a million little pieces

I’m in the middle of reading a million little pieces by James Frey, which is astonishing. It’s one of the most honest, sensitively edited and frequently most shocking things I’ve every read.

It’s the autobiography of an addict going through rehabilitation, written as a verbatim account with a chilling lack of emotion.

Addicts undergoing the programme at the treatment centre he ends up in aren’t allowed any form of pain relief or anaesthesia. There’s a ten page description of the author having double root canal surgery which was so graphic I had to get off the bus I was reading it on before I threw up.

The book is utterly brutal but relieved by glimpses of humanity and compassion. Read it read it read it.



Not smoking for: 51 days