Bennett's Book Nook 2
Morgan Goodman
A Million Little Pieces
Top Ten List (his feelings)
- "If you arent afraid of dying theres nothing you cant do" What he means when he is saying that is you can do anything in the world if you arent afarid of death.
- "I sit, I listen, and i think" James says this because he is taking in everything he was told during his group meeting. He has alot of time to think to much time.
- "Addiction is a decision" It is a decison because you choose to pick up the drug and do it and choose to do it over and over again.
- "Fix your problems by forgetting your problems" If you forget all the hard times then you wont have any problems.
- "one second i want to cry, one second i want to kill, one second i want to doe" James is feeling all of these emotions because he is a very emotional person and has alot of problems in his life.
- " Im alone. Alone here and alone in the world" James lets his emotions get the best of him and he feels alone because he has no one there for him, no one to guide him and support him.
- "I cant look into my own eyes" He says that because he literally makes himself sick and cant look into his own eyes because he doesnt want to face the reality of what he has done to himself.
Thematically Speaking
The most interesting part of the story was when he woke up on a plane not knowing where he was going and what he was doing on the plane. Hewas in alot of pain but the flight attendent was told to just leave him be. When he got off the plane his parents where there he was very confused of what was going on. They drove in the car for hours and when they showed up to the clinic that was the last place he was excpeting to be. This is a important part of the story becasue it is the begging of the story that beggings all of the maddness that is about to happen in the story.
Best Seller/ Discount Shelf
My friend Meris forwarded me this article which has to be the most scathing review of a book I’ve ever read. For those of you who don’t have the long term memory of fish, you may remember a book entitled A MILLION LITTLE PIECES by James Frey which was surrounded by controversy when he was exposed to have lied about many things he passed off as fact. This was such a big deal because it was supposed to be his ‘life story’, a non-fiction memoir that rocked early readers with it’s earnestness. I’ve yet to read it, and I don’t think I ever will after having it summed up for me by eXile reviewer John Dolan in such a way…
Frey sums up his entire life in one sentence from p. 351 of this 382-page memoir: “I took money from my parents and I spent it on drugs.” Given the simplicity and familiarity of the story, you might wonder what Frey does in the other 381 pages.
Dolan brutally tears into Frey here too…
For all Frey’s childish impersonation of the laconic Hemingway style, this is one of the most heavily padded pieces of prose I’ve seen since I stopped reading first-year student essays. Frey manages to puff up this simple story to book length thanks to one simple gimmick: he repeats. Repeats the beginnings of sentences. Repeats the beginnings of phrases. And the endings. Endings of phrases. Phrases and sentences.
Ironically, Dolan questions the authenticity of Frey’s story long before the Oprah incident which we all know now to be a fair observation. If you don’t know anything about Frey-Gate you can read all about it here or at wikipedia.
Okay, I get it. The man sold 3.5 million (at the time) copies of a book based on lies. But honestly I’ve never read someone’s memoir and walked away taking every single thing written as absolute reality. To make any story good you’d have to enhance, embellish and at times create entire scenarios. Oprah similarly touted WHITE OLEANDER which was a fictional work by Janet Fitch back in '99 and it was as popular. If things had been different and that the memoir that was revealed to be fictional, would it make the work any less poignant? Somehow Frey is a bad person because he he wrote a book where he portrays himself as the tough, incredibly interesting person we all want to be but probably aren’t. Big deal. He’s a writer and he did his job, he wrote a book.
This whole thing spawned publisher Random House to actually give out refunds for anyone who felt 'somehow defrauded’ after reading A MILLION LITTLE PIECES. Those refunds should have been hand delivered and accompanied by a man in a suit who would punch every recipient in the face for being that obliviously dim.
Unless you were publisher Riverhead who’d signed Frey to a seven figure book deal, then the man and his publisher owe you nothing save for this public apology.
You can read John Dolan’s hysterical roasting of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES entitled “A Million Pieces of Shit” here.
Frey sums up his entire life in one sentence from p. 351 of this 382-page memoir: “I took money from my parents and I spent it on drugs.” Given the simplicity and familiarity of the story, you might wonder what Frey does in the other 381 pages.
