The Man Who Conned Oprah--(Author scams Oprah and millions of women)

Smoking Gun ^ | 01/08/06 | smoking gun

[misterrob]

I have heard nothing but hype about this guy, James Frey. Women all over the place talking abut how much they loved his book and how heart wrenching his story was. Turns out he fabricated a bunch of stuff.

Oprah must be pissed!!!!

[BamaAndy]

Mine is a fictionalized but true story. Heart & Iron--the loves, the wars, the loss, the wins.

[Calico Cat]

God, her show is tiresome. Too many teary, hyper-emotional, self-pitying women for me.

[DGray]

This is currently a hot topic on another online community where I frequent. Many people there have read the book and recommended it to others. They're all pretty p*ssed off at this guy.

I personally never even looked at this book - didn't seem like the sort of thing I'm interested in.

[GaltMeister]

He wrote a book full of hokum, and Americans love hokum.

[AppyPappy]

I went on a trip and a guy played a tape from an AA convention by a guy who made all these wild accusations about his life. He thought we would be amazed at his turn around but to a man, we all said "That was a bunch of BS. He never did that stuff".

Women are soaking it up like a kitten drinking milk. I'm reading this stuff and thinking "This guy is a BS artist". No wonder women loved Clinton so much. They can't smell BS.

[2banana]

In a New York Times review, Janet Maslin mocked the author--a former alcoholic who has rejected the precepts of Alcoholics Anonymous--for instead hewing to a cynical "memoirist's Twelve Step program." A few journalists have openly questioned the truthfulness of some book passages, especially segments dealing with Frey undergoing brutal root-canal surgery without the aid of anesthesia and an airplane trip during which an incapacitated Frey is bleeding, has a hole in his cheek, and is wearing clothes covered with "a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood." And then there's the time in Paris (he's supposedly fled to Europe after jumping bail in Ohio) when, on his way to commit suicide by throwing himself into the Seine, Frey stops into a church to have a good cry. There, a "Priest," while pretending to listen to Frey's description of his wrecked life, makes a lunge for Frey's crotch. "You must not resist God's will, my Son," says the priest. A vicious beatdown ensues, with Frey possibly killing the grasping cleric, whom the author kicked in the balls 15 times. Mon dieu!

Another sad and pathetic attack on God and the Church. I wonder how many people have been hurt by this bit of fiction masquerading as fact? - that they too can get rid of addictions like alcoholism without the benefit of a program of AA - which, of course, relies on God...

[Calico Cat]

Oh, women can smell BS, all right. When it's another woman slinging it, that is. And men can smell BS when it's coming from another guy, but not when it's a woman doing it.

[toddlintown]

Fake but true.

BTW, women are the biggest sector of book buyers.

[blaquebyrd]

I never bought the whole root canal without any anesthesia or pain medication. No one could endure that totally sober.

[sine_nomine]

I always wonder what we can learn from these criminal confessions. I knew a guy who went around talking about his druggie past, got booked in all the schools. How about someone who went through life sober and out of jail?

A criminal is going to manipulate his story. I am surprised that anyone is surprised.

[misterrob]

How many women out there are saying, "Damn, I fell for a drunk's bulls#!t story......AGAIN!"?

[mal]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1554524/posts

[Savage Beast]

I admire Oprah very much. The book was gruesome. If it was fiction rather than autobiography, what's the big deal?

[Liberty Valance]

Wake me up when Oprah uses Atlas Shrugged for her book club. ;o)

[misterrob]

AA is the most successful recovery program out there. The Principles are a guide to living life as a good person. The program is about admitting powerlessness over alcohol, coming to accept a Higher Power getting honest about yourself in terms of what you did and who you are and then going to make amends and continuing to live a good life including helping others. There may be other ways to get sober but AA's principles (not necessarily the people who go) are the most effective way to stay that way....

JMNSHO

[frogjerk]

If it was fiction rather than autobiography, what's the big deal?

Fake but accurate is OK with you, then?

[Red Badger]

Liberal women are SOOOOOOOO easy to con...............

[nmh]

I'm happy to say I never saw her show and don't plan on changing that.

[jeremiah]

You MUST not generalize, MEN cannot smell BS when it comes from a pretty woman either!! How many times have my sisters told me to dump a girlfriend that I thought they would love, and they were always right. It takes a man to sniff out a no good lying male, it takes a woman to find the bee a tch. Which is why Hillary will have a heckuva time running for President.