I’m not huge on reading books for leisure, so when it comes to reading for school I often resort to the student Bible: Sparknotes.com.

If I happen to come across a good read, which isn’t very often, the book doesn’t leave my hand until I’m finished with it. This was the case with the novel A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. It took me less then a week to finish the book and when I was done I was somewhat depressed that it was over. It was the type of book that I became completely immersed in. About a week after I finished the book I was surfing the web when I came across a story on Yahoo News: "Oprah Tells Frey She Feels Duped by Book." Well, I read the news even less frequently than I read books and reluctantly I clicked on the link. According to Oprah and a newly unearthed criminal record of Frey’s, much of his novel, an intimate account of his rehabilitation of alcohol and drug abuse, was ‘fabricated’ and should be classfied as fiction. Frey defended this by saying that his book was simply his interpretation of his journey through rehab.

Well, I defend Frey. Fiction is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary of the English language as, "An imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent actuality but has been invented; the act of inventing such a creation or pretense or a lie." In Frey’s defense, his memoirs are in no way an ‘imaginative creation,’ they were an actuality, an account of an experience he chose to share with others through a book. Through a minute amount of embellishments, such as a passionate relationship with a young woman also in rehab, and some criminal charges that according to a recent file on Frey didn’t exist, Frey is being ridiculed by society and by the Oprah Book Club for lying in his novel.

On Jan. 11, the "Larry King Live" show recieved a call from Oprah defending Frey. Soon after this date Oprah herself believed the allegations against Frey and the validity of his novel. Frey then appeared again on the Oprah show where he was humiliated as she told him how she felt ‘conned’ and ‘duped’.

Let’s be clear: Oprah made the decision to read Frey’s book and she also made the decision to put this particular book at the top of her Oprah Book Club reading list of 2005.

Overall, the situation results in a debate over the fine line between fact and fiction, not between the truth and a lie. Oprah and other readers felt that Frey lied to them when, in fact, he was simply recounting his interpretation of his experiences. He admitted to a lifetime struggle with alcohol and drug abuse.

As a reader and a teen, I felt the book served as a reminder and example of the route through drug abuse recovery and how to prevent such a situation from happening to others in the first place.

Good job, James. I’m looking forward to your next book, regardless of which side of the fact/fiction line it lands.