James Frey's Revenge on Oprah

James Frey has blurred the line between fact and fiction again, and once more it involves Oprah. In the paperback version of Bright Shiny Morning, due out next week, James Frey has included a mysterious talk show scene, which most likely refers to his appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. In 2006, when Frey appeared on the show, Oprah told him that she had felt “duped” by A Million Little Pieces—which she had recommended to her book club—because it “betrayed millions of readers.” In his new book, Frey describes going an eerily familiar scene: “He went on the show. It wasn't what he was told it was going to be. He got berated, yelled at, booed, scolded, lectured, humiliated.” The character in Frey’s novel becomes so paranoid that people are “turning” on him, that he begins taping his phonecalls. And, at the end of the book, the narrator reveals he has made copies of the tapes and distributed them. Wonders the New York Post: “Does James Frey have embarrassing audiotapes of Oprah Winfrey?” When called for comment, Frey, of course, wasn’t going to let himself get in trouble again: “The book is fiction,” he said. “Interpret it however you want."