A Million Little Pieces book review by Gavin William Wright

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

2003 Doubleday books

(My copy - John Murray 2004)

  

So, this is a controversial  book, right?  In that case i'm just going to do a straight review.

Of course, i'm not.  

First thing. Most important. I really enjoyed reading this - by my standards I flew through this book, which is all the more surprising considering this is a very 'scary' book, at least if you're a paranoid neurotic.  I don't think i am, but at the same time I normally find it intensely uncomfortable reading about post-life-oblivion, violence and inner torment - there's enough of that in reality; when I read a book I much prefer to travel to places and lives that take me away from reality.  This book is brutally real.

In fact, this is the second book in the last three that has taken me on a journey of fear and misery, first suicide and now this, death all round - but I have survived and, furthermore, A Million Little Pieces actually did wonders for me, made me look at my own addictive natures and my own history of misanthropy and made me even more sure to try to keep strong and happy - yes, it's safe to say it acted as something of a self-help book.  Memoir, fiction and now new-age spiritual guide - what a clever fellow you are, Mr. Frey.

As for the prose itself; essentially it is thoroughly readable and regardless of how much of it is real or made up, the characters were full and came to life and left me feeling a part of the whole scene; the pace and movement of a fairly long book is extraordinarily well controlled; the use of repetition be it phrases or whole re-told incidents adds to the dramatic, near-cinematic feel of the text.  Hope, then, for positive things in Frey's pure fiction that sits, tempting, on my shelves.  For no apparent reason, reading this book made me think often of James Leo Herlihy's superb 'All Fall Down'.

Criticisms? Inevitably. There was a tendency for cliche amongst the characters and the language - which is excusable considering the very narrow parameters of the context of the novel and the contrasting highlights of the dialogue more than making up for the lows and the endless and naff overuse of, for example, the 'kid' handle.

Also from a writing point of view, I found the romantic element of the story not so convincing, not the events or the emotion, but again the language - Frey excels at the brutal, but is a bit wishy washy with romance - but i still really enjoyed the James/Lilly elements. so, again, i'm happy to overlook this.

If there was one thing that really bugged me about this story (if it's a true story, then it must have been so, but...), whilst Frey (the man or the character) clearly fought very hard, it didn't escape me that, despite his vitriol towards other 'survivors' and, especially, other people's misunderstanding of how bad it is to be him, he seems to be a very lucky man - to meet the people he befriends and to have the ability to win over the staff, he certainly seems to have had a rather charmed escape, especially considering the portrait painted of a thoroughly despicable (though, naturally, well-meaning) human being - perhaps, just a little bit too much of Frey's Hollywood side showing through?  

Still, all in all, highly recommended and a great read; Frey has the potential to be a 21st century Henry Miller, a truly stunning portrayal of the beauty and drama of the truly pathetic protagonist, if only more literary heroes could be like this, these days.

by Gavin William Wright

The Unofficial 'Brit Writers and Writers Everywhere' blog.