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A Million Little Piece - Book Review

I was reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey this afternoon and I realized that while the author has a serious, life-threatening addiction to drugs and alcohol, I too have a serious addiction. I read, I write, and I am clinically insane according to a fairly smart guy: Albert Einstein.

Einstein said the definition of insanity was "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome." Well, like an addict who spends all their money on drugs, I keep spending mine on housing, food, and student loans. That would be alright, but I'm not living in a nicer home, I'm still hungry every day, and I'm not any smarter. So, I must be insane.

And, I keep writing blogs (here, there, everywhere - at least I'm consistent at my Casino Gambling Blog, and stories and books and I'm still wthout a best seller. Perhaps because I write books that I would like to read instead of what is popular. Bummer.

Anyway, A Million Little Pieces is truly an amazing book, but the truth is that it is a hellish memoir, an all-around gross, terrible story of addiction so strong the author can't even remember a half-dozen years of his youth (his story of recovery starts at age 23). Frey is a total brain-fry by the time he wakes on a plane bound for he does not know where, with a blood soaked shirt, a hole in his cheek, and four missing teeth. Do you think at this point he figures he might need help? Not a chance.

As a true degenerate (ain't we all), he still fights the help that comes his way, insisting he would rather get a crack pipe or a tube of glue than actually try and change his life. Insanity. It's true, just ask Al, he knows.

I had a hard reading the book, but I had a harder time not reading it. I was addicted, felt what is probably no more than 1% of the author's pain, and I endorse the reading of the book by anybody who needs help, has dealt with someone who needs help, or wants an insight into the nightmare that is drug addiction in our world - not their world, just the fine, livable life that is our world.

Beyond that, James Frey brings to light a tiny spark of the humanity that should be offered to any living being that finds itself in trouble, through any act of its own. I'm a more understanding person for reading this book. Compassion must be a virtue or it wouldn't have been so hard for me to gain.

I wonder if he had any trouble promoting his book?

Thanks for reading - Al W Moe










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