Was Oprah conned by a million little lies?

MUMBAI: Last October, Oprah Winfrey recommended James Frey’s non-fiction memoir A Million Little Pieces on her book club. The work shot to fame and thousands picked it up after the recommendation from a woman who is arguably the world’s most influential.

The book sold 1.77 million copies in the US, more than every other title except Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and was on top of the New York Times non-fiction list for 15 weeks.

But it seems the man who kept Winfrey awake (when recommending the book on her show, she had said she couldn’t sleep for two nights while reading it) may give her some more sleepless nights.

Popular investigative website thesmokinggun.com has claimed in a lengthy article (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html) published on January 8 that large portions of Frey’s “true account” of a life of addiction and abuse and his inspiring tale of fighting back are pure fiction.

The article says police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources the team spoke to during a six-week investigation have shown that “the 36-year-old author... wholly fabricated or wildly embellished details of his purported criminal career, jail terms, and status as an outlaw wanted in three states.”

When recommending the book on her show on October 26, Winfrey had applauded Frey’s book as “like nothing you’ve ever read before. Everybody at Harpo (her company) is reading it. When we were staying up late at night reading it, we’d come in the next morning saying, ‘What page are you on?’”

In the same interview, which had made Frey famous overnight, he had told Oprah, “If I was gonna write a book that was true, and I was gonna write a book that was honest, then I was gonna have to write about myself in very, very negative ways.”

But the website has cited specific instances of falsehood. It says Frey “invented a role for himself in a deadly train accident that cost the lives of two female high-school students”. It quotes the students’ parents: “As far as I know he had nothing to do with the accident. I figured he was taking licence... he’s a writer, you know, they don’t always tell everything that’s factual and true” and “I don’t believe he was ever actually questioned in regard to the accident because he had nothing to do with it.”

In an article on Monday, USA Today reports that it independently verified one of the claims on thesmokinggun.com. The paper says, “Frey contends to have struck a cop with his car while drunk in Granville, Ohio.   

He says his actions in the 1992 incident resulted in a melee. But the arresting officer, Granville Police Sgt Dave Dudgeon, told USA Today that Frey was polite, cooperative, and quickly posted bond.”

Winfrey is yet to comment. Her website still describes A Million Little Pieces as a mesmerising tale. But readers are reacting. On a James Frey message board on allreaders.com ‘Brianna’ said she “always thought he was a fake” and that “she smelt a rat during the Oprah show”.

‘Micah’ said that “anyone who manipulates the deaths of two young people for their benefit does not deserve to be read”. ‘Jack Johnson’ said, “I am sadly shocked to see that Oprah’s website continues to delete all criticisms of JF. This ‘book club’ is only for people who want to promote the book. I have posted comments that call into question the accuracy of AMLP, but they have been deleted... how pathetic.”

But while Winfrey has kept mum, Frey reacted in a message posted on his website (http://www.bigjimindustries .com). He said, “This is the latest investigation into my past, and the latest attempt to discredit me...let the haters hate, let the doubters doubt, I stand by my book, and my life, and I won’t dignify this bullshit with any sort of further response.” What does the talk show hostess have to say?