Anyone else following this crazy thing? You would think with Hamas winning the majority of seats in Palestine that would be the big story, but apparently Oprah repeeling her praise is bigger. Anyone read this btw?

I didn't read the book, but I watched Oprah this afternoon (!) after getting tipped off she was going to pull back. I wasn't so sure how it would turn out, but I was surprised.

She fisted him right there in front of everyone. It was pretty awesome. He's a piece of shit, and for the most part, he only admitted lying about what TSG had already uncovered.

On an unrelated but media related note: Did you see that Keith Mills, sportscaster from Channel 2 WMAR in Baltimore was arrested for breaking into his 60+ year old cancer survivor neighbor's house and stealing her pills?

i thought that it was a little weird that he claimed to be a junkie from my hometown and i didn't recognize him, but then my wife liked the book so i decided that it was particularly unfair to ask an alcoholic to remember all the deatils of shit and stopped caring.

I've been reading this for the last month or so. It's alright. Nothing great. What exactly did Oprah do on the show?

She was always polite, but also stern. Here's a decent recap, but you miss out on Frey stumbling through answers, trying not to give up too much and gritting his teeth at the end of the show while an entire cast of characters basically called him a liar.

http://www.gawker.com/news/james-frey/james-frey-on-oprah-liveblogging-the-live-feed-150872.php

Our local news got all dramatic yesterday with comments about Oprah in danger of losing her credibility and blha blah blah as an intro to their showing clips later of what happened on her show.

They're morons. Who cares if Oprah, poor Oprah, picked the book for her book club and it was a lie. And who really is going to be mad at her for it?? Her idiot googly eyed fans?

If I see one more article about this incident and Oprah possibly ruined by this(I mean seriously what the fuck? I would say the publishing company and the editor in charge of that book will have more to lose) or Chicago newspeople being idiots about it, I"m going to scream.

As a writer, I feel a certain kinship with Frey--despite the revelations made by the Smoking Gun (who, quite frankly, should stick to posting celebrity mug-shots, and whose owns intentions should be questioned, given that they only looked into Frey's claims following the selection of his novel to Oprah's bookclub).

What good can come of this expose'? Frey is now a ruined man, a disgraced writer whose future work will not even be considered by any publisher.

I'm all for truth, honesty, dignity, and respect, but it strikes me that, sometimes, just sometimes, a person should be allowed to enjoy his/her success.

When I was a kid in a conservative Christian household, there was a comedian named Mike Warnke who was big in religious circles for his clever and funny albums about his early life as a Satanist and drug dealer, his harrowing experiences as a hippie shipped off to Vietnam, his conversion on the battlefield and his subsequent remarkable, if odd, life as a Christian comedian afterward.

In the 80's it came out he made most of it up. Didn't change the fact that his albums were very entertaining, but I kind of wished he would have just been left alone and not trampled all over. He was one of the few truly fun Christians I ever met when I was a kid. But religious media crucified him.

Pat's an evil prick, though. Warnke was like a religious David Crosby.

ok - being english, i 'm not fully conversant with this story - but from what i understand - a writer has composed a story, method-acted his way through publicity interviews, has been "exposed" as embellishing certain aspects (isn't that what writers *do*?) and has sold lots and lots of books.

i can't see the issue, i really can't. i know that some people are *really* upset about this - like their whole belief system has just crashed down - it the *real* problem that someone faked their way through an oprah show? dared to test the hyperbole that is/was her book club? what?

What he should have done is go yeah I made it all up, didn't I? And it was fun. Nernee Nernee. Buy my book.

Must be a slow week at the Oprah show.

I didn't read, but my wife enjoyed it.

The whole issue does'nt bother her at all. Call it fiction, a memoir, a fit of delusionary inserts in blacked out spaces, whatever you want.

Its a cross he'll have to bare himself, but the reader is going to get from the book what he/she will. It's a story. And the frickin' media picking him apart, now that's just crazy. Like the media doesn't pander, embellish, and sensationalize all the time.

It was a great book and i really enjoyed reading it. Whats his new one like? I might have to get it.

image what the reaction will be like when they finally hear that Noah made all that shit up.

Elvis Fu--Keith Mills...that is completely huge in MD. No one else will know how big of a story that is on Obner unfortunately.

As for the book--I think TSG has validity on their case. Just because he's a broken man doesn't mean there should be sympathy. He lied, and lied again. No excuses. Last night on Larry King, the main guy from TSG was on and he said they didn't go out looking to bust him, despite what they had heard. They initially got an email from someone saying, "hey why don't you get the mugshots of Frey?" They did research and were astounded that they couldn't find the info...this inevitably led to more questions and there you have it, they dug and found he was full of crap. His publisher/editor is highly respected within the literary community, so this is a huge blemish for her as well. Oprah was trying to save face after she publicly supported him numerous times. Frey as far as I care is a fraud.

Bob Dylans life is a lie, but i'm sure as shit going to buy his next album.

People have always lied in memoirs, etc but they don't swear on such things. They dance around the facts when directly asked. This guy blatantly said things.

That's what rubs me here - people enjoyed the book, and it was based on his real-life experiences. Just not 100% identical to them. His mistake was mostly in trying to present the book as factual. He should have just called it a novel, then promoted the fact that most of the book was taken directly from his real life experiences. Then people would still have been marvelling at his life and recovery, and Oprah would probably still have fawned all over him.

I understand that people feel duped, but was their love of the book due to it being a real story or was it due to it being a good read? I'd say if people enjoyed reading it, then they got what they paid for. If the only thing they come away with that left an impression is that his experiences were genuine, then the writing wasn't all that good and it wasn't all that great of a read. I haven't read or even as much as looked at the book - is the writing actually good?

I also feel sorry for him - not only is he ruined, but I have to wonder why he felt the need to exaggerate like he did. From my minimal experiences with recovering addicts, they're usually the people I trust to be straight-shooters, who aren't likely to do something like this because they know that addiction and its various related problems go beyond just the addiction itself. Lying, "embellishing," whatever, and passing it off as the truth doesn't seem very aligned with living a clean, sober life.

He didn't embellish. He lied. There's a big difference between not going to jail and going to jail. Somebody dying and somebody committing suicide. Having dental work done or having dental work done with no novacaine. And there is much more than that. I don't care because I never read the book and I never will. Fact is all addicts are con-artists, and this dude still is. If his book was originally printed as fiction, it would have never made Oprah's book club and never made him the money it did.

Also fully recovery means being honest about who you were as an addict. That's one of the basic principles of rehab.

Exactly. Also last night, they spoke to an individual who worked/s at the treatment center he mentioned that was brutal in the book. The man said that this place is cutting edge in its treatment, and world-renowned. If this stuff went on it would get out. It further discourages people from sending their loved ones who need treatment, because they might be afraid that this horrendous activities might happen to them while seeking treatment.

The Mayor said it best. It's interesting that so many publishers turned it down as a "novel" and that by slapping "memoir" on it, it got picked up and plugged like crazy. And publishers don't give a shit about fact-checking stuff like this.

I haven't read it, but imagining that the book is "true" really makes it that more enjoyable than if it had been justly labeled "fiction"? That's interesting in itself.

It's endlessly fascinating that with the increasing blur between truth and fiction in our cuture/politics/media that THIS is what makes people go batshit. I guess it's because it's a tiny story, easily squeezed into soundbites - the book club version of a Lacy Peterson story or Dick Cheney telling a congressman to fuck off. Little stories, easy to wrap your mind around, not much effort to get all Oprah-outraged.

And we as Americans love to fucking trash people for doing stuff we do all the time.