amillionlittlepieces

Week 1-
Questions- 1. What do you think is the importance of Lily? It shows how James is not fully committed to the recovery because he is breaking one of the major rules, talking to girls. Also Lily is one of the only people in the unit he talks to so maybe in the future we will discover something about her. 2. How do you think John is going to impact James' recovery? John will slow down James' recovery by tempted his and persuading him to do drugs again. 3. Why do you think James is so scared and intimidated by the other people at the unit? James is scared because it is a reality check because now James notices what he has done with his life. He is so used to being drunk and high and now he needs to communicate with others without the drugs and alcohol he usually uses to help him with day to day activities. 4. Who do you think that girl he keeps mentioning is? James may have attacked the girl he mentions in the book although he seems to be in love with maybe because he is not used to getting close to someone. 5. Why do you think James' parents allowed his drug addiction to get so far? James' parents do not know how to cope and deal with his problems. They also are scared of what their son has become and are afraid of the consequences. His parents are also in denial and are embarrassed of what their son, James, has become.
 * **PERSON A - GROUP LEADER** - **Emily Kramer**- This group member will be responsible for both keeping the group on task throughout the meeting as well as responding to the week's topical questions, listed below.
 * **PERSON B - QUOTATION FINDER-Allison Waldman** - This group member will be responsible for finding 5 important, meaningful quotations from their section of the text. They will also facilitate a discussion regarding these quotations.
 * **PERSON C - KEY QUESTIONER** - **Stacey Rosenfeld**-This group member will be responsible for providing 5 open-ended questions regarding the week's reading section. These questions, and their responses, will be posted on the group's wiki.
 * **PERSON D - GROUP SUMMARIZER** - **Kyle Schroeder**- This group member will be responsible for posting a thorough, two-paragraph summary of the group's Friday meeting, to be posted on the group wiki no later than the Sunday following the meeting.

Quotations- 1. "I need to get out of here dad, just get me the f*ck out of here."(3) 2. "I can feel blood dripping from the wounds on my face and I can feel my heart beating and I can feel the weight of my life beginning to drop and I realize why dawn is called mourning."(20) 3. "I think about self-hatred and self-loathing. I think about how and why and what happened and the thoughts come easily, but the answers don't."(26) 4. "Possession, possession with intent to distribute, three DUI's, a bunch of vandalism and destruction of property charges, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, assaulting an officer of the law, public drunkenness, disturbing the peace. I am sure there's some other sh*t, but i don't remember exactly what."(29) 5. "I am a stable person, false. I think the world is aligned against me, false. I think my problems are caused by others, false. I don't trust anybody, false. I hate myself, true. My sins are unpardonable, I stare at the question. My sins are unpardonable, I stare at the question. My sins are unpardonable, I leave it blank."

Summary- As I walk into the classroom on Friday, I noticed the less amount of students due to the MSG Varsity commercial going on outside the window. Our group sits down and we are missing Allison due to the commercial and we were trying to see the other classmates that aren't in Morone's 1st period class due to this. We had a quick discussion chowing down on bagels and Yahoo! We were talking about how detailed and how much drug references the book. We also discussed why the mother is just oblivious and just acts like nothing is wrong with her drug fined son. In the begging of the novel "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey, James gets off the plane to go to the rehabilitation center. IN the first 83 pages of the book, James is telling his hard painful life in living in the rehabilitation center. James fights through his roomates still trying to push him to do drugs and James having a painful and agonizing tooth being pulled and describes the whole feeling. Your probably asking why would he talk about that? I asked the same reason to my book club and they said they couldn't give him any medications because they though James would get high on the drugs given to James. All in all, as of right now i am waiting until the next time i read because it is so suspenseful and fun to read.

Week 2-
Questions- 1. Why do you think the main character repeats himself a lot? He repeats a lot of things because hes thinking of what he says in his mind. 2. Do you think he is going to end up recovering completely? Yes, he is going to end up recovering completely because he wrote the book and is not in rehab anymore. 3. Why do you think he distances himself from everyone at the facility? He distances himself from everyone from the facility because he doesn't want to meet new friends because he wants to kill himself. 4. Is this girl, Lily, affecting him a lot? She is making him happy so much because James didn't want to kill himself anymore when he met her. 5. Does this book make you think about how lucky you are to have the life that you have? Yes, it does because it shows how crazy and messed up peoples lives are when they are influenced in drugs.
 * **PERSON A - GROUP LEADER** - **Kyle Schroeder**- This group member will be responsible for both keeping the group on task throughout the meeting as well as responding to the week's topical questions, listed below.
 * **PERSON B - QUOTATION FINDER- Emily Kramer** - This group member will be responsible for finding 5 important, meaningful quotations from their section of the text. They will also facilitate a discussion regarding these quotations.
 * **PERSON C - KEY QUESTIONER** - **Allison Waldman**-This group member will be responsible for providing 5 open-ended questions regarding the week's reading section. These questions, and their responses, will be posted on the group's wiki.
 * **PERSON D - GROUP SUMMARIZER** - **Stacey Rosenfeld**- This group member will be responsible for posting a thorough, two-paragraph summary of the group's Friday meeting, to be posted on the group wiki no later than the Sunday following the meeting.

