My Friend Leonard

This book will rock your world and crash your heart wide open. It's a book of journey, love, friends, fate, and food. Lots of food. It takes you west across America: Chicago, Los Angelos, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle. If you want a proper, well-written story that is a solid variation of current literary theme, you have many worthy options. Want to blow your mind? Get My Friend Leonard.

After reading James Frey's first book, "A Little Million Pieces" and loving it while wanting to wash the grime of addiction off of my hands (which I had felt like had gotten on them whilst reading), I did not know what to expect from "My Friend Leonard". In Frey's first book, we get a glimps of Leonard and are left with wanting more. "Leonard" answers who Leonard is, what he does, and how his life intertwines with James Frey. It is as positive as "A Million Little Pieces" is negative. I found the book to be a lot more enthraling than "A Million Little Pieces", but a bit more mainstream. A definite read if you have already read "A Million Little Pieces."

James Frey books are my favorites. I love A Million Little Pieces first, then this after. Both are amazing books. I love his writing style and I do not care whats true and whats not but he tells the heart and soul of an addict. He shows the tough life of trying to overcome addiction.

I read this book after all the controversy with the author, James Frey. This book is absolutely entertaining from start to finish. Anyone who loved "A Million Little Pieces" and doesn't care if the author embellished, will love "My Friend Leonard".

Good book by a good writer. Can't wait for more books from James Frey (if there will be any).

I read "A million little pieces" and couldn't put it down. Thankfully for me this book was released that next week. I love Leonard. What a great character. I think this was wonderful to read. Between the two books I haven't had my nose out of a Frey book since 3 weekends ago....

GREAT JOB.

I thought A Million Bits & Pieces was the best book I had ever read but My Friend Leonard is even better. James Frey keeps me turning pages faster than any author I have ever read, even Dan Brown in Angels & Demons. His story is surely one of hope and inspiration to all of us to keep on working on whatever it is that is our difficulty. His treatment of all beings human and animal with such great respect and humor is wonderful. To have a friend like Leonard was his great blessing - I don't care what line of work Leonard was in - his love for James was unconditional and vice-versa.

I completely agree with the previous review and thus have not had the least interest in reading this fabrication. If I thought the bookstore would take it back, I'd return it. As it is, I consider it a lesson learned at a relatively cheap price.

I cannot believe a word in this poorly written piece of garbage. There is not one plausable chapter, and I read this a few days before all of the hoopla about James Frey's million little lies. Don't waste your money on this one!

Million Little Pieces was one fantastic novel. It doesn't matter to me one bit that it's all or half fiction. I wish it was translated to Polish (man, I could try to do that!). Unfortunately, My Friend Leonard to Million Little Pieces is like weak tea to strong vodka. It lacks the tension, it lacks the spark. And as Frey pretends it to be a memoir, too, we all now the protagonist is going to end up as a rich writer, so there's just a question of getting rid of title Leonard somewhere along the way.

Poorly constructed, plain boring.

Like many others, I found out about James Frey through Oprah and her book club. I read A Million Little Pieces quickly and intensely. I didn't question it at the time. I just wanted to finish it and see what happened to all the interesting characters. I immediately bought the follow-up and had it delivered with the 2 day option. I couldn't wait for the book to arrive. Then, I started thinking more about AMLP and wondering how true some of the parts might be, like the part where they have the boxing match and the authorities leave and they are allowed to bet and eat as much as they want from a catered company. I started to realize there might be some over-elaboration from Frey. Maybe he made some of it up, maybe a lot more than some of it.

Then MFL arrives and I read it quickly. It lends itself to being read quickly because it is so repetitive. I agree with other reviews that say his style works much better as an addict than as a person who is distanced from that addiction. This style becomes difficult and tedious. I tire of it I take a break from reading I care less about what happens to the characters get a cold tasty cola. Skip a few pages. The writing becomes a parody of itself at times. It worked before but it doesn't in this book. In the "real world" Leonard becomes a much less believable character to me. Snapper is one dimensional at best. I lose interest in his loves he can't get it up with his beautiful new girlfriend he won't tell her why he still misses Lilly cries buys flowers cries. We hug. We seperate. We order steak, creamed spinach and a nice cold tasty cola.

