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When James met Larry

Frey Week continues here on In Other Media. Today, we spotlight the transcript of the embattled author’s appearance on Larry King Live last night.

In defending his memoir A Million Little Pieces against charges that significant parts had been exaggerated or fabricated, Frey hit a few key messages again and again: that “memoir” means you’re allowed to make stuff up; that only a tiny portion of the book has been disputed; and that his story’s “essential truth” (a phrase he uttered seven times, according to the transcript) remains unaffected by any embellishments. Frey also brought out his own mother to plead his case, a move that seems a little incongruous with the macho posturing he’s known for.

Apparently his explanations were good enough for Oprah, who broke her silence on the controversy by calling into the King show, saying “although some of the facts have been questioned … the underlying message of redemption in James Frey’s memoir still resonates with me. And I know that it resonates with millions of other people who have read this book and will continue to read this book.”

In Other Media, though, feels the need to point out a couple things. For one, that writers who prefer to get at “the essential truth” without being bound by the facts usually do so in books called “novels.” And that in fact Frey shopped his book as a novel before he and Doubleday decided to publish it as a memoir instead. (To be fair, King did grill Frey about that one a bit.) And finally, as for the “tiny portion” argument, the distortions and exaggerations that The Smoking Gun uncovered represent only the parts of Frey’s book that can be compared against public records. Most of the story takes place within the confidentiality-protected walls of a rehab clinic, and a couple of major characters are now dead.

Which means readers have to take Frey’s word for the accuracy of the bulk of the book — and why on Earth should they?

In Frey news closer to home, the Toronto Star‘s Judy Stoffman reports that the author’s scheduled appearance at the Elgin Winter Garden in Toronto on Jan. 26 is still going ahead as planned.

Related links:
Click here for the transcript of the Larry King Live appearance
Click here for the Toronto Star piece

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