A Million Little Pieces

By: James Frey

Narrated by: L.J. Ganser

By the time James Frey enters a drug and alcohol treatment facility, he has so thoroughly ravaged his body that the doctors are shocked he is still alive. Inside the clinic, he is surrounded by patients as troubled as he: a judge, a mobster, a former world-champion boxer, and a fragile former prostitute. To James, their friendship and advice seem stronger and truer than the clinic's droning dogma of "How to Recover".

James refuses to consider himself a victim of anything but his own bad decisions. He insists on accepting sole accountability for the person he has been and the person he may become - which he feels runs counter to his counselor's recipes for recovery. He must fight to survive on his own terms, for reasons close to his own heart. And he must battle the ever-tempting chemical trip to oblivion.

An uncommon accounting of a life destroyed and reconstructed, and a provocative alternative understanding of the nature of addiction and the meaning of recovery, A Million Little Pieces marks the debut of a bold and talented literary voice.

©2003 James Frey (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

EYE OPENING

my husband, a recovering addict, asked me to read this book to understand the struggle he went through. he said it hits home HARD. Whether all the events are true or not he says it's 100 percent a story in the life of an addict. you can tell James Frey knows what it's like to feel what they feel. It really helped me understand even more. Superb!

Controversy

I almost didn't read this because of the reviews. I'm glad I chose to anyway. There were times where I wished he'd stop repeating himself and for something new to happen. But, I understand that was to express exactly how he was feeling in the situation. I'm also not a memoir reader. I like excitement and thrill stories. I read this one bc I've been struggling with alcoholism. I liked his perspective. I think it's refreshing to know someone can become sober in a way they or the specialist aren't familiar with. I don't care about the controversy of this book, whether the details about things that really didn't matter were true or not. I learned from his perspective and I would suggest this to anyone struggling with addiction and anyone who has a loved one struggling.

I didn’t care what happened

This book was so highly reviewed that I was sure I would love it. I didn’t. The author spent so much time on describing the mundane (examples, where every piece of furniture was located, puking in great detail 6 or 7 times, every time a character looked to one side or scratched their wrist). Little time was spent developing characters so when I was more than halfway through the book I realized that I wasn’t invested in any of them. I didn’t care what happened to the main character or anybody else. I was bored, the story just seemed to repeat the same situations, over and over and over again. I gave up and picked a new book.

very raw

raw and honest. I love that he did his own thing and showed that he could.

excellent

excellent book if you have ever been to rehab or have ever dealt with someone with a addiction