The book was released on April 15, 2003, by Doubleday Books, a division of Random House, and received mixed feedback. James finally recovers and never relapses. These people include a mafia boss who plays a vital role in his recovery (subject of Frey's subsequent book My Friend Leonard), and a female drug addict with whom he falls in love, despite strict rules forbidding contact between men and women at the clinic. The 'Fury' could be seen as the antagonist of the novel, because he believes that he will not be able to recover until he learns to ignore it or 'kill' it.įrey meets many interesting people in the clinic, with whom he forms relationships and who play an important role in his life both during and after his time in the clinic. Throughout the novel, Frey speaks of the 'Fury' he is fighting, which he sees as the cause of his desire to drink alcohol and use other drugs. The book follows Frey through the painful experiences that lead up to his eventual release from the center, including his participation in the clinic's family program with his parents, despite his strong desire not to.

He copes with the pain by squeezing tennis balls until his nails crack.

As part of this, he is forced to undergo a series of painful root canals, without any anesthesia because of possible negative reactions to the drugs. He is also wanted by the police in three states on several charges.Īs he checks into the rehab clinic, he is forced to quit his substance abuse, a transition that later probably saves his life, whilst also an agonizing process. It is revealed that James is 23 years old, and has been an alcoholic for ten years, and a crack addict for three. He is met by his parents at the airport, who take him to a rehabilitation clinic. It tells the story of a 23-year-old alcoholic and abuser of other drugs and how he copes with rehabilitation in a twelve steps-oriented treatment center.Ī badly tattered James wakes up on a commercial flight to Chicago, with injuries that he has no recollection of having sustained or of how he ended up on the plane. A Million Little Pieces is a book by James Frey, originally sold as a memoir and later marketed as a semi-fictional novel following Frey's admission that many parts of the book were fabricated.

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