Category / Frey, James

by Edward Champion

Transcript from “Larry King Live”

The Larry King Live James Frey transcript is now up and features the following exchange:

KING: Do you ever worry, Lynne, that your son’s blatant fabrication might be part of some pathological impulse? I mean, the kid’s clearly sold his soul and lied to the world. That can’t exactly be the mark of a healthy human being.

L. FREY: I never worry, Larry. You see, I’m getting some of that money too. That’s why I showed up tonight. I, or rather the woman I’ve been hired to fill in for, have a vested financial interest in my son’s career. And, well…between you and me, Larry, I’ve got a fabricated memoir in me too.

KING: Do you worry that your son might hole up in his $2 million apartment and start writing an angry book with strangely capitalized nouns about Neal Pollack?

FREY: Allow me to jump in here, Larry. Pollack is clearly a hopeless case. I’ll never be able to live his kind of life. Understand that I hate nobody here and I’m not about to confess to you and the people watching that it’s amused me greatly that you all believed the lies. Even though that notion is wrong. The fact that Oprah was duped and is too proud to confess this has me seriously considering a return to the high life of drugs. But I won’t. Because for all my lies and deceit, I’m a reformed man. And why shouldn’t they believe me? They believed Nixon when he gave his Checkers speech.

KING: You know, Jerzy Kosinski killed himself.

L. FREY: So did Hemingway.

FREY: Greatness, Larry. Isn’t that what we’re really talking about? I’m the greatest writer of my generation. That’s why Oprah picked me. I’m a walking inspiration for hoodlums everywhere. Fabricate your lives and feel the soothing sting of easy cash and liberation.

by Edward Champion

James You Know It’s True

Some scientists have observed that rats start scurrying around in their cages once the cyanide pellets drop. And sure enough, it looks like Big Jim Frey himself is in denial, grasping at straws, claiming that Random House isn’t offering a special refund on A Million Little Pieces, that it is standard policy to issue refunds on all books, and that there were fewer than 15 calls to Random House customer service. While the policy has been confirmed by the Book Standard‘s Kimberly Maul, you have to wonder why Frey thinks that anyone will trust a man who has been so clearly identified as a liar.

Frey needs to understand something. Nobody likes a bullshit artist. This morning at the bus stop, I got into a conversation with two people. One of them had just started A Million Little Pieces and the second person had informed this reader that it was all a lie. It broke my heart to see the guy’s face crack like that. This reader really thought the book was real and was in utter disbelief. And that had to be a horrible way for this guy to start his day. I told the guy that most writers were liars and recommended him Caroline Knapp’s Drinking: A Love Story as a good memoir to pick up. Since the book has sold 1.7 million copies, I can’t imagine how many others are going to have the same kind of horrible wakeup call.

by DrMabuse

Round Robin

  • In light of the assaults on eminent domain and flag burning (and with the frightening prospect of Justice Rehnquist resigning looming in the air), there’s at least some good news on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting/PBS budget cuts. Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted by a 284-140 vote to rescind the $100 million cutback. And that’s really what current politics is about these days: finding scant hope in small victories while the fiber and sanctity of this nation is gutted. So bust out the party poppers while the apocalypse ravages across the heartland.
  • The so-called “Pope” has published a book that urges all non-believing Europeans to live as though God exists. If that fails, then there’s always putting on a tin hat and looking for crop circles in the hinterland.
  • It looks like Limbaugh and Noonan are running away from the Klein book. Their latest amusing claim is that The Truth About Hilary was “written and published by a bunch of left-wingers.” Well, that’s pretty interesting, given that Sentinel, the publisher of the book, describes itself on its webpage as “a dedicated conservative imprint within Penguin Group (USA) Inc. It has a mandate to publish a wide variety of right-of-center books on subjects like politics, history, public policy, culture, religion and international relations.”
  • Cynthia Ozick talks with the Melbourne Age.
  • The Connection continues its series of writers talking about other writers who have influenced them. The latest audio installment is Russell Banks talking about Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.
  • Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell is on a book tour for his new novel, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way.
  • So can James Frey follow up the intensity of A Million Little Pieces with his new memoir? Mike Thomas of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with Frey and learns that Frey’s life is “sort of surreally magnificent.”
  • James McManus has been tapped to write a poker column for the New York Times. Executive editor Bill Keller says that McManus’ column will be “a literate combination of the drama, strategy, psychology and color of card play that should interest both serious players and the simply curious.” This from a guy whose idea of literacy is questionable at best.