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Oprah went easy on him.
I cannot believe that James Frey had the audacity to fabricate a root canal without anasthesia. What a douchebag.
I'd like to see him try to write about what really happened and get away with his questionable style.
The hygenist led me into the fucking room. She made me sit in the chair. She pushed the fucking peddle. Up. She pushed the other fucking peddle. Back. She pushed the fucking needle into my gum. Mild discomfort. Pinch./Scrape./Rinse./Spit./Scrape./Rinse./ Suck./Spit./Scrape./Pinch./Rinse./Spit.
Totally./Un./Sexy.
To me, the problem is not only that he lied, but also the kind of lie he constructed. The truth matters in general (yeah, we know, Frank Rich), but more importantly, the truth about what it takes to recover from a difficult past is something that we as a society must become more willing to contemplate.
James Frey sold millions on the idea that he changed without buying into the seemingly rigid and dauntingly interminable means of 12-stepping and general shrinkery. He sold us on the idea that he changed aggressively, that he overcame vast seas of hardship, and that he did it all with the power of his will. And that's something we as a society are frighteningly willing to buy.
You see, America, real change is not fast and violent and sexy. Real, authentic, sustainable change is mind-numbingly boring and slow and makes for shitty books, particularly if you have no actual talent. Dangerously addicted people (and some other compulsive individuals, like anorexics) who need to produce a fast change in order to survive usually rely on drastic lifestyle interventions, such as 12-step programs and psychiatric treatment centers. Without such systems and facilities, complete with the concomitant rigid rules, many people would simply die.
From there, while constantly (CONSTANTLY) working to avoid relapse into compulsively self-destructive behavior, people usually begin the plodding uphill battle of authentic internal change. Maybe they do this with a shrink. Maybe they use meditation or religion or personal study. But whatever the path, it takes time.
Most of us never suffer from horrible addictions, suicidal ideations, or life-threatening eating disorders, but all of us know how hard it is to change. Almost nothing in our society is set up to encourage us to change at a reasonable rate. We get 2 weeks vacation each year. We don't get comprehensive psych benefits from our HMOs. Our doctors tell us to lose weight in a matter of weeks. Diet centers compete to promise the most drastic change in the shortest period of time. We're horrified by the idea of being patient with ourselves. And this stupid book validates the self-denying impulse as a social phenomenon, and that makes me mad.
And let's not forget about how James Frey's collection of lies has co-opted the casually amazing. The exposure of this book as a fraud can't help but make us skeptical of the incredible truths we encounter every day. I remember reading Frey's passage about his alleged drug-free root canal and thinking, "Wow, this prose is stunningly self-indulgent and crappy, but what an unbelievable true story!" Unbelievable was right. Now, every time I read or hear about the mind-boggling events and struggles that take place in the lives of ordinary people, will my delight in their truth be clouded with doubt?
I'm sure Oprah knows a few people with incredible stories (paging Ms. Angelou) whose real, actual triumphs over adversity are grotesquely stained by the inevitable shadow of doubt cast by a mediocre writer who couldn't make anything palatable out of his actual life story so he had to fabricate a truly unbelievable series of obstacles to hurtle over all by his fictionalized, manly, bootstraps-pulling self.
Again might I say:
What a douchebag.
Posted by erinjudge at January 27, 2006 01:22 PM
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