Dolan brutally tears into Frey here too…
For all Frey’s childish impersonation of the laconic Hemingway style, this is one of the most heavily padded pieces of prose I’ve seen since I stopped reading first-year student essays. Frey manages to puff up this simple story to book length thanks to one simple gimmick: he repeats. Repeats the beginnings of sentences. Repeats the beginnings of phrases. And the endings. Endings of phrases. Phrases and sentences.
Ironically, Dolan questions the authenticity of Frey’s story long before the Oprah incident which we all know now to be a fair observation. If you don’t know anything about Frey-Gate you can read all about it here or at wikipedia.
Okay, I get it. The man sold 3.5 million (at the time) copies of a book based on lies. But honestly I’ve never read someone’s memoir and walked away taking every single thing written as absolute reality. To make any story good you’d have to enhance, embellish and at times create entire scenarios. Oprah similarly touted WHITE OLEANDER which was a fictional work by Janet Fitch back in '99 and it was as popular. If things had been different and that the memoir that was revealed to be fictional, would it make the work any less poignant? Somehow Frey is a bad person because he he wrote a book where he portrays himself as the tough, incredibly interesting person we all want to be but probably aren’t. Big deal. He’s a writer and he did his job, he wrote a book.
This whole thing spawned publisher Random House to actually give out refunds for anyone who felt 'somehow defrauded’ after reading A MILLION LITTLE PIECES. Those refunds should have been hand delivered and accompanied by a man in a suit who would punch every recipient in the face for being that obliviously dim.
Unless you were publisher Riverhead who’d signed Frey to a seven figure book deal, then the man and his publisher owe you nothing save for this public apology.
You can read John Dolan’s hysterical roasting of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES entitled “A Million Pieces of Shit” here.
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"B" sides/imports
- “The first time I saw you, my heart fell. The second time I saw you, my heart fell. The third time fourth time fifth time and every time since, my heart has fallen.
I stared at her.
You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Your hair, your eyes, your lips, your body that you haven't grown into, the way you walk, smile, laugh, the way your cheeks drop when you're mad or upset, the way you drag your feet when you're tired. Every single thing about you is beautiful.
I stared at her.
When I see you the World stops. It stops and all that exists for me is you and my eyes staring at you. There's nothing else. No noise, no other people, no thoughts or worries, no yesterday, no tomorrow. The World just stops and it is a beautiful place and there is only you. Just you, and my eyes staring at you.
I stared.
When you're gone, the World starts again, and I don't like it as much. I can live in it, but I don't like it. I just walk around in it and wait to see you again and wait for it to stop again. I love it when it stops. It's the best fucking thing I've ever known or ever felt, the best thing, and that, beautiful Girl, is why I stare at you.” - “Addiction is a decision. An individual wants something, whatever that something is, and makes a desicion to get it. Once they have it, they make a decision to take it. If they take it too often, that process of decision making gets out of control, and if it gets far out of control, it becomes an addiction. At that point the decision is a difficult one to make, but it is still a decision. Do I or don't I. Am I going to take or am I not going to waste my life or am I going to say no and try and stay sober and be a decent person. It is a decision. Each and every time. A decision. String enough of those decisions together and you set a course and you set a standard of living. Addict or human. Genetics do not make that call. They are just an excuse. They allow people to say it wasn't my fault I am genetically predisposed. It wasn't my fault I was programmed from day one. It wasn't my fault I didn't have any say in the matter. Bullshit. Fuck that bullshit. There is always a decision. Take responsibility for it. Addict or human. It's a fucking decision. Each and every time.” “About life:
"It is not complicated unless I make it so. It is not difficult unless I allow it to be. A second is no more than a second, a minute no more than a minute, a day no more than a day. They pass. All things and all time will pass. Don't force or fear, don't control or lose control. Don't fight and don't stop fighting. Embrace and endure. If you embrace, you will endure.” - https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjmx8ux-6nKAhWLbD4KHQ46Ba0QtwIITDAH&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Da-Kn2FfdfdE&usg=AFQjCNHTzUTegxz_2IG0IbNMd0x5kyYOtw