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What's wrong with some
fiction in the right places?
of TheColumnists.com
In a society copiously sprinkled with liars and cheats–check Administration, check corporate America–the squabble over James Frey’s book "A Million Little Pieces" provokes in me a humongous yawn.
One major beef from Frey’s dedicated
downtrodders concerns the book’s alleged adverse effect
on the AA’s time-tested addiction cure procedure. It’s
the one beef I can respect. But I don’t recall from my reading
that Frey crusaded against the 12-Step Recovery system. He simply
stated that it didn’t work for him.
Regarding the truth, consider Frey’s fabrication about the
time he claimed to have spent in jail. What harm has this inflicted
on readers compared with Administration lies that led to the
mindless invasion of Iraq and the insurgent response that resulted
in the killing and maiming of an untold number of our troops
and other innocent victims?
Or weigh Frey’s “lies” against those of corporate
execs that converted millions of dollars in 401K assets to wallpaper
and thousands of retirement nest eggs to worthless omelets. Were
Shakespeare alive today, it’s a safe bet he would be busily
engaged writing a sequel to Much Ado About Nothing.
The day is long overdue for Frey’s self-righteous persecutors
to get real. Time-travel your psyche back to a young would-be
novelist informed by a possibly interested publisher that his
book wouldn’t make it as fiction but might go as a memoir.
Add to the recipe pressure from a dollar-driven agent motivated
more by commissions than ethics. Realistically, how many untainted
truth advocates have so much as an inkling of what it takes for
an unknown author–even one as talented as Frey--to sell
a novel in today’s marketplace? As a knowledgeable guest
assured Larry King, it’s as close to impossible as one could
get.
Realistically, what author in Frey’s
shoes wouldn’t have yielded to agent-publisher pressures
if that’s what it took to sell the book? Keep in mind, he
had tried to sell himself as a novelist, not a journalist. Okay,
so the guy went thoughtlessly overboard to some extent, something
others in the publishing loop should have picked up on well ahead
of publication. Even so, compared to the scary issues threatening
our lives and economic well being today, what’s the big
deal?
Finally, and most significantly: How many readers, critics included,
believe that Frey’s fabrications or exaggerations–label
them as you wish–were intended to harm readers or anyone
else? Very much the contrary, the impression I got was that Frey
spilled out his heart and gut to hammer home to the world in
general and addicts in particular the unspeakably horrendous
consequences of drug and alcohol addiction. His motivation, as
I view it, was clearly to heal not to harm.
I, for one, found Frey’s book moving and inspirational.
The one goof I do deplore committed by author, agent, publisher,
lawyers–and Oprah–was the failure to include a blurb
up front informing readers that some information and events,
due to the failings of memory, or the author’s effort to
pound home a point more intensely, might have been misstated
or exaggerated.
Whatever the case, I’m on your side, Mr. Frey. Keep on writing,
please, and fact or fiction, count me as one of your fans.
©2006 by Ray Dreyfack.
This story first posted Feb. 20, 2006.
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