By Shona Caroll
‘A Million Little Pieces’ by James Frey is a rather graphic novel about drug addiction, alcoholism and one mans transformation in a treatment center.
Oh—kay! so your thinking…what’s new in this?
I suggest you pick up the book and read it. There are countless debates on the World Wide Web on the actual authenticity of some of the details mentioned and your two bits would be most welcome (the world is an opinionated lot).
But- let’s face facts—no one (and it would have never made Oprahs Book club if it were otherwise) wants to read a book that is not overtly dramatic. The shock quotient is pretty high now days.
Nothing shocks.
Nothing Scandalizes.
So it’s quite imperative to make up some real gory fibs along the way (laughing to the bank while doing so!). Oh incase your wondering Mr. Frey is a multi-millionaire now. He’s thinking ‘who cares!’
Since this is a book review I shall move on…
The book opens on 23 years old Frey who doesn’t know how he got on a plane and where the plane is taking him. All we know is the man even in his present condition is craving for more alcohol. Frey as we see him now is obstinate and is ready to throw in the towel. It is definitely not a pretty sight, as the narrative speaks “My front four teeth are gone, I have a hole in my cheek, my nose is broken and my eyes are swollen nearly shut”. His clothes are covered in blood, sweat, vomit, urine, spit and when his parent come to pick him up and they are shocked at his condition (this is putting it mildly).
His parents had no idea that the situation had become so bad. They were aware of his drinking and drugging ways—but they were not prepared to face the fact that another sip of alcohol could reserve his place in the local mortuary.
You see glimpses of a poignant boy who is lonely and sad. "More than anything, all I have ever wanted is to feel like I wasn't alone," says Frey. Your heart goes out to that boy especially when he goes to the extend of renting a tux, buying a corsage and going to his high school prom, only to sit outside the gym and watch the other kids have a blast. After that he heads to his favorite hangout ‘The ghetto’ and uses the money his mother gives him to buy drugs.
We see two shades of the protagonist – one is the bitter and angry side of him and the other is this lonely boy who cannot and will not show his weaknesses (but we can read between the lines).
"I don't give a f@#$ what they think of me. I'm going to try to write the best book of my generation and I'm going to try to be the best writer," Frey says in an interview with the ‘New York Observer’.
His attitude comes across rather blatantly in the book (rather too nonchalantly)—but for someone who understands real addiction the book can be quite a revelation. For someone who has never had to deal with any kind of addiction-- it is quite difficult to digest that excruciating need that literally takes over every fiber of your being – wanting you to have just one drag- one sip- one glass-!
No – it is difficult for us to understand.
But we do.
Or we want to.
Because we like Frey are looking for that flicker of hope, that semblance of reason which makes us a believer. And we as human being have got to believe. What else is there?
“A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down…in the most delightful way” says Mary Poppins.
Suggestion: keep a whole jar of sugar with you…this book is a bitter pill to swallow!
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