James Frey

[Weltall]

As you may or may not know, a man named James Frey wrote a book several years ago, "A Million Little Pieces", an autobiographical story of drug addiction and criminal lifetstyle. It was a top seller and was famously a part of Oprah's book club by virtue of the very gritty, graphic nature of the story and the underlying message of inspiration.

Then along comes The Smoking Gun, which exposes many of "Pieces" scenarios as heavily-embellished or outright fraudulent. At first Frey angrily denied the charges but has since relented.

Now, in what has to be the most humiliating event of any man's life in this century, he re-appeared on Oprah's show, where he was promptly and bluntly dressed down by the hostess. His answers were dodgy and avoidant.

I haven't read the book, as true-life inspiration stories really aren't my thing, but I'm curious to now.

Given that he has essentially conceded his guilt, I am given to rather dislike this man for being given such a golden opportunity to find literary success and using it to basically make a profit off of lies and fabrications. This is totally okay, except when you pass your story off as non-fiction. I would kill to not only publish my work, but to see the same kind of success he has seen.

Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?