Oprah has her head up her ass
James Frey appeared on LARRY KING LIVE to defend accusations that his non-fiction bestseller A MILLION LITTLE PIECES is all made up. It’s fabricated, you see, but still “emotionally true.” (Following that reasoning, it would be fine for me to announce that I have discovered the cure for cancer, even though I haven’t, but wouldn’t mind being able to do so.)
The broadcast came complete with a last-minute phone call from Oprah Winfrey, whose blessing of the title via her book club sent its sales into the stratosphere. But instead of ripping into Frey and saying, “Jimmy, you duped me and made me look like a fool,” she defended him. “What is relevant is that he was a drug addict,” she said. No, Oprah, what’s relevant is that in his appearance on your show, he looked you in the eye and lied to you. While he was sober, no less. So to avoid the issue is to send the message to America that lying is A-OK.
Here’s my theory on Oprah’s defense of Frey: There are millions of copies of PIECES out there with Oprah’s Book Club logo on it, meaning her credibility could take a hit (even an ever-so-small one) if she attacked him and still had the books out there as embarassing evidence that she was conned. So Oprah, knowing that whatever she says will immediately be taken as gospel by her disciples, saves face. After all, this is a woman who recently devoted part of her program to what your poop should look and feel like; so now we have all these women going around talking about feces in public, which they never would have otherwise, but Oprah made it okay. Crisis averted.
January 12th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
This is really bugging me, actually. The publishers need to take some blame here since they coerced Frey into turning the book into a non-fiction account (see the TSG article). But now that Frey’s defending his actions, and that Oprah sees “emotional truth” in what is little more than an overheated novel masquerading as reality, I say a pox upon all their houses.
Oprah, find an editor, or even a reader, who can actually turn you on to worthwhile books. You were better off sticking with the classics. Instead, you coiled up like a sowbug after Jonathan Franzen’s ill-mannered snort, and now you’re defending a dumbass slacker who has trouble separating reality from his martyr fantasies.
This whole “It’s not factually true, but it’s emotionally true” or the “Documents are false, but the story behind them is true” (you know what I mean) is an extremely disturbing meme of the last few years that needs to be stopped.
January 12th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
But one thing I will admit: that book cover design is one of the best I’ve seen. Kudos to the designer.
January 13th, 2006 at 1:13 am
This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this damn book.
January 13th, 2006 at 8:28 am
Having written both fiction and non-fiction in a specific genre (ghost stories) I’m always astounded by what people are willing to accept when you market something as being “true”. The truth is that the difference between my completely imaginative stories and the ones I’ve written based on real events is often neglible–save for the fact that in my fictional work I don’t have to work hard to ignore all of the details that would easily put the lie to the folklore I’m recounting–yet I constantly hear people tell me they prefer the non-fiction because it’s “more real.” What this has taught me is that people are less interested in being told a good story than they are in having their own personal philosophy and world view confirmed by someone else. My non-fiction work allows people to feel justified in their superstitions, so they embrace it more than my fictional work, which forces them to confront the more fantastic absurdities of their beliefs. This, I think, is why (along with keeping her marketing juggernaut free of any nasty smudges) Oprah and her followers will end up defending Frey so vehemently. The reality of his story means less to them than the way it confirms their belief in the power of the human spirit and the eternal possibility of spiritual redemption. To their mind the message is infinitely more important than the credibility of the messenger.
January 27th, 2006 at 9:23 am
[...] James Frey made a return appearance to Oprah’s show yesterday in an attempt to answer charges claiming his memoir A MILLION LITTLE PIECES is largely fabricated. I was critical of Oprah for her defense of Frey on LARRY KING LIVE, but she redeemed herself at the show’s start, saying her judgment had been “clouded” and that she had sent the message to the nation that truth doesn’t matter. [...]