My Friend Leonard

Best friend Leonard

Leonard is the best friend James Frey has ever had. When Frey was bent on self-destruction, it was Leonard-high-living, highly charismatic mobster - who saved his life. When James Frey faced tremendous obstacles, both emotional and practical, to putting his life back together, Leonard offered support and his considerable, sometimes unmentionable influence and protection.

Twist of fate

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 offers dangerous employment

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 Frey could ever imagine.

Leonard helped me

"Did the stuff in the book really happen? Yeah, it did. My girlfriend killed herself the way I wrote it. Leonard helped me the way I said he helped me, died the way he died. The events in the book are the events of my life. But that's not to say that I didn't pick and choose what to use and how to use it. The goal was to write a great book, to create something that somebody will feel good about having read. It's a sort of juggling act, where I have to be true to the events and the people, but where I also know that I am writing a book and that I have to be true to what the book should be." (Interview Book Page)

My Friend Leonard by James Frey
ISBN: 1573223158