Frey Update

The New York Times‘ Edward Wyatt reports on Doubleday’s response to the allegations made by The Smoking Gun that large portions of James Frey’s memoir, A Million Little Pieces, were made up. In essence, Doubleday thinks Frey’s misrepresentations do not matter, because memoir, as a genre, “is highly personal.” (Didn’t you know facts are personal? Well, now, you know.) Says Wyatt:

Doubleday’s response underscores the gap that has emerged between book publishing and the rest of the media, which in recent years have been under increasing scrutiny over the accuracy of their reporting. Other high-profile media outlets have been criticized for reports whose truth was later questioned, including Stephen Glass’s fabrications at The New Republic, Jayson Blair’s reporting for The New York Times and CBS News’s reporting on President Bush’s National Guard record.

Meanwhile, on Amazon.com, an enterprising reader is suggesting that people send the book back and ask for a refund, because he “wanted non-fiction, not fiction.”