“Fuck’em all” was James Frey’s response when discussing anticipated reception of his newest literary endeavor, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, and I totally agree. Fuck’em. So the people couldn’t handle a little fiction with their fact while reading A Million Little Pieces.
Who are they to judge? Isn’t everybody guilty of embellishing a life event at one time or another? How about the famous stories that start, “Duuude. I was soooo wasted”. How could one possibly remember and relay the whole truth, after waking up in a pool of their own vomit.
With all the “Fear God” stickers around, I like the idea of Frey’s kinder, gentler god; a god that would be pro-choice, a supporter of gay marriage and one that would dismiss the big bang nonsense once and for all. Of course there is also the added bonus that he’s a New Yorker. So before everybody gets their rosary in a knot, and starts throwing around words such as blasphemy, vilification and defamation, why don’t we all take a moment and think about the new and old testaments. Who actually wrote them? How do we know how much, if any of it, is actually true? Not for nothing, but there are a few things written in them that make James Frey’s memoir infractions look like a simple misunderstanding.
When I Googled “Who wrote the Bible”, I got an answer in the true form of Catholicism, a bunch of talk without any answers. There’s even a book entitled Who Wrote the Bible?, it’s 304 pages about the question. Save yourself some time and just read the introduction, which notes that the question has been researched for thousands of years and they have yet to find an answer. So I ask you, why are millions of people so quick to live their lives by the words written by some anonymous author, about things that cannot be proven, yet they’re absolutely horrified by the fact they were reading a memoir written by a former criminal, drug addict, alcoholic who took a few creative liberties when filling in the blank spots of his memory?
Despite it all, I have to give James Frey some props for manning up, admitting his wrongs and taking his lumps. I also have to question his sanity for taking on another project that could put him right back on everyone’s shit-list. Either way, people really need to relax and not take everything so seriously. I’m sure there will be many who won’t find the humor in this book. Oh, well. Fuck’em.