[EDITOR'S NOTE: Sarah Saffian, an Entertainment Weekly senior editor and the author of her own memoir, Ithaka: A Daughter's Memoir of Being Found, shares her thoughts about James Frey's sit-down with Oprah Winfrey over fabrications in his A Million Little Pieces:]
I’m not quite sure why James Frey went on Oprah today. If you’re just going to say, I’m sorry, I made a mistake, and I have no explanation for doing what I did, why do press? But since he is doing press, he desperately needs a media consultant. His lack of charisma and inarticulateness just served to heighten his shame. He did mention, only once or twice (and sheepishly), that he had changed aspects of people in order to protect their privacy. This is a completely valid reason to alter details in a memoir; it is done regularly, with a note on the copyright page saying that names, identifying characteristics, etc. have been changed (I did this in my own memoir). A good defense that he barely used, probably because it wasn’t actually the (only) reason he made the changes (how does changing slitting one’s wrists to hanging oneself protect privacy?). But then what was the reason? Why was his story of addiction and recovery not compelling enough without these embellishments?
Publisher Nan Talese, on the other hand, was a worthwhile presence, particularly in helping to explain what exactly memoir is — distinct from autobiography, and certainly from journalism, subjective, by definition a book written from the author’s memory — to Oprah, who, while she had a point, was seeing things in an overly black-and-white way. And Talese’s Carter anecdote, when Roslyn said to Jimmy, ”You wrote your memoir, now I’m writing mine” was very apt. Two memoirs written by two different people about the same circumstances should be different. Oprah, meanwhile, criticized Talese for not heeding from the outset the "red flags" that Frey’s book might not have been all true — the root canal episode, for instance — but she herself hadn’t heeded them either, of course, when she first read and raved about the book, putting her stamp of approval on it.
On the other hand, the comment The New York Times‘ Frank Rich made (maybe the onlyuseful comment he made) about this being a "slippery slope" wasimportant. If Frey changed the length of time he was in jail and theway someone committed suicide, what else did he change? And in general,what falls on the side of what’s okay to change?
(An interesting side point: in Larry King’s own 1992 memoir, When You’re From Brooklyn, Everything Else is Tokyo, he claims to have been great friends with Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax while growing up in Brooklyn in the 1930s and ‘40s. But Koufax always maintained that he’d actually never met King. Seems germane to mention while grilling a fellow memoirist about his veracity.)
All this negative publicity will still trigger even more sales of A Million Little Pieces,because folks want to read what everyone’s talking about, in spite ofthemselves. But then I believe that they’ll swear Frey off, and hisnext book, a novel, won’t sell nearly as well. Look at Stephen Glass’and Jayson Blair’s books after their controversies — both bombs. Whydo we want to read more of what Frey has to say, no matter how it’smarketed?
The larger danger is that memoir in general will be affected by this– the comparisons of the few small detail changes in the newtranslation of Elie Wiesel’s Night to this debacle arecompletely absurd, but unfortunately they’re out there. My fear is thatmemoir won’t be trusted as a genre anymore and that it’ll become evenmore misunderstood than ever.
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1. Congrats on your own memoir, perhaps ill read it and forward it to the smoking gun lol..
2.Yeah James Fry needs a serious PR guy.. He is getting a lot of publicity.. But its the horrible type. He seemed puzzled, at a loss for words, and generally in a “kill me now” kind of mood.
3.Nan Talese, gave a good defense.. But it still bodes unwell with me that.. Publishers dont care about the authenticity of someone or their story.
4.Good Point New york times stranger..
5.I wont read this book i dont care how cool it seems to be when my friends or associates talk about it. He has definately soured my um.. mouth.
5. So much for the much anticipated “Bill Clinton” memoir.. Didnt he push it back?.. Everyone will be ready to tear it to shreds…
THANK GOD JK ROWLING MADE SURE HARRY POTTER WAS A FICTION BOOK AND NOT A MEMOIR.. LOL @ HER lying about harrys parents death(killed at the hands of lord voldemort) when in reality they just died while practicing spells to kill him with. HAHA THATD BE FUNNY!
thanks for the perspective; that was interesting.
I have no problem with a memoir relying on people’s memories and some of them being hazy and perhaps not accurate. But, this man totally made things up. That’s not a hazy memory…..that’s fiction. Why not call it that? If for some strange reason he didn’t want to do that, why not put some sort of disclaimer in the front of the book? Stupid if you ask me.
Does MILLIE VANILLI ring a bell? Didn’t everyone run over their records with steam rollers?
Agree with your review, but given her emotional attachments to anyone with a problem, doesn’t this fiasco lessen the credibility of Oprah’s “book club”? Who wants to accept her review of ANY book?? Not me!
