An Out-of-this-World Read (Rocket Boys)

I picked up Homer J. Hickam's Rocket Boys at a charity shop near my office on my lunch hour. I had finished the book I was reading on the way to work that morning and needed something to read on the way home. I had no previous knowledge of the novel, but it caught my eye because it billed itself as a "true story." The Stand-By-Me-esque blurb on the back cover was fairly intriguing so I paid my £1.50 hoping I'd made a good choice.

My humble expectations of a book I'd never heard of were immediately exceeded. For someone whose profession is rocket engineering, Hickam is an outstanding writer. In fact, his writing is far superior to some writers who write for a living (I'm not going to name any names... Dan Brown).

Rocket Boys is Hickam's story of his adolesence during the late 50's and early 60's in the mining town of Coalwood, West Virgina. Inspired by spotting Sputnik fly over his modest village, Hickam and a group of male friends form a rocket club. This memoir follows the ups and downs of the club, as well as of the town as the US economy changes.

I firmly believe that in years to come Rocket Boys could (and should) find its way onto high school reading lists across the US. It is a truthful, enigmatic glimpse into the space-race era and presents a lasting image of life in a coal-mining town. Plus, it's been made into a movie called October Sky which suits the modern American teaching style of reading the book and then watching the film.

I am 22 and I adored this book. I am going to buy a copy (not from the charity shop) of this for my dad for Father's Day because I know it will bring back fond memories of his childhood. It is classic books that bridge generations and readerships, and I firmly believe that Rocket Boys is a modern classic.

A Million Little Happy Readers... So Who Cares? (My Friend Leonard)

Okay, so I'm a little behind on the times. The James Frey "Million Little Lies" controversy has been raging for months now. But I live in the UK (where US books are often released later) so I've only recently finished My Friend Leonard. Both A Million Little Pieces and its sequel My Friend Leonard follow the turbulent life and rehabilitation of alcoholic and addict James Frey.

I read A Million Little Pieces on a long Amtrak journey when I was in the US last year, and it certainly made a boring train ride go faster. It is marketed as a memoir and reads like one--depicting events and situations from Frey's life. It is raw, real and incredibly hard to put down. Ah! There's the rub...

According to The Smoking Gun http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html much of the book is fictionalised and sensationalised. Now this probably wouldn't have been an issue EXCEPT the book was featured in Oprah's Book Club, and the Queen of TV was so moved by the book that she had Frey on the show as a guest. During this one-hour slot, Frey expressed that nothing in the book was exaggerated or made up. Unfortunately for the author, The Smoking Gun did its research and found out that wasn't strictly true.

No one messes with Oprah, goddammit.

Since the publication of The Smoking Gun's revelations, Oprah has had Frey back on the show and he has admitted that the same "demons"that made him use drugs and alcohol also made him fabricate and embellish parts of his book. In response to The Smoking Gun's research, Fry said they "did a good job."

Things are marketed as something they're not every single day (food commercials many times have nothing to do with food; brand lifestyles are sold as opposed to products themselves) and I can't see how a book should be much different. I think The Smoking Gun's revelations are certainly interesting and amusing, and I pity Frey for being caught in these lies, but finding out that much of A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard is untrue is unsurprising to me. I never expected the "memoirs" to be completely true. The first book discusses incidents in far too clear of detail for a once drugged-up junkie to remember. I thought Frey's creative licence was clear from the first page.

I think James Frey has an interesting writing style that proved especially good in this particular subject matter. Of the two books, I found My Friend Leonard to be more touching and fulfilling, but A Million Little Pieces certainly has its heart in the right place and has apparently helped a lot of people with addiction problems.

Both books have proven immensely successful and Frey is still highly respected by his fan base, so who cares if every detail of his books aren't true? I'll be interested to see the film (yes, Frey has written a screenplay of AMLP) when it comes out, and I'll be on the look-out to see what Frey writes next.

I bet Oprah will be too.