Book #1 - Done!

James Frey's A Million Little Pieces has it all: conflict, love, failure, success, hope, fear. It is not for the weak of heart - vividly describing a double root canal sans anesthesia or pain meds post-op. It is also not for anyone with a sensetivity to adult themes and language. It is a book that chronicles one man's trip to and through rehab; and he pulls no punches. Definitely not for kids.

Frey does not subscribe to the AA Twelve Step Program. He's very cavilier. But personally, I like his attitude because for my own struggles and vices I can either blame "genetics" or sickness or I can take personal responsibility and say, "it ends with me".

But seeing as how I'm not a recovering addict or someone searching for the light at the end of "the darkest darkness" tunnel, I found the book compelling. I don't really care if Frey embellished his tale. I especially don't care that one of the major contentious points was the amount of time he spent in jail - something that is not chronicled and only mentioned through the end of the story.

Yes, I tried to read The Smoking Gun article detailing the contradictions...and I found I just don't care. I read it as a book, I accepted it as a form of historical fiction - based in reality, but certainly not Absolute Truth. Perhaps it is because I think of things from my past often through the proverbial rose-colored glasses. There are things that I am told happened that I do not remember - and I've never done drugs or excessive alcohol or just randomly blacked out. There are things that I am told happened differerntly than I recall.

Not to belittle those with serious chemical addictions, but I think we all have addictions; some more serious than others, but they're addictions nonetheless.

Bottom line, this is a good book; it's intense and well written. For me, it was not life-changing. I'm even tempted to read the follow-up book My Friend Leonard that picks up where this left off and talks about his rehab "dad", a patient named (duh) Leonard. But for now, I'm moving from drug addiction to focus on my own personal addiction - FOOD...up next, Julia Child's My Life in France. I can't wait!