Oprah’s Bright Shiny Mourning?

It takes a big woman to admit a mistake and Oprah, sporadically, is a very big woman. It takes an honest man to own up to a MILLION LITTLE lies. James Frey, sporadically, is an honest man. He has yet to fully accept accountability for his literary transgressions, but he has accepted Ms. Winfrey’s apology for scolding him on national tv. Wow, what a guy. In the recent issue of Vanity Fair, the fudging memoirist reports that Oprah called him to say sorry for the surprise tongue-lashing she delivered after discovering his book/her Book Club Selection contained more mistruths than a Rod Blagojevich press release. 

Last year at Words & Wine, I had the great privilege of being the first and only person to interview Mr. Frey in a public setting since he got regally reprimanded by Ms. O. And while he can be faulted for many things — including his memory and/or his fact-checking — there is no doubt that Frey is a personable, persuasive prevaricator whose non(?)-fictions have moved and improved many readers’ lives. Maybe it’s time we respect the old adage: Don’t shoot the messenger… Just don’t publish the messenger’s work as fact. (Ruth Reichl included a disclaimer at the beginning of her autobiographical TENDER AT THE BONE in which she acknowledges she altered incidents, changed identities, etc yet no one’s seen her pants ablaze.) Take notes, Jimmy. You may need them.