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'A million little pieces' review by book club members..


Sharon:

I read the first few lines of AMLP and absolutely fell in love with the story and James Frey. I found his writing style unlike anything I have ever read before, the repetitiveness was amusing and correct for the story.

Frey was writing like he was having a “Brain-dump”, he writes his words just as his brain thinks them, he was descriptive but at the same time bare.

I felt like I was egging Frey on in the book: I wanted and willed him to get better and be healthy. His complete disregard and disrespect for the ’12 Step’ program made him endearing and even more so “normal”.

AMLP leads nicely on to ‘My friend Leonard’, to which I have just started reading. In contrast I am finding in ‘My Friend Leonard’ Frey is more controlled in his writing style and explains a lot about Leonard that I wanted answered in AMLP.

Overall I would recommend this book to anyone; it is a book that is definitely worth reading at least once!

Ann:

I first read AMLP having heard about it (and its controversy) on the radio and I loved it. The second time around reading it and it didn’t fail to disappoint. I fell in love with the story all over again and Frey’s unique style of writing. Frey writes with such emotion that I found myself re-reading particular paragraphs and sections on the book which at times took my breath away.

The book has definitely inspired me to read his other works, starting with ‘My friend Leonard’. It is 100% a book I will recommend and read again.

Wendy:

I loved AMLP and read it in super-fast time; I just couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed Frey’s style of writing and he involved me so much in the story it almost felt like he was speaking directly to me or I was following him around.

His writing style was gripping; he writes manically and with obsession and I have never come across anything quite like it-it contributed to my feeling of involvement and presence in the story.

I found Frey’s relationship with his parents interesting-particularly the “rage” he felt towards them, and at times I sympathised with the parents and could relate to them and their desperation to see James get better.

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