Ive recently started this book and like it a lot.
Summary:
A badly tattered James awakens on an airplane to Chicago, with no recollection of his injuries or of how he ended up on the plane. He is met by his parents at the airport, who take him to a rehabilitation clinic. We find out that James is 23 years old, and has been an alcoholic for ten years, and a crack addict for three. He is also wanted by the police in three different states on several charges.
As he checks into the rehab clinic, he is forced to quit his substance abuse, a transition that we find out later probably saves his life, but is also an incredibly agonizing event. As part of this, he is forced to undergo a series of painful root canals, without any anesthesia because of possible negative reactions to the drugs. He copes with the pain by squeezing tennis balls until his nails crack (when challenged on this incident, specifically, during his second Oprah appearance, Frey said that it may have been "more than one" root canal procedure and may or may not have included Novocaine, as he remembers it). Throughout his stay, he refuses to buy into the notion of victimhood, and instead chooses to blame his misfortunes solely on himself and as the result of his own decisions. Because of this view he rejects the concept of the Twelve Steps that is recommended to him at the clinic and chooses to proceed with his recovery without complaint or blame on others, and also with the knowledge that he will die if he begins his substance abuse again.
The book follows Frey through the painful experiences that lead up to his eventual release from the center, including his participation in the clinic's family program with his parents, despite his strong desire not to. Throughout the novel, Frey speaks of the "Fury" he is fighting, which he sees as the cause of his desire to drink alcohol and use drugs. The "Fury" could be seen as the antagonist of the novel, because he believes that he will not be able to recover until he learns to ignore it or "kill it."
Frey meets many interesting people in the clinic, with whom he forms relationships and who play an important role in his life both during and after his time in the clinic. These people include a mafia boss who plays a vital role in his recovery (subject of Frey's subsequent book My Friend Leonard), and a woman drug addict with whom he falls in love, despite strict rules forbidding contact between men and women at the clinic. James finally recovers and never relapses.
A notable feature of Pieces is its lack of quotation marks to indicate direct discourse. Instead, a new line is started each time. The fact that the author uses this same style to indicate his internal thoughts, often interspersed between direct discourse from himself and others, gives the book a unique and sometimes confusing writing style, purportedly reflecting the nature of his experience in the treatment center. Frey makes frequent use of this stream of consciousness writing technique, which allows the reader to better understand his version of the events. Frey's unique writing style also involves his capitalizing nouns throughout the book for unclear reasons. Frey also uses heavy repetition of words throughout the text.
You should check it out.
Comments
Brilliant review though, certainly looks like something I'd check out sometime. I'll have a look when I next go to the library.
It was said to be true but later came out that he made it up.
Holy shit a post from big bear not about cocks:eek:
i dont know why he said it was true
Lmfao. Because that's been a part of fiction writing for fucking CENTURIES. Read Don Quijote from 1605. It's a HISTORY of Don Quijote. The whole book is talking about how it's true. Tons of books, poems, stories, etc all claim to be true even though they're not. They seek to establish verisimilitude and make the reader interested and suspend disbelief by saying they're true. It's a big part of fiction writing and I fucking facepalmed for days when everyone got butthurt about the story not being real.
I don't know to many people that have read Don Quixote, kudos.
Yeah, the guy pretended it was real. I'd call it part of the performance of his book. He trolled everyone, and I'm glad he did. He tricked people into reading, which to me at least is win.
I don't know what you are talking about Fangelkai. Can you point me to some sources that confirm your position on the book? (quixote that is) I know quite a bit about the book and this is the first I've heard that anyone took the book that seriously.
Fucking this.
Why did he have to apologize and make an ass out of himself? He's a WRITER. He WRITES. I'm sure there was a lot of politics involved in all this (especially with Oprah riding on your back)... but really. Did people also know that Anna Karenina was FICTION? And on a similar, Prozac Nation and Girl, Interrupted were also highly poeticized??
Grinds my gears, this Frey business.... but tis old news, folks.