Mom: Response Discussion

A Million Little Pieces: Final Response

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey was a heart-wrenching novel about a drug and alcohol addict seeking rehabilitation after spending his entire life purposefully damaging his body and his life and how he achieves his goal of “kicking his addictions” and beginning a healthy lifestyle. He is met with many challenging (to say the least) situations as he pushes past his previous destructive way of living, picking up several unusual relationships with his fellow rehabilitants along the way.

The reason why this book made an impact on my moms life was because she read it at a time that her brother-in-law and my uncle was going through a very strong addiction to drugs and alcohol which eventually led to his death. This book allowed her some amount of understanding as to why he continued to abuse drugs and alcohol despite knowing that it would most likely kill him. It gave her perspective during a time that it was necessary in order to provide her with any of the support that she much needed.

I also gained perspective as to why my uncle did what he did despite knowing he was likely to die, but I also enjoyed reading and learning about psychology and understanding the reasons behind people unusual actions. Another thing that I gained was a feeling of getting to know my uncle who passed away when I was still very young so I only have slivers of memories of my uncle and I felt like I was getting to know my uncle a little bit while I was reading this book which I appreciate very much.

Both my mom and I gained a better understanding about my uncle and why he did what he did despite the time difference between when we each read this novel. However while my mom already knew my uncle when she read this book and so all she gained was understanding of why he made the decisions that he made, I did not really know my uncle and so this book not only provided me with some amount of understanding of what went on in my family while I was still so young but it also introduced me to who my uncle was and what he went through.

I would recommend this to only a selective group of people who I know enjoy and can handle the same style of books that I enjoy because this book at times could be a little on the intense side. It had intense descriptions of surgical procedures the author had to go through with out any form of pain medications and “drug dreams” that involved at times drugs, violence, and prostitution. Despite the vivid, dark descriptions that would occasionally surface in the book, this story was a very interesting and even inspiring book to read that I enjoyed very much.

Aunt Kathy: Response Discussion

The Help: Final Response

The Help by Katheryn Stockett is a fictional novel in which the bravery of those who did not share the common belief of the South during the civil rights dispute is displayed through the narrative of a inspiring young journalist and a group of maids collaborating in order to create a book detailing the kind of stress and prejudice they had to endure on an average day.

The reason why this book made an impact on my aunts life was because it provided her with a perspective that she had yet to gain which made her feel closer to her mother who passed away. She gained more respect for her mother and what she went through while simply gaining a better understanding of what life must have been like for her mother during the sixties time period.

I also gained perspective from reading this novel, but the main thing that I gained from reading it was new history and ancestral knowledge. Since the sixties are a time period of particular interest to me, as I was reading I would do additional research on things that were mentioned in the novel that had sparked my interest, which then would further expand my knowledge on the subject. For example, since the book took place in the 1960’s I researched the 60’s time period in order to fully understand the big picture of everything that was going on then and how they all connected. Finally, I also gained respect and understanding for my grandmother since she died long before I was born and I did not get the chance to meet her.

After reading The Help by Katheryn Stockett both my aunt and I gained a better understanding and respect for her mother and my grandmother. We both felt that it was admirable that while even though my grandmother was not among the few who made their opinions on the unfair treatment of African Americans known through protest because of her single motherhood to three small children, she did voice her opinion subtly and have that opinion during a dangerous and controversial time in history.

However, while my aunt only seemed to have gained respect and perspective for her mother, I gained that respect, and I gained a further expanded overall knowledge of what went on in, and the sixties in general. Since I did additional research on the sixties during my reading, I connected all of my prior knowledge together in a way that it formed one cohesive web of history that went on during the sixties in my head.

I would probably recommend this book to anyone but I would definitely recommend it to those who I know would enjoy learning about history, specifically the sixties time period. This book would be one that any average person would enjoy because of the way it was written in an entertaining story style, which most people enjoy to read. However, I would especially recommend it to someone who truly enjoys learning about history because this book allows you to read a purely enjoyable storyline while simultaneously providing you with historical knowledge without you even realizing it, which is why I loved it as well.

