A Million Little Pieces

By: James Frey

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

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 uncommonly genuine account 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.

*In January 2006, the author and publisher of this title acknowledged that a number of facts had been altered and incidents embellished.

Find out what life is like for James Frey post-rehab; make his second memoir, My Friend Leonard, your next listen.Or check out more selections from Oprah's Book Club.

©2003 James Frey (P)2003 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"A Million Little Pieces is this generation's most comprehensive book about addiction: a heartbreaking memoir defined by its youthful tone and poetic honesty." (Bret Easton Ellis)

Intense

Very intense, was drawn deep into James' life, felt like I was the one in withdrawal

Loved It

Although much is said about whether the story is a true memoir or not, I still loved the story and the way it was presented, written or read.

Good

I like that no stone left unturned everything is everything pretty awesome if I say so

Wonderful

Wonderfully written and read. James Frey's experience is candid, real, and gives great insight into the obsessive compulsive negative thinking that is common to addicts. Amazing single-minded recovery without any gloss.

Great performance of a mostly good book

The narrator's performance of James Frey's Million is excellent. Narrator Oliver Wyman is perfect for the role and gives an impassioned performance. The book itself loses points (not many in my opinion) because of events surrounding the Oprah authenticity fiasco. It made me wonder if it helped the believability of the narrative considering Frey admittedly dramatized the severity of his addiction and related trials and tribulations. Notwithstanding, it is still a good story and worth a listen especially if you're a fan of addiction drama. There are still lessons to be learned here. I would also recommend Dry by Augusten Burroughs and the Tweak by Nic Scheff. We all Fall Down by Nic Sheff and this book's sequel, My Friend Leonard are ones to consider as well if you can't get enough of this stuff.

A classic of Heavy Drug and Alcohol Abuse

What did you love best about A Million Little Pieces?

The character's absolute reckless attitude even when he was not using.

What did you like best about this story?

It was a great story, well read.

What does Oliver Wyman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He does a great job jumping to the different characters pulling you into the story.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I love the title already and wouldn't change it.

Any additional comments?

Great book about addiction and recovery.

loved it!!

Great story told very passionately..gives us all hope that where ever we are in life there's hope..

melodramatic fiction

the narrator did a wonderful job of dramatizing the writing. but the best part of this audio book is the lengthy profile of an addict in early recovery, melodramatic, self centered, oozing "poor me". the writing is terrible, repetitive, cliche, but it's realistic because it seems like it's what full blown addicts would really write. of course you can't believe it all. addicts before recovery don't always tell 100% true stories. it's hard to believe some people thought this was a true story when the book originally came out. so many characters and situations are so cliche. some parts were painfully melodramatic but if you can get past them overall it's a good listen.

it helps me understand what my son is going though

I loved it, listened to it twice already, being a true story or not, it was so well done and written, I could feel the pain and confusion of the main character. My son is going though the same right now,don't know where he is or what he is doing. I relate him with this book. It has helped me understand addiction better. Just a wonderful written book!!

Walter

This book is an intense moving story,
you can't put it down.