James Frey may be a liar, but Oprah is rude, says Nan Talese

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By Nathan Whitlock
July 30, 2007
10:41 AM

Filed under: Quillblog, alcohol, blog, book, CES, James Frey, Oprah, Scandal

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Just when the dust seemed to have settled on the whole A Million Little Pieces kerfuffle, here comes the book’s editor, Nan Talese, to say that not only would she do everything exactly the same had she the chance to go back in time, but that it’s neither she nor James Frey who “should be apologetic,” but Oprah herself.

Talese offers the simplest, and the most audacious and bizarre, defense of Frey’s mendacity yet:

“When someone starts out and says, ‘I have been an alcoholic. I have lied. I have cheated’ … you do not think this is going to be the New Testament.”

In the spirit of Talese’s logic, Quillblog would now like to preempt all future accusations of libel, sloppy reporting, outright fabrication, and offensiveness by stating, for the record, that, hey, we’re only human. You’ve been warned.

http://www.BookshopBlog.com Bruce Hollingdrake

Is she saying cheating should be equated with alcoholism, that Frey couldn’t help himself…common. All he had to do was say he wrote a fictionalized bio and we would all be anxious to buy more of his book.
carolyn

I heard Oprah got him on her show through false pretenses, in other words she “lied” about wanting to do a show called “Truth in America’ She had no intention of doing it and changed the show to the “James Frey Controversy”so she could call him down. (The book continues to sell 1000 copies a week.) I don’t think Oprah should be so sanctimonious. His book was mislabelled “Memoir” rather than “Fictional Autobiography.” So what. Is that a reason to nail him to the cross? I’m looking forward to reading his new book, even if it does not receive the Oprah imprimatur.

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