A Million Little Pieces: Response Blogs

Response #1:

So far in the novel, the story is very realistic and vivid in its descriptions to the point where you are the one who is going through the experience of detoxifying and healing your entire mind and body after many years of extreme abuse of very dangerous drugs and alcohol. The author is able to really capture the feelings of confusion and persistence to attain some sort of substance through his style of writing which is that he writes almost in the form of a screen play without the use of any quotation marks at all. This technique forces the reader into reading a more frantic and scattered manner. This book is turning out to be a quick and entertaining read despite the dark mood of it.

Response #2

A Million Little Pieces By James Frey was a book that I had always wanted to read and high expectations for and it certainly lived up to those expectations. I enjoyed this book very much and it actually inspired me. Not because I am addicted to any form of drugs or alcohol at all, but rather it inspired me in ways that I can now apply to different areas of my life. It may sound silly but, an example of a way that I can now apply my newly gained knowledge and perspectives from this novel is next time I go to reach for a candy bar or for the T.V. remote when I have unfinished work to do I can draw from what I read about in this book and the perspective I gained and I can now think, if a heavily addicted drug addict can pull away and resist his drugs and alcohol, I can resist this. The ways in which he thought in order to keep himself from giving in also work for me. At first it sounded as though it were destined to fail, but his coping mechanisms of just simply saying to himself, I will not take a single sip, or his tactic of allowing himself to smell, be near and imagine what it would be like to drink or do drugs, but not to act on those sensations was also a coping mechanism that works very well for me as well. I also now know (or at least partially know) what my uncle was going through when I was so young and the degree of extremeness of which his addictions were at when I was at such a young age and these newly gained perspectives are beneficial to me as well. I really enjoyed this book and I hope to inspire more people to read it too.

Initial Honors Summer Readings Interviews

Mom: A Million Little Pieces

I remember when my mom first read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey which at the time, I was still in elementary school, but I remember loving the cover of it and at that age that was a good enough reason to read the book. However, because of the profanity, drug references, and all around intensity of the book my mom would obviously not let her small child read it, but I swore that when I got older I would read, A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.

James is a 23 year-old man who has been an alcoholic for ten years, and a crack addict for three. He is also wanted by the police in three different states on several charges. This book is about his recovery and journey to rehabilitating himself once he has been checked into a rehabilitation center. Reading this book is similar to reading a screen play because of the authors lack of a use of quotation marks which gives you the effect of being lost and confused and panicked because of the unorganized effect that this style of writing has on you as the reader.

During the time that my mom read this book, my uncle was going through the same kind of addictions to drugs and alcohol which eventually killed him. Reading this book gave my mom perspective on why and what my uncle was feeling at the time. Why he continued to use these dangerous substances despite the consequences that he was well aware of, and exactly what he was feeling when he was going through that time of his addictions.

When this book was first beginning to be sold, it was a huge hit. So much so that it was featured as one of Oprah Winfrey's book of the month books and was raved about by Oprah herself. At the time it had been published as a nonfiction memoir. However in 2006, The Smoking Gun conducted a six week long investigation into exactly how factual A Million Little Pieces was. The result of the investigation was an article that described fabrications in Frey's account of his drug abuse experiences, life, and criminal record. This started a rock slide of disappointed readers and controversies over whether it was still a book worthy of such high praise. Oprah herself announced on her show that she "took back all of what she had previously said about this book", more than 1,000 of the books readers claimed a refund, but regardless of this controversy, the book has been published in twenty-nine languages worldwide and has sold over 5 million copies.

Despite the controversies surrounding A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, it is still an interesting book to read that at least sheds some light on what it is like to go through life addicted to dangerous substances and continuing to use them despite knowing their almost certain fatal consequences which is exactly why it was one that made an impact on my moms life.