Author May Not be as Awful as his Memoir Claims!

James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces, an Oprah book selection, has been targeted by The Smoking Gun website for fabricating much of his tell-all memoir. Here is Publishers' Weekly's take on the news. The Smoking Gun, a website that uncovers fraud, says,
"Three months ago, in what the talk show host termed a "radical departure," Winfrey announced that "A Million Little Pieces," author James Frey's nonfiction memoir of his vomit-caked years as an alcoholic, drug addict, and criminal, was her latest selection for the world's most powerful book club." After an investigation, TSG reports that, "Police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources have put the lie to many key sections of Frey's book. The 36-year-old author, these documents and interviews show, wholly fabricated or wildly embellished details of his purported criminal career, jail terms, and status as an outlaw "wanted in three states." The article goes on at length to describe the research TSG did to uncover Frey's alleged fabrications.
The Smoking Gun website is also known for its celebrity mugshots and for publishing the "riders" on performers' contracts that demand all kinds of ridiculous perks. If you like to see the less than exalted side to celebrities, this is the website to visit. Isn't it nice to know that without the right makeup and hairdo and photographer's tricks, famous people look just like regular people? It's also ironic that celebrities will do anything not to be unmasked as TSG does by publishing unflattering pictures and information about them, but James Frey's lucrative career as a writer depends on the veracity of his disgustingly detailed memoirs of a supposed criminal, violent and drug and alcohol soaked past.