a million little lies? Options

[*not_your_average*]

Oprah confronts Frey about disputed memoir

CHICAGO (AP) — In a stunning switch from dismissive to disgusted, Oprah Winfrey took on one of her chosen authors, James Frey, accusing him on live television of lying about A Million Little Pieces and letting down the many fans of his memoir of addiction and recovery.

"I feel duped," she said Thursday on her syndicated talk show. "But more importantly, I feel that you betrayed millions of readers."

Frey, who found himself booed in the same Chicago studio where he had been embraced not long ago, acknowledged that he had lied.

A sometimes angry, sometimes tearful Winfrey asked Frey why he "felt the need to lie." Audience members often groaned and gasped at Frey's halting, stuttered admissions that certain facts and characters had been "altered" but that the essence of his memoir was real.

"I don't think it is a novel," Frey said of his book, which had initially been offered to publishers, and rejected by many, as fiction. "I still think it's a memoir."

Thursday's broadcast, rare proof that the contents of a book can lead to great tabloid TV, marked an abrupt reversal from the cozy chat two weeks ago on Larry King Live, when Winfrey phoned in to support Frey and label alleged fabrications as "much ado about nothing."

"I left the impression that the truth is not important," Winfrey said Thursday of last week's call, saying that "e-mail after e-mail" from supporters of the book had cast a "cloud" over her judgment.

On a segment that also featured the book's publisher, Nan A. Talese of Doubleday, Frey was questioned about various parts of his book, from the three-month jail sentence he now says he never served to undergoing dental surgery without Novocain, a story he no longer clearly recalls.

Winfrey, whose apparent indifference to the memoir's accuracy led to intense criticism, including angry e-mails on her website, subjected Frey to a virtual page-by-page interrogation. No longer, as she told King, was she saying that emotional truth mattered more than the facts. "Mr. Bravado Tough Guy," she mockingly called the author whose book she had enshrined last fall and whose reputation she had recently saved.

Talese and Doubleday were not spared. Winfrey noted that her staff had been alerted to possible discrepancies in Frey's book, only to be assured by the publisher. She lectured Talese on her responsibilities: "I'm trusting you, the publisher, to categorize this book whether as fiction or autobiographical or memoir."

Talese, an industry veteran whose many authors have included Ian McEwan, George Plimpton and Thomas Cahill, told Winfrey that editors who saw the book raised no questions and that A Million Pieces received a legal vetting. She acknowledged that the book had not been fact-checked, something many publishers say they have little time to do.

In a statement issued later Thursday, Doubleday, which initially had called the allegations not worth looking into, said it had "sadly come to the realization that a number of facts have been altered and incidents embellished."

The publisher said an author's note was being prepared that will be sent to booksellers to insert into current editions and that any future printings would be delayed until the note is included in the actual book. But no changes in the text are planned and the book will remain classified as a memoir.

Winfrey's words also were harsher than her actions. She did not unleash publishing's version of the death penalty: revoking her endorsement, a devastating and unprecedented action. Only once before has she turned, relatively mildly, on a book club pick: In 2001, she withdrew her invitation for Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections, to appear on her show after the novelist expressed ambivalence over her endorsement.

Her current choice is Elie Wiesel's classic, Night, a memoir with a concise, literary style that has led some to call it a novel.

Three years ago, Frey stepped up as publishing's latest and baddest bad boy, with tattooed initials on his arm — "FTBSITTTD" — bearing a defiant and unprintable message. Winfrey's selection made his book a million seller and Frey a hero to many who believed his story was theirs.

"In order to get through the experience of the addiction, I thought of myself as being tougher than I was and badder than I was, and it helped me cope," Frey said Thursday on Winfrey's show. "And when I was writing the book, instead of being as introspective as I should have been, I clung to that image."

Frey's career will likely never recover, although so far he has not suffered for sales. His book, a million seller thanks to Winfrey, remained in the top 5 Thursday on Amazon.com. A second memoir, My Friend Leonard, was in the top 20.

He currently has a two-book deal with Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, with a novel about contemporary Los Angeles due in 2007. The publisher did not have an immediate comment Thursday.

Beyond Frey, and his publishers, stories of suffering may themselves take a fall. Frey's saga comes at a time when the work, and even the identities, of such alleged hard-luck authors as J.T. Leroy and Nasdijj have been questioned. St. Martin's Press recently added a disclaimer to an upcoming book by Augusten Burroughs, another memoirist who has been challenged.

"I think for a while, this will make people careful," said Ashbel Green, a senior editor at Alfred A. Knopf.

"But this question of fact checking is a complicated one. At The New Yorker and Time and Newsweek, you have experienced people who know where to go and what's right and what's wrong. We don't. There's been a traditional dependency on the author."

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/20...rey-oprah_x.htm

Wow, I'm speechless. I actually wanted to read this book, and now I'm just flat-out disappointed.

[Saeglopur]

Though wasn't real, it was still a pretty good book. I enjoyed it.

[Teesa]

Hmm, I haven't read the book, but I don't think I'll be reading it in the future. I can't believe he lied. I just don't understand how anyone could just do that...but I'm glad Oprah confronted him. That interview was horrible. He couldn't give a straight answer, he was muttering all the time, and he just didn't know what he was talking about. What a bad person.

[Levy2k6]

funny but I didn't hear about this today in the radio...

they said that even after he confessed to his lies, the book is still gonna be a best seller.. it's got more press..

this was also a good move of Oprah because now by confession of her embarrasement, her ratings are gonna way up now too.. it was a weird thing but yeah..

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html has all the lies

[*tweeak*]

So am I alone in thinking it doesn't really matter? I heard it was a good book, and intended to read it at some point, and I don't think its not being factual actually matters if it's a good read. There's a certain amount of fiction to every autobiography anyway because memory is biased and imperfect. Besides which, we all read fictional stories and enjoy them - who cares that it never happened? It doesn't matter to me in the slightest whether or not the book I'm reading is fictional or otherwise, because when you read something, you're going to have your own idea of it anyway. I can also buy that it's a memoir. Plenty of memoirs are exaggerated; that's what makes them interesting. I think this whole ordeal is ridiculous.

[technicolour]

I still think this is stupid at how much they are blowing it out of proportion.

[Gerifan04]

I've heard about this. I don't mind that he made up some things in his book, thats fine. But I do think its up to him to be truthful. Its one thing to not remember events as they truly happened, we all do that at times. But to make up things that never happened and call a book nonfiction is wrong in my opinion. It can still be a good story regardless of categorey. But things might affect us differently depending on if its true or not.

[Levy2k6]

I still think this is stupid at how much they are blowing it out of proportion.

the reason is huge is because of Oprah... one of the most powerful persons in the world.... the media and ratings they are getting through this is going through the roof.. soo big.. we are talking about it here on CB!

[Gigi]

I saw that.

I'm a bit miffed that he would lie about it, but I don't really see the huge deal. Just change it from memoir to fiction, and there you go. Problem solved.

The whole truth thing didn't matter to me, I just enjoyed the book as a fiction.

So if you're thinking about not reading the book because he lied, well...all I can say to that is that you're missing out.

[Tribal J_Rome]

damn. i watched him the first time he was on oprah and that made me wanna get the book. i don't wanna get it anymore.

[Vaness336]

It was a good book. It's a bummer the guy lied. He should have just said it was "based on actual events" that would have been much more accurate.

[jeung]

moved to interests -> books forum