A MILLION LITTLE PIECES

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.

Published: London : John Murray, 2003.

A Million Little Pieces is a bleak and compelling autobiographical novel which recounts 23-year-old Frey’s attempts to kick a severe drug and alcohol addiction in Hazelden, a rehabilitation clinic in Chicago. His account of the agonizing six weeks of detox is harrowing in its descriptive flashbacks to the rage-fuelled binges that led to rehab.  Frey’s writing style, described as “literary fireworks” is punctuated by short sentences and wild paragraph breaks, all of which create a surreal experience. Frey’s book was later exposed as fraudulent after investigators discovered that certain elements were greatly exaggerated.

Sources

Cover image: Goodreads

Citation: UTS Library catalogue

Annotation: Novelist, Goodreads and Amazon

LOVE AND CONSEQUENCES

Love And Consequences: A Memoir Of Hope And Survival by Margaret B Jones. 

Published: New York: Riverhead Books, 2008.

Described as ‘Urban Fiction’, Love and Consequences is the memoir of a mixed-race young girl as she struggles to survive the brutality of life in South Central Los Angeles. The story is one of strength and hope, with the protagonist overcoming urban poverty, crime, drug abuse and violence, eventually breaking free to graduate from high school and then college. Written in the slang of the city’s most prominent street gangs -- the Bloods and Crips -- Jones explains that she chose to “write as we chose to speak in the world of my childhood." The book was later recalled by its publisher, Riverhead books and retailers after it was revealed the author was in fact, Margaret Seltzer, a white, affluent American writer who went so far as to speak in an African-American dialect during radio interviews in order to promote the book.

Sources

Cover image: Novelist

Citation: Novelist

Annotation: Literature Resource Center and Novelist

FORBIDDEN LOVE

Forbidden Love by Norma Khouri.

Published: New York: Bantam, 2004.

Norma Khouri’s Forbidden Love (published in the US as Honor lost: love and death in modern-day Jordan) is the shocking and tragic story of 25 year-old Dalia, a muslim woman living in modern-day Jordan who meets and falls in love with Michael, a Catholic major in the Royal Army. Their relationship is forbidden under religious law Dalia’s brother soon becomes suspicious of the affair. He accuses her of dishonoring the family and demands justice in the form of her “honor killing” at the hands of her father. In 2004, The Sydney Morning Herald discovered the book was pure fiction and was in fact the work of Jordanian author Norma Bagain Toliopoulos.

Sources

Cover image: Amazon

Citation: Amazon

Annotation: Amazon, Goodreads and Novelist

THE PAINTED BIRD

The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski. 

Published: New York: Grove Press, 1995.

Polish-American novelist, Jerzy Kosinski wrote The Painted Bird, about the brutal mistreatment of a six year-old boy -- a war refugee who is on the run from the Nazis -- at the hands of Eastern European villagers. Dark haired and olive skinned, the villagers mistake him for a Jew or a Gypsy and treat him cruelly. The writing style and imagery is simple which aptly conveys the horror of the Holocaust. There has been much speculation about the book’s authorship following its release and Kosinski himself has faced accusations of plagarism.

Sources

Cover image: Wikipidea

Citation: Novelist.

Annotation: Fantastic Fiction, MagillOnLiterature Plus and Novelist.

THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things by J. T. Leroy

Published: New York: Bloomsbury, 2000.

Heartbreaking and grim, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things is a collection of autobiographical short stories told from the perspective of Jeremiah, an abused young boy on the run from small town America who ends up on the streets of San Francisco. Following on from his debut novel, Sarah, the author J. T. Leroy reprises two characters, the narrator Jeremiah and his drug addicted prostitute mother, Sarah. This time, the plot focuses on Sarah’s relentless torture of her son and his desperate yearnings for her love and attention in spite of her repeated abuse and abandonment.

Sources

Cover image: Goodreads

Citation: Novelist

Annotation: Novelist, Literature Resource Center and Goodreads

SARAH

Sarah by J. T. Leroy.

Published: New York: Bloomsbury, 2000.

Sarah is an intensely emotional and grim novel written by J. T. Leroy (real name Laura Albert). The story is narrated by Cherry Vanilla, a twelve-year-old boy who adopts his prostitute mother’s name – Sarah – as he hitchhikes through the truck stops of West Virginia, all the while disguised as a girl. Along his journey, he meets an evil pimp, Le Loup and a cast of bizarre underworld characters. The book caused a sensation after it was revealed that J. T. Leroy was a fictional character made-up by journalist Laura Albert, who had recruited a stand-in to pose as Leroy for public appearances.

Sources

Cover image: Novelist

Citation: Amazon

Annotation: Novelist and Amazon

THE BLOOD RUNS LIKE A RIVER THROUGH MY DREAMS

The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams: A Memoir by Nasdijj. 

Published: Boston: Mariner Books, 2001.

The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams is as a collection of vignettes of a bleak life on a Navajo reservation, told from the perspective of Nasdijj, the child of a Native American mother and a rough-neck father. Written in an honest, yet expressive and poetic voice, Nasdijj’s book deals with the themes of homelessness, ethnic cleansing in America, love, survival and hope. In 2006 it was revealed Nasdijj was in fact, Tim Patrick Barrus -- an American author and social worker -- who published this and two other fictitious memoirs.

Sources

Cover image: Amazon

Citation: Goodreads

Annotation: Fiction Connection, Amazon and Goodreads

A CHILD CALLED "IT"

A Child Called "It" : One Child's Courage To Survive by David J. Pelzer 

Published: Omaha, Neb. : Omaha Press Pub. Co., 1993.

Widely considered as the first of the “misery lit” genre, A Child Called “It” is the disturbing personal account of author David Pelzer, who was tortured as a young boy by his sadistic, alcoholic mother who starved and brutally beat him, to the point of his becoming her slave. Eventually Pelzer manages to overcome the extreme abuse to lead a scarred, yet ultimately successful life. The book is well known for it's graphic and morbid content.
There remains doubt as to the veracity of Pelzer’s claims in the book, with both The New York Times and The Guardian newspapers noting the lack of details authenticating his recollections.

Sources

Cover image: Goodreads

Citation: UTS Library Catalogue

Annotation: Fiction Connection, Goodreads and Amazon.

FAMOUS ALL OVER TOWN

Famous All Over Town by Danny Santiago

Published: New York: Plume, 1984.

Dealing with a central theme of family and social issues, Famous All Over Town tells the story of Rodolfo M. Medina, Jr., a.k.a. "Chato," a  streetwise 14 year-old Mexican-American boy growing up in the rough neighbourhoods of East Los Angeles. The book is a coming of age story told in a series of episodes full of local colour, with a sassy and sometimes broken English dialogue. Santiago, while trying to pass this novel as autobiographical, was later revealed to be Daniel James -- the author of several Broadway plays during the 1930’s and 1940’s. In his defence, he claimed to have been simply writing from the viewpoint of a young Latino American boy.

Sources

Cover image: Goodreads

Citation: Novelist

Annotation: Magillon Literature Plus, Goodreads and Novelist