OK, you get it. I'm disappointed I hoped for better I feel like it was made up makes the first book less believable stop now stop stop.

This book was a great novel! I really like James Frey style of writing. It is quick and tells the story in a way that makes it hard to put the book down.

Anyone who has read A MILLION LITTLE PIECES must read this. Read it as a novel and you wont be disapointed.

I bought this book wanting to know more about Mr. Frey's life after "Pieces." Unfortunately, before I had a chance to pick the book up, the lies he told were revealed by The Smoking Gun.

(Note: I have read "Pieces" was first pitched to publishers as a novel with no takers - it was the suggestion of his shameless agent to classify it as a memoir instead.)

I opened this book and after a few pages I had to put it back down - everything I'd read dealt with his experiences in jail - everything was a lie. I felt literally sickened with doubt with each paragraph I read, knowing if something as crucial to his story as his jail time never happened, was there going to be any truth to the rest of this book? Did larger-than-life Leonard from the first book even exist? And how in the world did broken and pitiful Lilly commit suicide after his five hour release from jail... in the figments of the newly wealthy Mr. Frey's mind? Furthermore, according to "Pieces" both characters/people died; there is no way to substantiate their existance unless some long-lost relatives or friends of the deceased come forward to defend Mr. Frey (unlikely because Leonard conveniently had mob ties, and Lilly's grandmother passed away).

I couldn't bring myself to continue on with the book - a first for me - not when every sentence read would now be construed with suspicion and doubt. It suddenly wasn't worth the effort. I've always finished the books I've started, knowing there would be at least some merit to them by the end... or else they wouldn't have been published in the first place. Or so I naively thought. (Time for me to grow up a little??) In this case I believe this book was published for the simple reason it would make money for the publisher, Mr. Frey, and his agent - readers be damned.

I bought this book wanting to know more about Mr. Frey's life after "Pieces." Unfortunately, before I had a chance to pick the book up, the lies he told were revealed by The Smoking Gun.

(Note: I have read "Pieces" was first pitched to publishers as a novel with no takers - it was the suggestion of his shameless agent to classify it as a memoir instead.)

I opened this book and after a few pages I had to put it back down - everything I'd read dealt with his experiences in jail - everything was a lie. I felt literally sickened with doubt with each paragraph I read, knowing if something as crucial to his story as his jail time never happened, was there going to be any truth to the rest of this book? Did larger-than-life Leonard from the first book even exist? And how in the world did broken and pitiful Lilly commit suicide after his five hour release from jail... in the figments of the newly wealthy Mr. Frey's mind? Furthermore, according to "Pieces" both characters/people died; there is no way to substantiate their existance unless some long-lost relatives or friends of the deceased come forward to defend Mr. Frey (unlikely because Leonard conveniently had mob ties, and Lilly's grandmother passed away).

I couldn't bring myself to continue on with the book - a first for me - not when every sentence read would now be construed with suspicion and doubt. It suddenly wasn't worth the effort. I've always finished the books I've started, knowing there would be at least some merit to them by the end... or else they wouldn't have been published in the first place. Or so I naively thought. (Time for me to grow up a little??) In this case I believe this book was published for the simple reason it would make money for the publisher, Mr. Frey, and his agent - readers be damned.

James Frey has admitted that he never did 3 months in jail as claimed in his smash bestselling "memior" "A Million Little Pieces" - check out thesmokinggun.com....
The guy never did time, and apparently was more of a drunk driver than the hardened criminal he portrays. If you want to make him richer, get this book.

Books like James Frey's A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard are exactly why I love reading. Both of these books are real and people can relate to a lot of his feelings even if they haven't come close to living his life. What an amazing life he has led. These books just grab you and hold you until the very last page. I loved every sentence on every page of both books. James Frey you are amazing, interesting, courageous, human and so very intelligent.

5 stars definitely!!! Awesome book.... brilliant author. He did it again ~ this book is almost as good as "A Million Little Pieces."

I'd love to meet this man ~ this myth and this legend. :o)))))

Awesome book! 2 thumbs up! :o)

Like his first book, James Frey's My Friend Leonard captivates the reader from the first sentence. Sparse dialogue, brutal honesty, simple language, and rapid plot make for a gripping story.

