Frey, James. A Million Little Pieces. Great Britain. Random House: 2003.
I chose to read this book because it was recommended to me by a friend. I barely read books that talk about drug related issues and rehab but my friend said that I could learn a lot from one man’s perspective of going through rehab. This book is a memoir but it can’t be distinguished as a non-fiction because the author added some fictional events into the story. The book takes place in a rehabilitation clinic in Minnesota during the early 1990s.
The story starts as James suddenly wakes up on an airplane to Chicago, not knowing or remembering how he got on to the plane in the first place. He met his parents at the airport who takes James to a rehabilitation clinic. At that moment the reader finds out that James is 23 years old and has been an alcoholic for 10 years and a crack addict for 3 years. He is also wanted by the police in different states of a few charges. In the clinic, James was forced to stop using his substance and instead abuse a cold turkey. He meets different people in the clinic with different stories. These people play an important role in his life both during and after his time in the clinic. The book follows James through his painful experiences that leads up to his release from the clinic.
James Frey is a 23 year old man who is an alcoholic for 10 years and a crack addict for 3 years. He was a privilege child who grew up like an outcast which led him to drinking and smoking pot at an early age. He has problems following the rules in the clinic. He rejects the Twelve Step program which is the whole foundation of the treatment. He violates a lot of the major rules in the clinic. In the clinic, his stubbornness starts to fade and becomes determined to get sober. I selected this character because he possesses the quality of change. What really interested me was how the people around him were able to affect the way he thinks and acts. The whole plot helped change James to become sober and in the end tells a man to “pour the drink down the drain”.
Overall I thought that this book gave a different insight on how it is to be in a place like rehab. I liked the novel because it showed a man’s perspective on how it is to become sober. It was interesting because the book also included different stories of the different people who were in rehab with James. It taught me that everyone can change for the better. I would recommend this to other people because it’s worth reading.
This book compares to real life because there are some people in the world who are in this same situation. We see these types of people everywhere and there are people who do go into rehab, determined to get sober. I think that it’s important to read this because it shows what these people go through just to get sober.
I might have acted the same way that James acted in the beginning, stubborn. Although I would be determined to become sober to make by life better than it was before. I would end my story the same way he ended his story because it’s simple but it ends strong.
James Frey was a screenwriter and his screenplay for Kissing a Fool was turned into a movie in 1998. He really went through rehab in 1993 when he was 23 years old and spent 3 weeks there. I haven’t really read a book like this that talks about what happened to him at one point of his life and added some fictional facts into his own story. I realized that I could learn valuable lessons and qualities so I plan to read other books like this.
Brashares, Ann. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. USA. Delacorte Press: 2001.
I chose to read this book because since I was going to be on a plane for a few hours, I wanted to read a book that refers to traveling. The truth is that my sister told me to read this book. This book is a teen fiction. It takes place in 4 different places: Oia, Greece; Baja California, Mexico; South Carolina; and Bethesda, Maryland during the early 21st century.
This book is about four best friends: Bridget, Lena, Carmen and Tibby. They have known each other for all of their lives and on their 15th summer as best friend, they will all be separated. Bridget is the athlete of the group and is going to attend soccer camp in Baja California. Lena is going to Greece to visit her grandparents. Carmen is going to visit her dad, who left both her and her mom when she was young. Tibby is the only one in the group who will be staying home working a summer job. The day before they all separate, they find a pair of pants that fit all four of them perfectly. They decide to share the pants during the summer, having each of them keep the pants for one week then mails it to the other. The summer becomes an unexpected journey for the four friends while they face tough decisions and different situations.
Lena Karigalis is the quiet, introspective of the group. She is the shy type of person and finds happiness in spending time alone and painting. She doesn’t trust all boys for she thinks that they only like her for her looks. She doesn’t really open up to people and is afraid that she’ll be alone forever. I chose Lena because I can relate more to her. What really interests me about her is how her fear for living alone made her finally open up to a Greek boy, Kostos, that she likes him.
I liked this book because it talked about how friends are always there for each other. It was pretty interesting seeing what the four friends go through during their summer and how they overcame different situations that they had to face. The pants symbolize the friendship that the four friends have and the positive influence that it had in their lives. It also taught me the importance of friendship. I would recommend this to others because it’s a heart warming book about friendship.
This book compares to real life because there are friends who admire their friendship with each other. This book reminds me of my friendship with my friends because we all come from different backgrounds with different qualities but we come together as one.
If I were to put myself in Lena’s position, I think I would’ve acted the same way. I think with my fear of having to live alone, I would’ve opened up to the guy that I am beginning to like. I think that the ending is good enough and I would’ve wanted it to end the same way.
Ann Brashares was born in Alexandria, Virginia during the 1960s. She worked as an editor but started writing in around 2001. I read a few books about friendship, but this was the only book that was simply written. I plan to read more books like this that talks about friendship.
Labels: Book Report
In Tampa, Florida, a man who was hidden by the name Jason, was to test the Tampa International Airport's security. His task was to walk through the metal detector portal while wearing a "back support" that was really a fake bomb. The mock bomb was as slim as a wallet and its fuse was the size of a cigarette. He wraps the support around his torso and the bombs fits comfortably on his back. Jason was also wearing a black shirt with a maroon golf shirt which really hides the fake bomb. Jason wants to succeed at his task but also fail because if he succeeds it means that the security at this specific airport is vulnerable to real threats but if he fails, that means that the security is on top of their game. He is a covert tester for the Transportation Security Administration and has been finding weaknesses of security for five years by mocking bombs before changing to really small devices that are evolved around terrorists threats. Jason walks through the metal detector portal and as expected, the alarm goes off because he was also wearing a metal knee. Security then pulls him aside and checks him with a metal hand detector all around his body. As security pats him around his back, the fake bomb was found. Although Jason said that he was having a back problem and needs to wear the back support and security lets him through which means that there was a fake bomb in the airport. It was said by TSA that cultural backgrounds of security can fall for these types of reasoning (being a middle aged man wearing a back support) but the security could also performed other tasks to make sure it was really a back support instead of a fake bomb.
