A Million Little Pieces in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Dec 10, 2009 Kristin rated it really liked it

Even though this book was highly controversial and is now considered more fiction than nonfiction, I was curious to see what all the fuss was over. Going in, I thought it was about a guy battling mental illness, not addiction, but the effect was the same. While the book was obviously biased in favor of the narrator, I found myself supporting him and his mindset over that of the people trying to help him. Perhaps it is the stubbornness I harbor, but every time the counselors told him 'you must do Even though this book was highly controversial and is now considered more fiction than nonfiction, I was curious to see what all the fuss was over. Going in, I thought it was about a guy battling mental illness, not addiction, but the effect was the same. While the book was obviously biased in favor of the narrator, I found myself supporting him and his mindset over that of the people trying to help him. Perhaps it is the stubbornness I harbor, but every time the counselors told him 'you must do the 12 steps, it's the only thing that will work' and Frey rebelled, I empathized with him and was happy when he stood his ground saying he knew what would work for him, and participating in something he didn't believe in would not serve to keep him sober. I have never been an addict, and I'm sure those programs are what keep many addicts going, but I am a firm believer in self-motivation and sticking to one's gut feelings, and like Frey noted, he'd rather find his own way wherever that might lead than have to lean on others and spread blame if something goes wrong.
While reading this book, knowing that many of the events described may be purely fictional actually made it a more enjoyable read because otherwise I think I would have found myself questioning the truthfulness of it often, whereas I could attribute some of the less believable parts to the author's creative license. I did lose track of people at certain times, such as when Roy is tormenting James while James is trying to keep the bathrooms clean, I did not recall that Roy was the same guy who introduced James to the Unit, or when James is approached by a fellow who is pretty pissed off that James keeps calling him Gene Hackman, and that guy ends up being James' best friend on the unit (though throughout the book, I constantly imagined Leonard as a black man and not a guy who looks like Gene Hackman). As a fiction book, it was a pretty good one, with a flowing plot, likeable characters, and enough description to stimulate my imagination as I read it.
Frey's writing style was my biggest issue with the book, as he at times made it hard to follow. Quotation marks were nonexistent, and capital letters at the beginning of nouns were abundant. No paragraph indents either, so in a conversation, if someone's quote was approximately a line long, if was tough to tell if the same person said the next line or someone new was speaking. Also, being a first-person account, Frey's thoughts are included, and it's tough to know whether he said certain things or just thought them. By the end of the book, there were also frequent misspellings as if he got lazy while finishing it up. While I liked the perspective and flow of the book, a good editor would have improved the readability. ...more

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