Today Oprah acknowledged in front of millions of people that she was wrong to endorse James Frey's A Million Little Pieces in her phone call to Larry King, giving the impression that the truth doesn't matter.
Frey admitted that the Smoking Gun's report was essentially correct; he spent mere hours in jail, not three months. He said that the embellishments to his memoir were "coping mechanisms", allowing him to view himself as badder and tougher than he really was during his druggie days. However, he hemmed and hawed about other details: The bloody plane trip, the horrific visit to the dentist, Lily's suicide. He said nothing about the train incident, nor did he apologize to the people who were slighted by his lies. By the end of the show I was feeling that Frey simply doesn't get it.
The truth does matter. Addicts latched on to Frey's story because if he could get through all that, so can they. Some may have avoided treatment after reading of Frey's horrible experiences in rehab and his rejection of AA.
He received kudos and sympathy from millions of people who thought he had been scapegoated for a tragic accident, that a stint in jail prevented him from rescuing his girlfriend (in reality, he now says, he was wrapping up loose ends in North Carolina when Lily killed herself), that he bonded with an illiterate cellmate in jail and introduced him to the wonders of literature. He received financial, professional, and emotional rewards for telling his story; we rewarded his "coping mechanisms" by buying and reading his book.
Sadly, the Frey incident is far from an isolated incident - but, given the book's high-profile status, it serves as a rude wake-up call to the publishing industry. Whether they take something from this lesson, or continue to let themselves and the reading public be duped by frauds will tell us much about the value of truth in our society.
On a happier note, Oprah has selected another memoir as her next book, and it's one that has stood the test of time: Elie Weisel's Night.
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10 comments:
where do we draw the line between fiction/non fiction, with fiction you have to do your research and incorporate some truths to make it believable and in non fiction you have to juice the story up some to keep the reader from falling asleep, It creeps me out all this hype Oprah's doing... give the guy a break
Oh, bah! You don't have to juice it up so much that you're flat-out lying. This guy deserves to be called on the carpet.
This is coming from Mr. Totally Honest? We all know Doug wouldn't do it!
Weird, isn't it? If I wrote a memoir and made up two-thirds of it (which I never would), I'd never hear the end of it... ;D
Yeah, Doug would be the one calling Oprah on you. ;)
I read that Oprah blamed the publishers for misrepresenting the book, on top of the author's lying through his teeth. This is a lesson for her, too, to do a bit of frickin' research before endorsing something. It's called due dilligence, Oprah!
I think the bulk of the blame should fall on publishers; Nan Talese & other mid-sized publishers can usually afford to hire fact-checkers. But, of course, so can Oprah. Everyone needs to think more critically when reading nonfiction.
Yeah, I agree: the publishers are at fault, too. It makes everybody look stupid, actually, because if the Smoking Gun can get the goods, then so can everyone else. This is all on public record, right?
I find it astonishing that Oprah can sit there on tv and wag her finger like she is somehow above being duped and how dare he- it was an awfully uncomfortable display of power and control-seeking on her part-I can make you, I can break you kind of action, a reprimand. It's up to her producers to fact check and thoroughly background check their choices; of course the publishers are to blame- he tried to market it as a novel but no one would bite. But is anyone really surprised that parts are fabricated? I read it and was really moved by it- I found myself denying it's factuality, ironically, because I found it so tough at times. But here's the thing- he's an addict in the throes of recovery- he will always be an addict, always be in recovery-unless he relapses- and there are certain issues that take a lifetime to work through- trust, culpability, communication- I can't expect him to have his stuff together after a few months in rehab.
However, he lied, or took creative liberties with the truth and he needs to acknowledge that. I think the uproar comes form people feeling like they were duped and that makes them question their own sense of trust, belief and gullability perhaps. He's a writer and he's an addict and what people champion one minute, they will villify and destrot the next- it's a horrible Grimm fairy tale, isn't it?
Now that Frey has gotten his figurative spanking, it's time to let him redeem himself. He's already said he won't write any more "nonfiction", so who knows? Maybe he'll be a fine fiction writer someday. He's fairly young and deserves one more chance. (But only one!) :)
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