"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
8 September 2006Fake but actionableJames Frey, the Milli Vanilli of memoirists, and publisher Random House will settle various class-action lawsuits filed against them by aggrieved readers of Frey's A Million Little Pieces, which was billed as "nonfiction." How readers will be compensated:
To receive refunds — $23.95 for the hardcover, $14.95 for paperback — consumers will have to submit a receipt or some other proof of purchase: for the hardcover, page 163; for the paperback, the front cover. They will also need to sign a sworn statement that they bought the book because they believed it was a memoir.
A word to librarians: lock up this title now, before the patrons start ripping up your circulating copies. (Via The Consumerist.) Update, 10 am, 9 September: Chase at Taste the World thinks this is a good enough idea to extend to other forms of deception. |