Robin

I basically missed a day of work listening to this book! It was so good I could not turn it off, so I sat at my desk doing busy work while listening!

As I listened to it, I thought, 'There but for the grace of God go I'! While the main character is not perfect, she let a few mistakes snowball out of control.

The reading was wonderful - especially the reading by the author - the accents were fabulous. I think it had to be better than actually reading it!

James Frey wants the world to feel sorry for him. He wants to be the hero that overcame a vicious addiction. Sorry. I ain't buying it!
I tryed to listen to this book from both the perspective that it was mostly fiction as well as autobiographical. Either way, it is a whiny, snivelling, repetitive book.
As an autobiography, it is not a believable storyline. Having had experiences with AA, detox, and rehab myself I can call BS on Mr. Frey. It simply doesn't work the way he says it does.
If it was written as fiction, it has poorly developed and unbelievable characters. And as fiction, too many of the events are too over the top to believe.
FINALLY, in his own "ripped from the headlines" twist, Frey has to throw in a jab at the Catholic church (no, I am not a Catholic) by bringing a perverted priest into the story at the end. This, along with the other lies in the book, were just too much to take.
After finishing the book, I read "The Smoking Gun" report that checked the veracity of the story. Now that I know just how LITTLE of this book is fact, and how MUCH is fiction, I like the book even less.
ON A GOOD NOTE, AND WHY I GAVE IT TWO STARS INSTEAD OF ONLY ONE...the reading is fantastic! I truly think I liked this a lot more hearing it than if I had read it.
Peraps Frey could next time write about his privleged upbringing, his normal high school years (yes, he was just a normal high school kid), his fraternity days, and his fooling of the American public. Now that would be an autobiography...but I guess it wouldn't sell well enough!

I loved this book not only because it was a good mystery (although it is not really a mystery who killed the little girl!), but I really liked that it was told from the perspective of the child that was murdered. It made me realize that so much of our grieving is about us and that those that have passed would not want our lives to end because of their death. Instead, by living a productive exicting life we can memorialize our lost loved ones better.