Being duped is sadly part of the personna of America. Advertising, government, the media…there is little truth and the greater challange is to find it. We are what we have become. Demand the truth and choose your sources well.
If you read the book, what is compelling about it is the authors struggle with addiction – a fact not in dispute. The length of time he was in jail is somewhat trivial. What is being overlooked now is Oprah’s flip-flopping on whether or not the truth is important. She is just trying to echo the sentiments of her fans and hope nothing “sticks ” to her.
“Two memoirs written by two different people about the same circumstances should be different.”
…but on the same planet, following (roughly) the same rules of temporal physics. Adding 80+ days to your day is not a trick of relativity, it’s a device for shamelessly selling a more interesting story than your memoirs truly are.
Frey committed what any reasonable person would call FRAUD. And he laughed all the way to the bank. I hope in the coming weeks, as his movie deal falls through and people start demanding back money, he cries.
Why can Oprah get away with calling James Frey a liar while she sits their with her fake hair? That’s all I wanna know.
I THINK OPRAY WAS THE REAL OPRAH WHEN SHE CALLED LARRY KING..THAT WAS OPRAH. THE OPRAH ON HER SHOW WAS THE OPRAH WHO DID NOT WANT TO APPEAR BAD IN THE EYES OF THOSE WHO HAVE MADE HER RICH. I DID NOT THINK IT WAS IN GOOD TASTE TO BASH HIM IN FRONT OF HER SHOW WITH HER AUDIENCE! OPRAH IS THE ONE WHO REALLY BLEW IT!
After reading the SG article, I will not read Frey’s book (and I had intended to buy it). I admit my opinions are based solely on the article. What is worse than adding 89 days to a one-day stay is that this long stay was relevant to the subsequent suicide of the friend. If only he hadn’t been in jail and could have possibly prevented it…… Well, if he wasn’t actually in jail at the time, why didn’t he do something? The probable snowball effect of his other lies is mind-boggling.
What is the old addage? Believe half of what you see and none of what you read. I think the point of recovery from addiction and the difficulties in the journey come through the book. It was a good read regardless of the authenticity of every detail.
He is just doing what all addicts do. Stretch the truth or lie call it what you will. They all do it and it just adds more credibility to his story and thats all it is…..a story about an addict who lies and recovers and lives. If more addicts survive because if it then it worked. I am far more worried about the addicts who will say ……”Well I am not that bad, I am OK!”
Yes, he changed some things in his “memoir” but in my opinion, the true measure of a book is how it touches us. Oprah (who I am a big fan of but thought that she came off catty in the interview)talked in the beginning of the interview about the many letters she had gotten from people whose lives this book had changed. I think that that is more important than if it should have been portrayed as a “memoir” or “fiction”. It was a wonderful, touching book and it still is. The basis of the story is still true. James Fry battled through things that most of us can’t comprehend. If his memories are unclear, I can kind of see why.
Oprah seemed more upset that she was “duped”.
I would like to how changing one’s method of suicide is considered protecting one’s privacy. If he lied about something like that, how can we believe anything in his book? Thank God I didn’t waste my money on it.
Why doesn’t anyone (including Oprah) see that this was an attack on her and not Frey. The Smoking Gun entitled their article “The Man Who Conned Oprah.” I’m sure if you investigate every “memoir” out there, you’ll see that the majority are “a million little lies.” Unfortunately, society today seems to thrive off of lies. So, what’s the big deal??
Anyone who uses Oprah’s book club as his/her gauge for good reading is already at a loss. Kudos to Frey for stirring the American public to actually analyze the words and stories set before them. Maybe we will become more analytical, insightful readers and not rely on Oprah for her “picks.”
I applaud Oprah on confronting James Frey and also owning up to her mistakes. I hope Frey gets some good psychological counseling, if deemed necessary.
@ Mary: Since you asked, I’ll try to clue you in. Hair extensions of various kinds are widely accepted and are pretty much an essential part of black beauty culture. I don’t see how one’s personal choice to wear “fake hair” is on the same level as deliberately extorting millions of dollars from people. So please focus on the relevant issue at hand, Cheers.
Well, “duped” is a good word. It is nice to be able to save face on a national spotlight. We all get duped in life but most can’t try to reconcile our faux pas by criticizing the one who did it in front of a million people. Good for her and good for him. I won’t be suprised if he goes back to his old ways because of middle America’s queen of talk shows publicly humiliated his embellished accomplishments.