Quotations- 1. "I sit down and i eat my food. i eat slower this time. with each bite i take i feel my stomach expanding. it is an awful, uncomfortablee feeling, but i cant stop. I take bite after bite, i feel worse and worse." 2. "You have done significant damage to your nose, your throat your lungs, your stomach, your bladder, your kidneys, your liver and your heart. i have never seen so much and such extensive damage in someone so young... the first thing is your lucky to be alive. The second is that if you ever have another drink or use any type of drug again, there is a good chance you will die." 3. "i knew each time i took a drink, i knew each time i snorted a line, i knew each time i hit a pipe or sniffed a tube or took a pill. It is nobody's fault but my own." 4. I hang up the phone and i state at it and i am still smiling. I stand and I open the door and I step out and I'm still smiling...i start reading. I cant get through the first sentence. I'm still smiling." 5. "He lost the most important thing a human being can lose, which was his dignity." 6. "I try to lose myself, I try to forget where I am and why I'm here. I try to forget about what lies in front of me. I try to forget about death."

Summary- The topic of conversation this past Friday was language. Language is very important in //A Million Little Pieces//. James Frey uses curse words a lot in his writing. We talked about how this made it feel like we were in James’ head, making the book a lot more personal. We also talked about the format of the sentences. Some are very long and use the word ‘and’ multiple times to continue the thought, and other sentences are very short and blunt. James never avoids sharing his feelings with the reader, which is something we all enjoy about this book. This week, we also talked a lot about the progression of James’ life and experience at the rehabilitation center. Even though James thinks he isn’t progressing and thinks he never will, it is clear to the reader that he is. We all are looking forward to seeing where James goes in the next few weeks at the Unit.

Week 3-

 * **PERSON A - GROUP LEADER**-**Stacey Rosenfeld**- This group member will be responsible for both keeping the group on task throughout the meeting as well as responding to the week's topical questions, listed below.
 * **PERSON B - QUOTATION FINDER-Kyle Schroeder**- This group member will be responsible for finding 5 important, meaningful quotations from their section of the text. They will also facilitate a discussion regarding these quotations.
 * **PERSON C - KEY QUESTIONER**-**Emily Kramer**- This group member will be responsible for providing 5 open-ended questions regarding the week's reading section. These questions, and their responses, will be posted on the group's wiki.
 * =====**PERSON D - GROUP SUMMARIZER**-**Allison Waldman** This group member will be responsible for posting a thorough, two-paragraph summary of the group's Friday meeting, to be posted on the group wiki no later than the Sunday following the meeting.=====

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He has a good personality and a bad personality and his bad personality is the one that does drugs. While he was in the clinic, he was not able to access things bad for him, so his bad personality never showed. When he left the clinic, his bad personality came out. Also, when he was at the clinic he didn't have control, the people had control over him.=====

None of us know, but we think that he might be coming to terms with what he did and he's upset about it.
Quotations- 1. "I get in the shower and I turned up the heat and I wash the sickness from my face and my body. It gathers around the drain and I crush it with my feet and I make it disappear."(146) 2. "I saw a man cry yesterday. I've seen men cry before but I usually think it's because they're weak or pathetic. The man who cried yesterday cried because he was strong and I admired his strength...So I was thinking about that I was walking around and I was trying to forget this place and I was trying to forget all the $#@* I've gotten myself into and I laid down in the grass and I felt calm, very calm, and I decided to stay for a while."(149) 3. "something else comes and it makes me feel weak and scared and fragile and I don't want to be hurt...I can hear feel her heart beat and if she let me go right now I would fall and the need and confusion and fear and regret and horror and shame and weakness and fragility are exposed..."(154) 4. "Opening up and telling you about the worst moment of his life, the moment he hit the bottom and hit rock bottom." (139) 5. "I am an Alcoholic and I am a Drug Addict and I am a Criminal." (76)

