Secrets of the City

I had almost forgotten about Frey’s book until this recent PR blitz.

i thought it was a kinda dumb book, saw it when it first came out in hardcover. couldn’t believe it became such a big deal. but that’s what happens when oprah anoints you. cool local angle, though. a while ago, someone at the strib knew it was made-up.

Look out all you sheep, there’s a new O’ in town and my new book club selection for thie month is Rogue State. And if I find out that Andy Borowitx actually told the truth about anything, I’m coming over and giving him a RPG up the kiester. You’ll be happy to know that I’ll be starting my new talk show on Al Jizzera this spring and my first guest is going to be Dr. Zarchawi, that down-home, tell-it-like it is terrosit currently playing in Disney-Iraq.

Today on Oprah: Oprah opens the show by saying she’s sorry; she also apologizes for calling Larry King to defend Frey. And then the kicker: Oprah says to Frey, ‘You betrayed millions of readers.’ Remember how we said Oprah had totally saved Frey’s ass? Yeah, not anymore.

NYTimes: Oprah Winfrey Calls Defense of Author ‘a Mistake’.

Who creates an issue over this? Is the book a good read or not? That’s the only question that really matters. Some people really have too much time on their hands…

Sheez: so truth doesn’t matter? Hmmm. I’ll take that under advisement when reading your posts.

More updates: Apparently Frey is on Oprah today, being taped right now… and he’s getting… well, fried alive. Oprah is pissed! Gawker carries live updates, which I don’t exactly need to be reading… but still useful, since the last time i actually saw Oprah was sometime during the Reagan administration.

by the way, the Strib’s Deborah Caulfield Rybak was the one who was first to ask questions about how realistic the book was, she deserves her props!

hans, you might want to refer back to the extensive discussion of this from a week or two ago…

Uh oh, now he’s gone and made Oprah mad.

hans—You think every tom dick or harry who’s published is 100% factual in their non-fiction? doubt it. if this were a textbook, research data or a publication that is likely to influence the intellectual arena, then hell yeah of course i care about truth. but it’s not. it’s an oprah book, a book that’s featured on aisle ends at target, a book that’s that’s destined to share a space with sparks and steele. ans besides it would’ve/could’ve helped people with addiction so who gives a damn.

My opinion of this whole deal can best be summed up by someone elses’ comment on the previous thread:

“Great, I read the book and now I’m sober, BASED ON A PACK OF LIES!
Guess i’m going back to Heroin!
thanks a lot James Frey!”
»» Submitted by Drink the Oprah Kool Aid at 4:41 PM on January 11

Actually, I thought Hans’ comments about this a couple weeks ago were some of the most forgiving I’ve seen. “I guess I tend to look past the usual distinctions of fiction and non-fiction, and I merely enjoy a good book.” Compare it to something like Michiko’s in the Times, who pretty much blames the downfall of culture on this incident. After reading Michiko, I personally wanted to take the blame for everything bad that’s ever happened in the world.

new book category is needed: semi-fiction

rex: yeah, i have to admit to being very conflicted myself about this…above, i was sorta devils-advocating for Sheez’s sake… this conflicted feeling is where oprah finds herself today, i think… when you consider it logically, to be forgiving the way she was on Larry King is to basically say that “truth” doesn’t matter, and then, carry the logic further, you find yourself dismissing the “reality-based community,” if you know what i mean. as i tried to explain in the magazine this month, you do have to make allowances for “art,” (a lie that tells the truth, as Picasso said) and then i suppose the question is how “artful” frey’s book is.

The thing that amazes me about this tempest is that anyone gives a shit if Oprah likes his book or doesn’t. Why did that dumb sucker go on Oprah so she could spend an hour castigating him? Me, I’d be on my way to the bank with the BIG checks that are going to be coming in even larger numbers now that Oprah has prolonged the story. Maybe Oprah is getting a kickback so she can save the small part of the world she hasn’t already taken credit for saving. She has gotten more than a bit full of herself, wouldn’t you say?

When I read the book, I thought it was a good read. When I read the book, I also immediately thought, “Half this crap isn’t true”
I didn’t care. I still don’t. Just to spite Oprah, I’m going out now to buy Frey’s second book. Na na na boo boo, Oprah.

Several months ago I stepped outside Dunn Bros. on Grand Avenue in St. Paul to have a smoke and started making small talk with a woman (a youth chemical dependency counselor no less) who was telling me about that book, which she was reading at the time. She handed it to me, I took a look at it, read the first page, and immediately thought it was bullshit. I kid you not, it was like something out of that book, “Blink,” where you just kind of sense it somehow. Many people I know read the Frey book and loved it, and I had been meaning to read it until this happened. Now I figure, why bother?

For the archive, Hans’ printed story.

Hans’ printed story is thoughtful and outlines the issues clearly. The question, to my mind, seems to boil down to “What is memoir?” Is it journalism or is it art? If it is journalism, then the book is a fraud. If it’s art, then maybe it’s a work of art akin to a urinal on the wall, but “art” nonetheless. Frey’s a pretty good writer; certainly inventive, but a little sophomoric. There was a bit of an undercurrent of bullshit in the whole book, as Brian mentioned. The story was compelling, however.

Frey originally tried to sell the book as fiction; I think the publisher is more culpable in this deceit than Frey – - there had to be a wink and a nod in that transaction somewhere. Frey probably would have cut off his right arm to have the book published – - as fact, as fiction, as anything.
So he blew it, but under the aegis of a big name editor.

And what about “fiction” that is really thinly veiled autobiography, as is the case with so many first novels? Should writers of these books be chastised for calling their work “fiction” if it is more “fact” (in fact)”? Books can be inspirational, but this is equally true for non-fiction and fiction. Actually if there was a way of keeping count, I would guess fiction has been more inspirational to people than non-fiction. The Bible, for example. Part fact, part fiction. Same as Frey.

And here is why it will happen again: If Frey were to be honest in answering this question: “Would you do it again if it were the only way to get this book published?” he would answer “Yes.” And that’s all she wrote.