Description

“The most lacerating tale of drug addiction since William S. Burroughs’ Junky.” —The Boston Globe

“Again and again, the book delivers recollections that leave the reader winded and unsteady. James Frey’s staggering recovery memoir could well be seen as the final word on the topic.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“A brutal, beautifully written memoir.”—The Denver Post

“Gripping . . . A great story . . . You can’t help but cheer his victory.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

About the Author

From the author:
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. I spent most of my childhood in Ohio and Michigan, and I have also lived in Boston, Wrightsville Beach NC, Sao Paulo Brazil, London, Paris, Chicago, and Los Angeles. I graduated from high school in 1988 and received further education at Denison University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1993, I was sent to the Hazelden Foundation for the treatment of cocaine addiction and alcoholism. I moved to Chicago in 1994, where I worked variety of jobs, including doorman, stockboy, and member of a janitorial crew. In 1996, I moved to Los Angeles where I worked as a screenwriter, director and producer. In 2000, I took second mortgage on my house, and spent a year writing A Million Little Pieces. It was published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday in May of 2003 and became a New York Times Bestseller, a #1 National Bestseller, and an International Bestseller. It was also named The Best Book of 2003 by Amazon.com. In 2004, I wrote My Friend Leonard, which is a sequel to A Million Little Pieces. In June of 2005, Riverhead Books published My Friend Leonard, which also became a New York Times and International Bestseller. I live in New York with my wife, daughter, and two dogs.

Praise for A Million Little Pieces…

“From the get-go, [Frey’s] book sets itself a part, its narrative unspooling in short, unindented paragraphs and barely punctuated sentences whose spare, deadpan language belies the horror of what he’s describing – a meltdown dispatched in telegrams.” —The New York Times Book Review

“One of the best stories of transformation I’ve ever read. . . . Anyone who has ever felt broken and wished for a better life will find inspiration in Frey’s story. This won’t be the last we’ll hear of him.” —People

“A ripping, gripping read. It’s a staggeringly sober book whose stylistic tics are well-suited to its subject matter, and a finger in the eye of the culture of complaint . . . Engrossing.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

“A frenzied, electrifying description of the experience.” –The New Yorker

“We finish A Million Little Pieces like miners lifted out of a collapsed shaft: exhausted, blackened, oxygen-starved, but alive, thrillingly, amazingly alive.” –Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“One of the most compelling books of the year… Incredibly bold…Somehow accomplishes what three decades’ worth of cheesy public service announcements and after-school specials have failed to do: depict hard-core drug addiction as the self-inflicted apocalypse that it is.” –The New York Post

“Thoroughly engrossing . . . Hard-bitten existentialism bristles on every page . . . Frey’s prose is muscular and tough, ideal for conveying extreme physical anguish and steely determination.” –Entertainment Weekly

“Incredible… Mesmerizing…Heart-rending.” –Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“A rising literary star… has birthed a poetic account of his recovery. [A Million Little Pieces is] stark… disturbing… rife with raw emotion...” –Chicago Sun-Times

“Frey will probably be hailed in turn as the voice of a generation.” –Elle Magazine

“We can admire Frey for his fierceness, his extremity, his solitary virtue, the angry ethics of his barroom tribe, and his victory over his furies… A compelling book.” –New York Magazine

“An intimate, vivid and heartfelt memoir. Can Frey be the greatest writer of his generation? Maybe.” –New York Press

“Incredible… A ferociously compelling memoir.” –Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Insistent as it is demanding… A story that cuts to the nerve of addiction by clank-clank-clanking through the skull of the addicted… A critical milestone in modern literature.” –Orlando Weekly

“At once devastatingly bleak and heartbreakingly hopeful. . . . Frey somehow manages to make his step-by-step walk through recovery compelling.” –Charlotte Observer

“A stark, direct and graphic documentation of the rehabilitation process . . . The strength of the book comes from the truth of the experience.” –The Oregonian

“A virtual addiction itself, viscerally affecting . . . Compulsively readable.” –City Paper (Washington, DC)

“Powerful . . . haunting . . . addictive . . . A beautiful story of recovery and reconciliation.” –Iowa City Press-Citizen

“An exhilarating read . . . Frey’s intense, punchy prose renders his experiences with electrifying immediacy.” –Time Out New York

“Describes the hopelessness and the inability to stop with precision . . . As anyone who has ever spent time in a rehab can testify, . . . he gets that down too.” –St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Frey comes on like the world’s first recovering-addict hero. . . . [His] criticism of the twelve-step philosophy is provocative and his story undeniably compelling.” –GQ

“[A] gruesomely absorbing account, told in stripped-down, staccato prose.” –Details

“Frey has devised a rolling, pulsating style that really moves . . . undeniably striking. . . . A fierce and honorable work that refuses to glamorize [the] author’s addiction or his thorny personality. . . . A book that makes other recovery memoirs look, well, a little pussy-ass.” –Salon