Texas Pages

Posted by Cline Russell @ 10:05 AM Tue, Jul 31, 2007

Subject: Nan Talese and her defense of the book , “ A Million Little Pieces” by James Frey.
Evidently Nan Talese has become insulated from the harsh consequences of the real world to such an extent that she no longer values the truth anymore. Either that, or her cognitive powers have seriously malfunctioned.
27 years ago I bought a book, Thy Neighbors Wife, by Gay Talese, husband of Nan Talese. I still have the book. It has a permanent place on my bookshelf. The book is an in-depth study of the history of the Sexual Revolution in America. The book cover says Gay took 8 years to write the book. He did hundreds of interviews, read hundreds of books. In other words, he practiced diligence, ie, he was perservering and careful in his work; he was painstaking. How much easier it would have been to write a work of fiction. He could have tossed that off in a few months. After all, with fiction, the author is expected to just make things up. That is why its called “ fiction”. Had James Frey claimed he was writing a novel we would probably never have heard of him and Oprah would never have recommended his book to her huge audience. Frey knew this. The compelling aspect of his book is that it was claimed to be the truth. He wanted us to believe he did all those things; that all those things happened to him. Now we know his book is, and always was, crap. Frey got more than his 15 minutes because he lied. He conned Oprah and her first reaction,upon learning that his book was filled with lies, was to say that it did not matter, because his story made for such compelling reading. Later, when she realized that her huge audience was beginning to scorn her,she reversed herself and said that it did matter. Yes Oprah, the truth matters. Oprah does not want to hurt anyone and that is why she is loved so much. However, sometimes people deserve to be hurt, and James Frey deserved to get scorned.
Nan Talese is trying to defend the indefensible. Her comments about the “ essential truth” of the book are alarming. Instead of “ the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” we now also have the “ essential truth” according to Nan Talese. Her comments, “Calling Ms. Winfrey's behavior "mean and self-serving," Ms. Talese said that readers should be able to decide for themselves about whether to believe an author, and that Mr. Frey was clear about how believable he was.” ignore the fact that Oprah was giving his credibility a huge boost. Oprah believed he was telling the truth. The readers , ( or in this case the potential readers), were hugely increased because Oprah gave his book her recommendation. Frey became a millionaire because of the endorsement from Oprah. If I discovered that Gay Talese had simply started making things up I would be furious at his deception. I have returned to his book many times in the last 27 years to reread portions of it as new material became available. His book is valuable because it is the truth. He might have made a few honest mistakes but I believe it to be a work of truth and thus a work of lasting value. That book will not be returned to Half-Price books. Nan Talese, what were you thinking when you made those comments? You must treat Mr Frey harshly because he deserves it.

Cline Russell