My Friend Leonard - Softcover

Frey, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0719561167 ISBN 13: 9780719561160

Publisher: John Murray Pub., 2005

Synopsis

My Friend Leonard is the story of an extraordinary friendship formed in the most unlikely of circumstances. When James Frey first meets Leonard in the rehabilitation centre so powerfully described in A Million Little Pieces they are both recovering drug addicts. Despite their highly unreliable track records their shared grit and humour sparks a mutual admiration which quickly transforms into firm loyalty.

Leonard himself is charismatic and contradictory; at once a magnetic father-figure and a shady mafia boss. When he leaves rehabilitation it is to return to this dubious yet prosperous life in the criminal underworld of Las Vegas. In contrast, when James leaves the centre his world seems set to implode. Unsure where to turn, James calls Leonard and he answers. Paradoxically, it is in Leonard's lawless underworld that James discovers the courage and humanity needed to rebuild his life.

About this title

Review:

My Friend Leonard will go some way to cementing his reputation as one of the finest young writers around. (Irish Examiner)

Excellent ... Frey's storytelling feels compulsive, involuntary ... poignant and tragic. The forthcoming film will almost certainly be a cult hit ... The good thing about Frey is that he writes as if he needs to; I hope his new compulsion thrives (William Leith, Spectator on A MILLION LITTLE PIECE)

James Frey's utterly mesmerising account ... [is] easily the most remarkable non-fiction book about drugs and drug taking since Hunter S Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ... As a memoir, it is almost mythic. You can imagine it made epic by Martin Scorsese, the auteur of wayward American maleness in all its extremity ... Utterly compulsive (Observer on A MILLION LITTLE PIECES)

Frey really can write. Brilliantly. And if you don't think so, f*** you (London Evening Standard on A MILLION LITTLE PIECES)

An extraordinary and deeply moving book that will make you think about family, friendship, love, religion, death and perhaps most of all, the human spirit (Irish Sunday Independent on A MILLION LITTLE PIECE)

A heartbreaking memoir ... inspirational and essential (Bret Easton Ellis on A MILLION LITTLE PIECES)

This book is definitely going to be huge ... There is no question that he's a good writer. As soon as you start reading the book, Frey's voice rings out. It's clear and sharp and turbocharged ... We love rehab memoirs. This is a good one. It might even be a great one (Independent on A MILLION LITTLE PIECES)

He takes you inside his world of pain, and it's like a small, brightly lit cell ... Life, Frey tells us, is pretty disturbing and weird when you're out of your head. But try living it sober. (The Spectator)

A deeply affecting book. A tiring one, too: read it, and you will appreciate the way Frey weathered a full-frontal assault from emotions he didn't know existed. .... Vivid, splashy and mesmerising. (Independent)

The idea of reading about the road to recovery of someone whose lifestyle I could neither condone nor understand didn't inspire me at all. WRONG!!! Within two pages all prejudice was forgotten and I immediately felt an empathy with the main character.' (Jayne Eyre, Leeds)

Book Description:

Written in the hallmark visceral style of A Million Little Pieces, My Friend Leonard is a mesmerising insight into a friendship built in an astonishing underworld

About this edition

• Publisher: John Murray Pub.
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0719561167
• ISBN 13: 9780719561160
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368