I read that Smoking Gun stuff, it seemed to go a bit beyond the usual artistic license you'd expect from a memoir. He's completely fabricated years of stuff, and tried to hide the facts so that he wouldn't get caught out. Plus the stuff where he pretends he was best friends with a girl who died in a traffic accident is pretty skeevy. I dunno, he comes across like a spoiled rich kid who figured he'd cash in on his drunk driving charge :)

That said, it's not my kind of book anyway. But if you market something as non-fic, I expect more than half of it to be true.

he is full of shit. no one is interested in fiction like this, as that would only be whiny and self serving. the only reason that it is gripping is because one thinks that it is real and he made it out the other side. my opinion obviously.

slate has a decent article on why the lies matter, which i would have linked but i am strung out on muscle relaxers and pain meds.

When I was reading it I had a former friend in the back of my head. This person was also a pretty serious addict. He also had a propensity for taking liberties with the truth. (read=liar liar pants on fire!) I guess all of this with Million Little Pieces shouldn't surprise me too much.
And thinking about it....I guess it isn't that strong of a work of fiction, it only works if it is true story. Ol' boy has ruined any future writing career he might have had.

I guess the moral of the story is if you are going to stretch the truth that much just class it as a work of 'fiction based on true events'.
-gg