Real Payday for Fake Memoirist Frey

Thank God I'm not an aspiring fiction writer, because, if I were, I'd be filled with an irresistible urge to smash stuff after seeing the news that HarperCollins is paying faux-memoirist James Frey more than a million dollars for the privilege of publishing his new novel.

HarperCollins publisher Jonathan Burnham explained his reason for buying the new book, Bright Shiny Morning, in a statement, saying, "James Frey is an immensely talented writer who has written a truly extraordinary and original novel."

To use a word that I know Frey favors: Bullshit.

Frey is a hack, as the critics who were paying attention pointed out well before it came to light that the interesting parts of A Million Little Pieces were all made up. If he were an "immensely talented writer," one of the 17 publishers who rejected Pieces when it was packaged as a fiction manuscript would have bought it.

More than that, he's a hack who brought shame on his previous publisher, Random House, on Oprah Winfrey, who endorsed his book, and on the whole publishing industry, which had to explain to a curious nation that, no, fact-checking isn't a routine part of non-fiction publishing.

At least Burnham demonstrated a little more candor in his interview with The Wall Street Journal, saying: "[Frey] has a huge number of fans. They will come readily and eagerly to this novel."

In other words, HarperCollins is counting on all the people who were stupid enough to continue believing in the "emotional truth" of Frey's story even after the bottom fell out to shell out twenty bucks for Bright Shiny Morning. They'll probably like it, too.