Summary- This Kyle, Stacey, Emily, and I sat down for the third week to discuss the third section of our book with some bagels and chocolate milk. This weeks topic was mood and tone. We decided that the mood of our book was very angry and it didn't really have a theme set in the book. The main character is very moody and changes his views and tones all of the time. Because he is off drugs completely and cannot always control his medical health he has a hard time controlling his mental health and his moods. Also, he has said that he has a fury inside of him and it gets stronger and weaker. This fury is anger inside of him and causes his moods to change constantly causeing the tone of the book to change with it. Also, this week we talked a lot about how graphic the book was. We said it is probably one of the most graphic books we have ever read but it also keeps it interesting to read. Kyle and I were not as disturbed as Stacey and Emily but in general we are liking the book a lot.

Week 4-
Questions- 1. Why was James mother crying, again? She was telling James that his grandfather was an alcoholic and she regrets not telling him. 2. Who's mother was a drug addict and prostitute, and where did this character stay with? Lili, and she stayed with he grandmother. 3. How many and what are the states that are charging James with criminal charges? 3 states, Michigan, Ohio, and North Carolina. 4. Who did James see at the dinning hall and who was mad at him when he walked in there? James saw Lili at the dining hall and she as mad at him because he didn't meet her that afternoon. 5. What did James mother and father reveal about James Grandfather? He was an alcoholic.
 * **PERSON A - GROUP LEADER**- Allison Waldman - This group member will be responsible for both keeping the group on task throughout the meeting as well as responding to the week's topical questions, listed below.
 * **PERSON B - QUOTATION FINDER-Stacey Rosenfeld**- This group member will be responsible for finding 5 important, meaningful quotations from their section of the text. They will also facilitate a discussion regarding these quotations.
 * **PERSON C - KEY QUESTIONER**-**Kyle Schroeder**- This group member will be responsible for providing 5 open-ended questions regarding the week's reading section. These questions, and their responses, will be posted on the group's wiki.
 * =====**PERSON D - GROUP SUMMARIZER**-**Emily Kramer-**This group member will be responsible for posting a thorough, two-paragraph summary of the group's Friday meeting, to be posted on the group wiki no later than the Sunday following the meeting.=====

Quotations- 1. "She slips her hand away out of mine and it moves down my chest, my stomach, beneath my stomach, down. I like it there feel it there want it there but fear interlopes great fear I am scared. I push her hand away gently push it away. We are still together our lips meeting she movers her hand back I push it away. I am scared. Great overwhelming fear. Fear near panic fear. She pulls our lips apart as she speaks." pg 273 2. "I take another breath, start to shake more, feel more scared. I hate the memories and I hate myself for creating them." pg 275 3. "I shake my head, think about three years in a State Prison. A moment ago fear became horror. At this moment, the fear has come back and the horror is still here. Three years in a State Prison. Three years of savagery, three years of fighting and three years protecting myself every second of every day. Three fucking years." pg 281 4. "I smile, look down at the floor. I have hidden as much as I could from my Mother and my Father for my entire life. I don't want to do that anymore, so I look up and I look at my Mother and I speak. I haven't told her, but yes, I love her." pg 289 5. "What do you think it was about? It was about control. Why do you think that? Going through my shit and reading my private letters was about knowing what I was doing so that she could control me. Trying to make me tell her what was in the bag when she already knew what was in it was about control. When she fell after she hit me, she wasn't upset because she didn't land her shots, she was upset because she knew, at that point, I was out of control." pg 298 6. "I was much more careful with James than I was with Bob. I knew we weren't going to have any other Children, and I wanted James to be perfect and healthy and safe. I can't say it any other way. I wanted him to be safe." pg 300 7. "She hugs me strong and tight and I return her hug and I can tell that she is trying to express her remorse and sadness. In a way this hug is her apology, though none is needed." pg 305 8. "She swings. I grab her arm. She swings with the other. I grab that one. She struggles and she clenches her teeth and I hold her ams and I drag her away from the Building, trying to be gentle, but using enough strenght to move her. She says let mee go let me go you fucking Asshole let me go. I ignore her. I walk slowly backward, holding her arms and gently pulling iher into the darkness." pg 310 9. "In Lilly's eyes her beautiful clear water eyes there is what I have sought and never found, wanted and never had, hoped for and never discovered. Love." pg 316 10. "I know Lilly from home. She used to run around with my best Buddy and he used to share her. He'd bring her to parties and get her all wasted and put her in a room and let guys fuck her if they gave him drugs. She loved it because it meant free rock and a handful of pills and a night full of dick, which, as I'm sure you know by now, she loves more than anything." pg 320