The truth should matter in all cases. What came to my mind when watching the Oprah grilling of Mr. Frey was a previous Oprah episode down in New Orleans. People that she interviewed told her things like “babies were raped” which was an unsubstantiated rumour. I don’t watch Oprah much, but I doubt that she reinterviewed the “authors” of those statements like she did Mr. Frey. People were impacted by the hurricanes all along the Gulf Coast. Perhaps our government dollars would have been more evenly distributed to other hurricane victims outside of the New Orleans area if those lies had not been spread to the general public – on shows like Oprah.
I felt that the only reason Oprah did this show was to save face at the expensive crucifying James and Nan on her show. I loved the look Nan gave her when Oprah blamed her for not seeing the red flags in the book. The look Nan gave her was “b**ch, you didn’t see them either.”
My two other favorite moments were Oprah stating that she was “impressed” that the Washington Post man called her out in the Post because no one says anything negative about Oprah in print and gets away with it. The second was at the end of the show when Oprah told James that his joke about hoping there was a gun back stage was silly because all of this was not that serious. Only after dogging him out for an hour on live and tape TV. I actually felt bad for James and he is the one who lied.
I’m glad Oprah and her mindless minions got taken for a ride. Oprah’s pontificating arrogance is beyond nauseating. However, I simply don’t understand the over-the-top outrage about an issue that simply isn’t very important. Oprah and her legions of sycophants need to get a grip.
It must be nice to be so perfect! I felt the interview with Oprah was vicious and not responsible. James Frey is an addict, how much responsibility will she take after such a public slaughtering. If she truly cared, could she not have discussed with him in private? I have respected and been a huge fan for years – but not anymore. This was a condensing interview and I hope James receives tons of support. It was a book – he is a person. Grace should always come before power.
I understand the points surronding this issue, but can someone please tell me why I’m supposed to care? Why is it dominating the national news? It’s not as if Frey fabricated a history text book or a government document. It was his story. Being that it (truth or fiction) belongs to him, doesn’t he have an artistic freedom to write whatever he wants? And people are reading this book, memoir, novel, whatever category it may fall into, for entertainment value. It’s not like his story caused people to misunderstand events of real significance. I couldn’t care less if I know the honest-to-God history of James Frey. I wasn’t attracted to the book because it was advertised as being “based on a true story”… does that line really inspire anyone?
Oprah is only sorry that she got caught.
This episode on top of the “discrimination” episode that happened last summer at the Hermes store in France means that the perfect facade that she tries so hard to project is cracking.
You know that story that you’ve told over and over again? That one that everyone loves to hear. The one that you’ve told so many times that you don’t even remember the actual event anymore, just the telling of the story. The story that gets a little more ridiculous everytime you tell it. The one that becomes a little bit more humiliating, or the fish gets a little bit bigger. You know that story? That’s called a memoir.
I was innocently watching ABC for my daily dose of Oprahs wisdom, and all of the sudden she comes on and starts expalining the purpose of the days show. I really didnt need her to explain anytning, I knew it was going to be about James Frey and his “million pieces” mess. I stared at my television, awestruck that the most powerul person in the entertainment industry had buckeled under the pressure and apologized, publicaly for defending James Freys lies, I was dumbstruck, she seemed defeated, almost sad, but then she delved into James Frey asking him questuions with such an anger and frustrated concience, and the poor man, nervous out of his mind, mesiing up every answer, it was a trainwreck, I couldn’t even look at the guy. And then when Oprah asked him about Lilly, and asked him did he lie about how she killed herself, and when Frey admitted that, yes, he had lied about hw she killed herself, the look in Oprahs eyes was one of disappiontment and angr, from then on she took no mercy on Frey, and those responsible for the publication of the book. And poor old Frey, sitting as still as he could, fearing if he moved Oprah would have him killed, looked like a school boy whose mom had come down to the school to talk with the principle.
I am appalled at Opray Winfrey that she has the gall to rake this guy over the coals and there are many people in the USA that should be in the hot seat for all the lies that are told to the American people and actually hurt us. She lives in a different world than most of us. Looks at life through rose colored glasses. Very arrogant and self absorbed. She should have done her homework in the first place.
The way Oprah lambasted James in her own studio setting,in front of the ppl. who were siting there after mercyfully given access to the studio (naturally they are going to clap at every word Oprah speaks)..it just speaks volumes about her character and how hypocratic and false she is.I think watching Oprah’s behaviour with James-A human being yesterday was more painful then knowing the fact that he lied in the book….
KB….you are correct…THIS DOES NOT MATTER.
It seems to matter because of the shallowness of those who actually believe what the major entertainment media outlets of America tells them. I am truly amazed by those who seem to find this to be of any consequence. I’d love to see a time when entertaiment media did not exist. Understand…it does not matter.