I read something that said "truth is what exists when all of the people are gone." Deep shit, but it basically means that you can only get real, OBJECTIVE truth when no one's perceptions are clouding the facts. As for Frey, I'm with you. Oprah's a bitch. All these people read the book and were so incredibly moved and touched...changed their lives, so they said. Now they're pissed, saying they were duped? Did their enjoyment of the book - the enrichment they received while reading it - somehow change because Frey admitted to embellishing bits? Total crap. People are such cattle.
Posted by Karl at April 28, 2006 09:42 AM

i think it was a bit overkill. dude looked like he was getting punished by his mom, in front of all his friends, for missing curfew. whatever. i didn't read the book. I think scholars have a valid argument in maintaining that there is something to be said about the integrity of how one represents themselves and their story. did he take advantage...yes. does that fact compromise the impact or influence the story had on so many? i don't think so. but then again, i have never been a drug addict, and I might feel differently had I read his story and felt a deep personal connection and inspiration from someone claiming to have had experiences he never really had. i don't really feel strongly about the whole thing.
Posted by stella at April 28, 2006 10:48 AM

Yeeeaaaah. I have an issue when "embellishing" becomes "making up your most of your life story and still calling it a memoir". Chase, he went to jail for 1 day, in the book, it's 3 months. Um, there's the line. Also, us, bloggers aren't getting millions of dollars to this, are we? Oh wait, no. Or maybe you are. Are you?
Posted by Deb_LA at April 28, 2006 01:00 PM

I followed you here from Karl's blog - I am the SAHM-itis freakshow....but OMG, the first post of yours I read is amazing. Back when this fiasco started, I too wrote a post called A Million Little Pieces of Oprah's Bullshit because I do not like the way she handled herself and believe that every good story teller embellishes a bit, or else how boring would it be around the literary world? Anyway just saying hi :)
Posted by Hilly at April 29, 2006 10:27 AM

I could have written this. Really, this is exactly how I feel. You have to expect that a writer is going to take artistic license. Besides, perception is reality and everyone's perception is different. That's why two people who witness the exact same thing can tell the account it two completely different ways. I think Oprah is a Jackass with a capital J and I hope Frey has managed to recover from this bullshit with his sanity intact.
Posted by TB at April 30, 2006 05:24 PM

there's a term for what the writer did- literary license. it's acceptable. people should just get over it.
Posted by speedbump at May 6, 2006 09:06 PM

I am so with you on this. Artistic license is a fact and without it, half of the "true" stories out there would never have been written.
Posted by TB at September 9, 2006 09:37 AM