My student insists on defending A Million Little Pieces. I've decided to reconsider what the story could mean for people for whom transcendence in their lives is the goal or a matter of survival. The transcendence of pain, addiction, loneliness, alchoholism or any of the other sundry miseries we often find ourselves in. O.K. I'll concede that my student is a real smart girl and she challenged me, not without some irritation: "O.K,Michelle,you know,it is not really that deep, o.k.? I mean , really what difference does it make?" I was a bit taken aback, so I took a minute to think: "Well, I said "it's not real." She replied "So?" "He should have made it fiction!" I persisted. "But Michelle,either way,it is still a damn good story."
And you know, as much as I hate to admit it,I have to say that she's right. Is that why the recent negative publicity hasn't hurt sales in the least? Could be. I'll let this rest for a while. But if a book, as Kafka said, should be the ax that breaks the frozen sea within us, then no matter what it is called fiction or memoir, the way it makes us feel is all that matters.
And that's one of the things that I LOVE about my day job: interactions with really bright students who know how to cut through the intellectual bs and get to a bedrock of truth.
Let's hear it for a damn good story wherever it can be found.
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