Perhaps the most unconventional and literally breathtaking father-son story you'll ever read, My Friend Leonard pulls you immediately and deeply into a relationship as unusual as it is inspiring.
The father figure is Leonard, the high-living, recovering coke addict "West Coast Director of a large Italian-American finance firm" (read: mobster) who helped to keep James Frey clean in A Million Little Pieces. The son is, of course, James, damaged perhaps beyond repair by years of crack and alcohol addiction-and by more than a few cruel tricks of fate.
James embarks on his post-rehab existence in Chicago emotionally devastated, broke, and afraid to get close to other people. But then Leonard comes back into his life, and everything changes. Leonard offers his "son" lucrative-if illegal and slightly dangerous-employment. He teaches James to enjoy life, sober, for the first time. He instructs him in the art of "living boldly," pushes him to pursue his passion for writing, and provides a watchful and supportive veil of protection under which James can get his life together. Both Leonard's and James's careers flourish . . . but then Leonard vanishes. When the reasons behind his mysterious absence are revealed, the book opens up in unexpected emotional ways.
My Friend Leonard showcases a brilliant and energetic young writer rising to important new challenges-displaying surprising warmth, humor, and maturity-without losing his intensity. This book proves that one of the most provocative literary voices of his generation is also one of the most emphatically human.
My Friend Leonard FROM OUR EDITORS The title character of this book is the most unconventional father figure in recent memory. Leonard is the high-living, secretive recovering coke addict and mob hired gun who played a central role in James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Starting where that book ended, My Friend Leonard tracks Frey and his supportive surrogate father in post-rehab and post-prison life. By turns hilarious and bittersweet, this memoir never slips into maudlin rambling.
FROM THE PUBLISHER "Leonard is the best friend James Frey has ever had. When James was bent on self-destruction, it was Leonard-high-living, highly charismatic mobster - who saved his life. When James faced tremendous obstacles, both emotional and practical, to putting his life back together, Leonard offered support and his considerable, sometimes unmentionable influence and protection." So when James is released from a stint in jail only to be rocked by a particularly cruel twist of fate, it's to Leonard that he turns for help. Leonard, of the outsized personality, who greets James as "My Son" at the top of his lungs when he rushes into his life to instruct him in the art of "living boldly." Leonard, who offers James lucrative - if illegal, mysterious, and slightly dangerous - employment when he needs it. Leonard, of the secret deals, of the surprising passions that belie his violent career choice, of fantastic generosity and ferocious loyalty. Leonard, who has more invested in their friendship than James could ever imagine.
FROM THE CRITICS Atlanta Journal-Constitution Frey describes how he put feelings back into his life, and the effect is vivid, splashy, mesmerizing. Newsweek As smart as it is heartfelt, this tribute to friendship is a far sunnier book than Frey's debut. Booklist Another powerful read from a talented, dynamic author. (Starred Review) Publishers Weekly Frey achieves another stylistic coup as he develops a narrative thread begun in 2003's A Million Little Pieces. He chronicles his journey out of the terrifying darkness of addiction, and the friend he meets along the way, Leonard. A gangster, raconteur and mentor, Leonard was introduced in Pieces as one of Frey's new rehab friends. Here, he pushes Frey out into the world, pampering him one moment, giving him tough love the next. As in Pieces, Frey's style throughout is loose, untraditional yet perfectly crafted: "[Leonard] offered me his hand and said good, I'm fucked up too, and I like fucked-up people, let's sit and eat and see if we can be friends. I took his hand and I shook it and we sat down and we ate together and we became friends." There's something mesmerizing about the endless tumble of words, the nonstop spilling out of Frey's troubles and triumphs. In the hands of a less capable writer, all of this cool, tight narration might numb the reader and distance the experience. Instead, this book packs a full-body emotional wallop. Frey's eye is keen for detail: the inside of a county lockup; the flat, gray Chicago winter; an out-of-control Super Bowl party in Los Angeles; the grind of living day to day-all come alive in his sparse, powerful prose. At its core, this is an examination of a friendship. Frey's extraordinary relationship with Leonard is alive, a flesh-and-blood bond forged in the agony of rehab and sustained through honesty and trust. Agent, Kassie Evashevski at Brillstein/Grey Entertainment. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal In this follow-up to his best-selling A Million Little Pieces, which described his near-fatal descent into addiction, Frey gets out of jail and embarks on a mission to live a drug- and alcohol-free life with his new girlfriend, Lilly. Before he can reach her, however, she hangs herself over the death of her grandmother. Enter Leonard, a "father figure" mobster Frey met in rehab who gives him highly lucrative (albeit highly illegal) work, indulges him in lavish feasts and parties, and simply teaches him how to enjoy life to the fullest-without illegal substances and booze. While this memoir addresses serious issues that would ostensibly interest readers (love and loss, suicide, sexual orientation, AIDS, and criminal activity), Frey's writing style utterly fails to engage. There is no distinction between one voice and the next, which makes it difficult to tell who is speaking; the lack of sentence variation and punctuation makes for a monotone narrative so that potentially exciting or emotional events have little impact. Even the most tenacious fans of Frey's more successful first book will have trouble plowing through to the end. Not a first purchase, but prepare for demand.-Dale Raben, School Library Journal Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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