PeachyTO's Reviews > My Friend Leonard

Yawn...

If ever there was a book that triggered me to pick up a cigarette after having quit so many months ago, it would be this one. From the ashtray on the cover to the chronic smoking that takes place by almost all of the characters, reading My Friend Leonard turned out to be an exercise in will power, if nothing else.

This is the sequel to Frey's first faux memoir, A Million Little Pieces and although I really enjoyed that novel, this one was rather stale and I had to really push myself to get through it. There have been times where I have embraced it, but in this case the stream of consciousness style of writing felt drawn out and boring. I also found his constant repetition of words and sentences to be annoying. I’m sure this was some poetic or artistic impression intended to make me feel his points more emotively, but I think Frey really missed the mark on this.

In my opinion, had he cut the bullshit he could have streamlined the pages to about half, however there wouldn’t be much of a book to read then, since the type face was large and there was a blank page between each chapter. It just felt like he took the cheap way out and wrote another book on the tails of his last success, with no respect for good writing or his readers. It felt like a cash-grab.

What I did get out of it were some realistic depictions of what the journey through early sobriety looks like. The severe sweet tooth, propensity to overeat, excessive walking or exercising, and the extremely overpowering and constant craving to use are very accurate dilemmas for the poor soul just out of rehab. I loved the idea of him carrying around this cheap bottle of wine just in case he felt the urge to drink; a reminder and a test, as it were.

If you dig deep enough you will find a charming relationship between Frey and his friend Leonard, but this seemed ridiculous and hard to believe more often than not. In the end, My Friend Leonard is about love, loyalty, and resilience, with a strong dose of loss.

I know that Frey has since put out Bright Shiny Morning, so I’m really curious to find out if he actually tries with this one...