Prone-to-perhaps-slight-exaggeration author James Frey’s new paperback version of his latest book, Bright Shiny Morning,contains two scenes cut from the hardcover — including one in which a sorta-like-Frey character obtains embarrassing audio tapes of his Oprah-ish nemesis, Fox News reports with conviction. The other excised passage involves some seriously X-rated escapades, but everyone’s finding the Oprah-ish stuff far sexier. Makes sense, given the flogging-heard-round-the-world that the Queen of Daytime gave Frey when it emerged that some of his addiction/recovery memoir, A Million Little Pieces, was made up. In this salivated-over bit in the authors’-cut version of the new book, a guy embroiled in scandal is preparing to go on a TV show. When he feels "people turning on him," he starts taping his phone calls with the producers and host of the show. After the appearance, the host calls him to make sure he isn’t "going to hurt himself" and makes some surprising confessions of her own while his tape recorder is rolling. Page Six, incidentally, asked Frey for comment, prompting him to laugh and say, "The book is fiction. Interpret it however you want."
Nonetheless, news outlets are wondering whether Frey has bombshell tapes in his possession. So, to recap: The guy lied when writing supposed nonfiction, and we excoriated him for that. He then wrote fiction, which we are now presuming to be true, as opposed to, say, a dude with some penchant for blowing things out of proportion working out his own anger issues — in, I should mention, a relatively peaceful fashion. It’s a long, grand tradition in fiction, authors rewriting history to suit themselves, to process things that happened to them but give them better outcomes. It is, in some ways, the reason people become writers. We’re neurotic like that.
So what do you think, PopWatchers? Does James Frey really have secret, end-of-Oprah-as-we-know-her tapes? Or does he just know how to whip up a book-selling controversy?
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A lot of authors do this sort of thing. Isn’t that what they do, take real life experiences and fictionalize them? I remember hearing about Michael Crichton turning a real life nemisis of his into a pedephile in one of his books for revenge. One wonders what team Oprahs’respose shall be.
James Frey and his publishers were so smart for doing this. He is getting so much press for this paperback that he would never have seen. And the media is eating this up! Armstrong is right that is probably just a writer re-writing his own history – and helping his book sales in the process.
As much as James Frey was for pushing his fiction as fact, it was shameful how Oprah brought him back only to shame him on national tv.
He is the whole reason I hate Oprah with a passion. If she doesn’t understand the nature of ‘memioirs’, then she shouldn’t pick the books for her book club. She’s an idiot.
I thought it was absolutely brilliant the way Oprah dragged him & publisher Nan talese back on live TV for a face to confrontation & beat the LIVING DAYLIGHTS out of him. It was the most skillfull public flogging I’ve ever seen. His lies may have been trivial, but he lied to Oprah’s audience & I respect her for holding him accountable.