A Million Little Pieces Book Review: A Rehabilitation Story Of James Frey

James Frey’s memoir, A Million Little Pieces, is a memoir of a reformed addict of cocaine, alcohol, and much more. Frey served nearly six weeks at one of the top rehabilitation centers in the world. As his stay at the rehabilitation center progresses, he makes it clear that he is absolutely hopeless.

However, throughout that hopelessness, through the use of graphic depictions of his suffering, withdrawal, pain, and emotional and physical wreck it paints a picture of a heroic story. Freys personal story reflects and informs about the importance of drug addiction through the overwhelming strength of self-doubt, as well as the principal of finding motivation.

Throughout his disturbing story, we know he continually falls into the same cycle of being a victim to the substances he knows will end up making him suffer, and worse, killing him. At age twenty-three he enters a treatment facility.

Unfortunately, his addiction had already grown severely to deadly extremes. In relation, the medical staff at his facility even acknowledge the severity of his case and were shocked at the fact that he was still alive. With treatment, the mandatory detoxification violently crashes hsi never-ending urge to his addictive behaviour. Freys emotional story informs on the internal, as well as the external suffering of drug addicts anywhere and everywhere.

Frey struggles to fight his path to confront the consequences of the life he has lived so far, and to discover what the future ahead of him holds. For the sake of his family and friends, his continues to attempt at recovery, unfortunately he never seems to accomplish the goal. This is due to the fact that he does not see the purpose of saving someone like him, worthless. Furthermore, through his eyes, he continuously sees very little value in himself and the life ahead of him.

Many of his loved ones attempt to reassure him that he will make it through, he will survive and overcome his addiction. As time progresses, this message starts to stick to him as he begins to find reasons to continue on. All in all, through freys story, we learn that the power of one's self criticism keeps them from true happiness. It those around Frey that make it all worthwhile which can grow one's motivation to pursue the happiness life brings.

Moving on, through conducting my research I gathered information and furthered my knowledge on the effects substance addiction. With that being said, I can come to the final conclusion that the protray of substance addiction in A million Little Pieces is completely realistic.