Recent controversy over Frey's first novel has proven that you don't fool with Oprah without public castigation. Are Frey's stories real? Exaggerations? Downright lies? And why, in a tabloid culture, does factul accuracy even matter? One has to wonder if the issue of Duping Oprah could have been been a stroke of publicity genius. How could a Book Club darling like A Million Little Pieces have escaped the scrutiny of Oprah's fact-checking staff?

American readers don't like to feel fooled. "The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" is the backdrop of a culture that feeds on the fading myth of the American Dream. Envy fuels the satisfaction of watching heros exposed. Mythologized versions of our own stories usually contain some kernel of truth--but most of us have neither the gift nor the energy to tell our own stories. If we do write our stories, we envy those who are fortunate (or savvy) enough to get themselves published.

That said, I do find Frey's writing tiresome. A hollowness looms within the endless account of his maudalin grief over the loss of a quasi-relationship with of a disturbed and shallow woman. The stream-of-of consciousness style that scorns punctuation reflects the inner workings of an addiction-damaged brain--but after awhile, the lack of deference to grammar and the pervasiveness of raw language sounds narcissistic and contemptuous. (I'm no prude, but how many times can you say the word f--k without sounding hostile and crude?)

That love is based on idealized fantasy and self-absorption is a lie. That loyalty is based on grandiose rescue perhaps even worse than a lie.

We need page-turners as distractions from the tedious work of earning a living, paying taxes, and doing the hard work of maintaining real relationships. And reading is better (to this reviewer, at least) than watching tabloid TV.

James Frey has given us some noteworthy distractions. But the fascination with his work, as with most best-sellers, ultimately tells us more about ourselves than about the author or the book.

Finished reading My Friend Leonardby James Frey. It is the sequel to Million Little Pieces and picks up when James has gotten out of rehab. It focuses mainly on his relationship with Leonard, a mobster that James met while he was in rehab.

The writing style was the same as it was in Frey's previous book - short and sometimes without correct punctuation or any punctuation at all. And yet, that didn't bother me (although it usually does). I thought that the first book was better - it was the more powerful of the two by far. There is only so much of this sort of memoir that one can take. And the fact that he hadn't relapsed after dealing with the things that happened to him after he got out made it seem unrealistic, especially considering that he was around people that were drinking and using and, for a portion of the book, worked in a bar, where he must have had constant access. In another part of the book, he even admits to having beer in the fridge and a fully stocked liquor cabinet. It just didn't feel right. The chances of him not relapsing were slim and I guess I've grown cynical in my own age and having dealt with people like him for most of my professional life.

That being said, I still really liked his writing style. It made the book easy to read and fast paced, but didn't detract from the story at all. In fact, it contributed greatly to the story. His character development was so - so. As I mentioned above, for instance, I wanted to know more about why he didn't relapse and why he felt confident enough to be around so much alcohol or to have alcohol in his home. I would suggest that if you pick up one of Frey's books, it is the previous book and not this one.

My Friend Leonard, by James Frey, is a complete tear-jerker. The sequel to the controversial A Million Little Pieces, this book outdoes it's former sibling novel. To be honest, I could not get enough of this book. Frey has a very distinct way of writing these two books. It is all written in very simple "thought-process" language. Frey simply writes whatever he is thinking, feeling, experiencing--anything. This book sheds light on so many interesting controversies. Without giving too much away, it discusses political issues, criminal issues, love, sexuality, and drug abuse.

Leonard is the man that every person--man or woman--dreams of in their life. The overly supportive (financially, physically, mentally, emotionally) best friend/hero/role model that people need to believe in themselves. I think this book hit home even further because a lot of it took place in Chicago. James, the author and main character of the book, discusses Chicago and some of the establishments he frequents around the city. What a truly outstanding work of written words!

An interesting story. I'm always interested in reading books about the addiction experience, and the road to recovery. Sometimes there's a good outcome, while other times the addict continues to struggle with issues outside of their addiction that keeps them trapped in an emotional downward spiral. I recently read a very good book that doesn't glamorize addiction. The author has been clean for decades and yet still struggles with mental health issues as a result of being molested as a child, and the abuse she suffered at the hands of her family members. It is quite a triggering read, but well worth it. The book is Little Girl Lost. I highly recommend giving that book a read!