Book Club-A Million Little Pieces

I've read 60 pages so far and I'm in awe. The way the author describes the emotions and heart wrenching feeling of withdrawal is amazing.

What do you guys think about James so far??? Do you like him, do you think it's someone you can relate to or maybe even be friends with at some point and time?

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I am pretty close to finishing, I have a hard time reading through his guilt. I have to put the book down at times and don't pick it up till the next day. It is such a dark and lonely place. I am not a worrier at all, I don't have any regrets, so the fact that this guy feels so down is hard for me to take. I can't believe people have to live with so much self hate.

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This is an amazing story. I just finished it. I do agree at times it's hard to get through and I found my self needing a break after reading to much at once. I just can't imagine going through something like this. I have had my own family issues with addicitation and I'm am so thankful it wasn't even a dent into this story!

I would like to read his other book "my friend leonard" just to see what happens. It might take me a while to get through if its anything like the first one. Def worth finishing though.

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I feel the same, I am definitely not rushing through this book. I have to put it down a lot. I have a cousin with addiction problems, and I would hate to think that he feels this way, but he probably does.

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well, my brother has addiciton issues and I don't even think I want to know what he's done or doing...I was thinking last night about him and relating it to this book.


i just started getting bits & peices of Lucinda....she used drugs too right??? Don't give me too much just a little hint.

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I liked it a lot. I definitely liked his style. I thought the way he wrote certain things in caps was funny....like he would say, "my Parents are coming that weekend". It definitely was a lot to take in esp since I know people who have been through that. I think it is AMAZING that he has stayed clean. I really do. It takes a lot.....

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ahhhh finished. What a ride. I loved the updates. I am so glad he did that. I am looking so forward to my friend leonard

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I just started my best friend leanord. It picks up exactly where the other left off. It's really good so far.

I was super hard to find though. I went to 3 different stores before I finally found it in the Boarders by the Smithhaven Mall.

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I'll see if I can order Leonard from the library...

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I think the thing I found most amazing was the amount of self-hatered he had. He didn't seem to blame anyone but himself for his addiction, but it was tough to hear him talk about how little he felt emotionally sometimes.

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Well guys I'm halfway done w/ the book and I have to stop every so often because it's a lot to take in. The self hatred issue is really heartbreaking.

What did you guys think when he says that He can't deal looking into his own eyes? He hasn't been able to look at them for a very long time. It made me look into the mirror and realize that the eyes really are the windows to the soul. Through the eyes a person can say so much without speaking a single word.

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I know what you mean, I felt like it took me forever to get thru this book. I am still feeling pretty shaken from it.

I think you are exactly right about his eyes.

Did Oprah actually do a book club show with him? I would love to see him speak. You know, how she use to pick some people then meet with the author?

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sonia-here on some book club questions

PAGES 1–109

1. A Million Little Pieces presents some unusual formal innovations: Instead of using quotation marks, each piece of dialogue is set off on its own line with only occasional authorial indications of who is speaking; paragraphs are not indented; sentences sometimes run together without punctuation; and many passages read more like poetry than prose. How do these innovations affect the pace of the writing? How do they contribute to the book's rawness and immediacy?

2. A Million Little Pieces is a nonfiction memoir, but does it also read like a novel? How does Frey create suspense and sustain narrative tension throughout?

3. James is frequently torn between wanting to look into his own eyes to see himself completely and being afraid of what he might find: "I want to look beneath the surface of the pale green and see what's inside of me, what's within me, what I'm hiding. I start to look up but I turn away." (p. 32). Why can't James look himself in the eye? Why is it important that he do so?

4. After meeting with the Doctor (p. 93), James feels as though he's been given a death sentence and reviews his obituary in his head. He finds comfort in plotting his suicide. How does Leonard derail his plans? Were you surprised by their friendship?

5. Consider some of the moments of kindness and compassion and genuine human connection that make the book so moving. Why do these moments have such emotional power?

. What do James's memories of meeting "her" at college reveal?

2. When his brother Bob tells James he has to get better, James replies, "I don't know what happened or how I ever ended up like this, but I did … I don't know if I'm fixable" (p. 131). How and why do you think he ended up "like this"?

3. The reader is spared no details at the dentist or during James's morning rituals. We become as intimate with his thoughts as we are with the contents of his stomach. How is James Frey's unconventional style appropriate for this story? Is this way of writing about addiction more powerful than an objective study might be?

4. What are the sources of James's rage and self-hatred? How do these feelings fuel his addictions? Discuss how James uses physical pain as an outlet for his Fury.

5. James connects with the Tao Te Ching when the Twelve Steps literature and the Bible leave him cold. How is this little book of ancient Chinese wisdom relevant to the issues an addict must face?

Re: Book Club-A Million Little Pieces

1. A Million Little Pieces presents some unusual formal innovations: Instead of using quotation marks, each piece of dialogue is set off on its own line with only occasional authorial indications of who is speaking; paragraphs are not indented; sentences sometimes run together without punctuation; and many passages read more like poetry than prose. How do these innovations affect the pace of the writing? How do they contribute to the book's rawness and immediacy?

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Without quotation marks, I found at times I wondered if he was thinking that line, or was he saying it out loud. I think it helped encourage the fact that his thoughts were going a mile a minute. He is very quick and extremely witty. I think quotes would have seperated the flow.

I also felt that his writing style presented a cold atmosphere. Quotes, and he said, she said would have created a much more easy, safe atmosphere. It was raw and cold, which helped that even though he wrote it sober, it took us back to when he was a crackhead.

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Wow...Janice great observation and you are so right. The sentences do run on and sometimes have no begining or end just like the way he's feeling at that point in his life. Confused and trying to figure out how he started there and when it's all going to end.

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really? that was nice.


Yeah, she looked pretty young still and she cried a lot. Oprah hugged her and told her that James knew about it but had decided to surprise her.

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My mom just bought this book-I can't wait till she is done so I can read it!