James Frey's memoir of drug addition and recovery was a bestseller even before
Oprah Winfrey picked it for her book club in 2005, but the subsequent revelations
about discrepancies between the story and the author's real life touched off
a national debate about the line between fact and fiction.

Filled with graphic scenes of epic substance abuse and the torments of withdrawal,
A Million Little Pieces was widely heralded upon its publication as a harrowing,
self-lacerating, and courageously confessional autobiography. It received many
admiring critical reviews, carried cover endorsements from noted literati, and
was selected by Barnes & Noble as a 2003 Discover pick. (Our reviewer called Frey
prodigiously talented, poetic, and unflinchingly honest).

In January 2006, the author acknowledged the truth of charges that many details
in the book were embellished or fabricated. In a note to readers that was prepared
for subsequent printings, he apologized to those who felt they had been misled and
explained why he wrote the book the way he did. Reactions to these revelations
included soul-searching by publishers about their responsibilities for ensuring
accuracy, ruminations by critics on the line between fact and fiction in modern
culture, and spirited defenses of the author by readers who maintained that
the book's inspirational message was of primary importance. One thing seems
certain: A Million Little Pieces is a book that promises to have a long-lasting
impact.

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