By Pam Walatka

The clarity is astonishing. In “A Million Little Pieces” (Anchor/Random House, 2004), James Frey tells the story of his recovery from extreme drug and alcohol addiction. Virtually every sentence rings true. With ordinary words and short simple sentences, he weaves a fascinating story.

“I wake up to the drone of an airplane engine and the feeling of something warm dripping down my chin. I lift my hand to feel my face. My front four teeth are gone. I have a hole in my cheek, my nose is broken and my eyes are swollen nearly shut. I open them and look around and I’m in the back of a plane and there’s no one near me. I look at my clothes and my clothes are covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood. I reach for the call button and find it and I push it and I wait and thirty seconds later an attendant arrives.”

“How can I help you?”

“Where am I going?”

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

That’s the opening scene. He’s on his way to rehab.

He recalls everything that happened and tells it simply, without trying to make himself look good, although he does let us see how brave he is. We watch him get two root canals without painkillers or anesthetics.

Bravo for Frey’s going ahead and doing something that scares you. He’s plenty scared by the requirements of recovery. He’s in 12-step rehab facility and he can’t stand the 12 steps. His life is broken into a million little pieces, apparently irreparably.

Frey has been compared to William S. Burroughs who also wrote brilliantly about being a rich-boy drug addict, but Burroughs took us with him to the titillating depths of his depravity, while Frey takes us with him through his recovery. There are flashbacks to his pre-rehab life, but we feel a sober mind at work.

If you are not squeamish about blood, pain, vomit, swearing, wretchedness and excessive capital letters, I highly recommend this book to you.

“A Million Little Pieces,” an Oprah’s Book Club selection and No. 1 on the New York Times paperback bestseller list, is available at Main Street Cafe & Books, 134 Main St.