Summary- As our group is heading towards the end of the book, //A Million Little Pieces//, we have many unanswered questions we are suspense-fully waiting to find out. Such as the obvious, will James be able to stay sober after leaving the clinic? What will happen to him and Lily's relationship? and many more. We also discussed James's progress throughout the book and he shows maturity and responsibility by admitting his issues and knows what he is doing to his body, himself, and his parents. In the past 95 pages we read for this weeks book club James and his parents grow closer and resolve many issues they had such as James's fury. The reason we believe after discussing during the book club on friday and came to the decision that James's fury came up around his parents because of the fact that when he was younger he had many ear surgeries for his infected ears. The infection was not noticed until he was about two so James's first emotion he remember is pain and fury because of the constant pain in his ears. The group also talking about the images in the book and how everything is very detailed because it allows the reader to feel as if they were there with James and can feel his pain.

Week 5-
> **PERSON A - GROUP LEADER**- **Emily Kramer** - This group member will be responsible for both keeping the group on task throughout the meeting as well as responding to the week's topical questions, listed below.
 * **PERSON B - QUOTATION FINDER-Allison Waldman**- This group member will be responsible for finding 5 important, meaningful quotations from their section of the text. They will also facilitate a discussion regarding these quotations.
 * **PERSON C - KEY QUESTIONER**-**Stacey Rosenfeld**- This group member will be responsible for providing 5 open-ended questions regarding the week's reading section. These questions, and their responses, will be posted on the group's wiki.
 * =====**PERSON D - GROUP SUMMARIZER**-**Kyle Schroeder****-**This group member will be responsible for posting a thorough, two-paragraph summary of the group's Friday meeting, to be posted on the group wiki no later than the Sunday following the meeting.=====

Questions- 1. Who did you think convinced the Ohio officers that James shouldn't go to jail for as long and why do you think they did it? Leonard and Miles because they had inside connections and cared about James. 2. What do you think the way these people eat says about them? They get over their drug and alcohol addiction by getting a new addiction and love for food. 3. How has James changed since he was first admitted? James has got a lot more mature and he has learned how to control himself as well as appreciating the clinic and what it does for him. 4. Why do you think Leonard payed for Lilly? Leonard cares about James and knows he would be very upset if Lily died or got addicted to drugs again. 5. Why do you think James' parents weren't happy to hear that he was leaving? They were nervous for James to be in the outside world and and have all the temptations that surround him on a day to day basis. 6. What did you think about Leonard asking James to be his son? It will be good for both of them because it will keep both of them sober and it also is so cute how Leonard cares and thinks of James as a son. 7.When James was writing his 22 pages of past experiences, what was going through your head? James was messed up starting at a very young age and the event that stuck out in our head most was when he dug a hole and put a kid in it then covered the hole with a board for three hours at the age of six.

Quotations- 1. "I hug him and I let him hug me and I hope that somehow and in whatever way, I am helping him."(372) 2."I open the door and I step into the room and she's there on her knees, her face buried in an old man's crotch. There is a pipe and a torch on the floor next to her."(354) 3. "It's still jail. You'll still be locked up. But it's not prison. In county, I'll be with a bunch of drunk drivers and wife beaters and pot dealers. I won't have any problems with them. It's still jail. It'll be a cakewalk."(366) 4. "This is all pretend. Most of these fuckers are going to be dead or using within the next six months. This is all a fucking joke." 5. "Barkeep. He looks up. Yeah. Dump this shit out for me. What? I motion to the glass. Dump this shit down the fucking drain. I don't want it."(429)

Summary- I was a very sad and emotional day for on Book Club on Friday because we reached the end of "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey, and the be honest, I think everyone in our book club LOVED the book. Allison and I really enjoyed reading it but we felt that the book was way to predictable. While Stacey and Emily felt that they never knew what was going to come next, they're also the most gullible two girls you'll ever meet. In the last 83 pages of the novel, the book really ended the book in a harsh and a dreadful way however, somehow, it made the book. They talked about how all the other people in the books' life was after rehab and, everyone either, killed themselves, died, or are in prison. This shows you how much James really grew up and matured during the book though because he could be like any of the other people who went to the rehabilitation center and could of died or be in prison. James also mature by when he walked into the bar and he was picking up the dink and he put it back down, it takes a lot for a person in James shoes not to take a drink so it shows a lot how James matured through the book. Already knowing 2011 is going to be a year where i read a lot of books, its going to be hard to beat this book.