Truth or What?
One of the big publishing stories last fall was the immediate skyrocket of fame to James Frey and his memoir, A Million Little Pieces after Oprah was overwhelmed by the book and made it her book club suggestion. As often has been the case, it became a "runaway" bestseller.

You may notice that it is on my reading list on the right sidebar here. I have been working my way through it. It is SO INTENSE in the beginning that I have been unable to do more than a couple days of reading at a time. The language is heavily laced with the Big F word. As a drug and alcohol counselor I find the portrait of addiction compelling and certainly realistic. It has been interesting reading and seeing how Frey moves into very early recovery.

Well, now there is controversy. Some people have been doing some investigating and they say that the police reports cast doubt on the memoir.

But there might be less to Frey than meets the eye, according to the Smoking Gun website, which reported Sunday that it had been unable to substantiate significant portions of Frey's book, including arrests and court actions for which public records should be available.

The website's investigation, which began in November, sparked an Internet fracas involving Frey, who first broke the news Saturday night by posting a Smoking Gun e-mail to him on his bigjimindustries.com website.
--LA Times

I don't know what all this might mean, of course, or how true the memoir is. All I know is that it is a powerful book and a compelling insight into the nightmare that is addiction.