Ron Charles's Reviews > Katerina

Hang on tight.

James Frey has written a memoir disguised as a novel about his first novel that was disguised as a memoir. But the only thing you really need to know about “Katerina” is that it’s ridiculous, a book so heated by narcissism that you have to read it wearing oven mitts.

If you’re prone to sympathetic vomiting, you’ll want a smock, too, because most of what the inebriated narrator does in this novel is vomit. He vomited when he got up, he has vomited after sex, he vomits looking for alcohol, he will vomit while drinking — he’s a full conjugation of the verb “to vomit.”

Which is also the theme here. “Katerina” offers a volcanic regurgitation of Frey’s dream of writing a bestseller, his descent into addiction and the literary scandal that made him infamous. The author seems to believe that his fall from grace is burned into America’s consciousness like the fall of Saigon, but a little background is probably necessary:

In 2003, an unknown young writer named James Frey published his first book, a searing memoir about alcohol and drug rehabilitation called “A Million Little Pieces.” Two years later, Oprah picked it for her book club, which led to a massive spike in sales — and skeptical attention. As questions about the book’s veracity increased, Frey and his publisher insisted the story was essentially true. But in 2006, after a devastating exposé by the Smoking Gun, Oprah confronted Frey on her show. “I feel that you. . . .

To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/...