Million+Little+Pieces


 * Week 1**


 * Group Leader - Ashley Martino**

**Characters**

James Frey- He’s the main character of the story, the book is based around his life and his hardships and troubles. His story is an interesting one because it’s a tale of a drug addict coming off of a very severe addiction. It’s a gripping story because you’re rooting for him to have a successful recovery and you want to see him do better and succeed with this battle with his disease, and you want to see where the story will take him. He’s important, because the story is told from his point of view entirely. So all you get are the things he’s seeing, feeling, experiencing, and thinking. I have a feeling it will be a whirlwind experience for our main character.


 * Quotations - Anthony Mele**

“My front four teeth are gone, I have a hole in my cheek, my nose is broken and my eyes are swollen nearly shut.”

“A short while later we touch down. I look around for anything I might have with me but there’s nothing.”

"I need to get out of here, Dad. Just get me the fuck out of here"

"The walls close in and expand they close in and expand and I can hear them"

"The image blurs, the voices fade. There is no action and no noise, just flickering lights and a sympathy of withered voices."

**Group Summarizer - Kevin Baharyan**

Today was a confusing meeting. At first, Anthony starting arguing with Colleen over what jobs they were supposed to do, which turned into an argument amongst the entire group. Gaetano told Anthony that they had to do their jobs in-class, but they were supposed to do it at home and be prepared to put their information on the wiki in class. Colleen forgot to prepare her information to put it on the wiki because she was absent in the week and we forgot to tell her, which was our fault.

Our group discussion was not as thorough as it was supposed to be, but we did talk about the first section we were supposed to read and about the characters, which was the topic for the first week. We all agreed that it was too soon to decide whether the book was good or not, because we still have about 400 pages to read. Hopefully, in the future weeks we come to class more prepared with our jobs and knowledge of the book.


 * Questions - Colleen Gargiulo**
 * Answers - Gaetano**

1) Imagine you were James and experienced what he did the first chapter of the book? if i were in james position i would freak out and find out how i got there and where i was going. 2) How would you feel if you were James’ parents and had to pick up James like they did? if i had to pick my screw up of a son and take him to rehab i would be very upset and if it didnt work there is nothing to do about it. 3) Based on what the books said so far, why do you think James is addicted like the way he is? i think he is addicted because he started while thinking about this girl. 4) What were your thoughts as James went through his first symptoms of with-drawl? i thought he was going to kill himself after he went through a withdrawal. 5) What would you have done in James’s situation at the dentist? if i was in james shoes at the dentist i would have sewed the dentist.

_


 * Week 2**

**Questions- Anthony Mele**

1. What big mistake does James make at the beginning of the chapter? James drinks alchohol even though he's supposed to be sober. 2. What does James experience that makes him shake but alchohol and drugs don't help? James meets a girl named Lucinda and can't even talk around her. 3. Why does the doctor have to strap down James? The doctor is actually a dentist and he needs to do a root canal and James cant move. 4. Why doesn't James go to the hospital when the dentist tells him to? James thinks hospitals are for the needy and thinks he needs to get through pain himself. 5. Where is James when he reads a book about addicts? James is in the Medical Unit.

**Group Leader - Kevin Baharyan** The language used in this book is not hard to comprehend at all. They use a few hard-to-understand words, but they are easy to understand because of the way they are used in the sentence. In my opinion, this book’s language mainly focuses on high school kids and older. Any age level above 14 would be mature about reading this book because it contains many profane words that middle school kids would not feel right reading or even be immature about it. But, I think the cursing helps the book because it portrays how serious the situation James Frey is in with his drug addiction.


 * Group summarizer- Gaetano DeSantis**

Today Anthony brought me a sandwich and Kevin chips because we told him to. Colleen got mad because she didn't get anything. Then Gotliffe came to our discussion group and started talking about the book. It was a little awkward because we didn't really know what to talk about when he was here. Anthony and colleen both did their jobs at home like they were supposed to and did a good job. On the other hand Kevin was the group leader and did a terrible job he did not lead the group positively at all.

This group discussion went well for the most part but everyone just did their work individually. We did not have to much class discussion but we did well other than that.

1. "You're not gonna get painkillers or anesthesia, at least not while you're still a Patient a Treatment Center. I've found the next best thing its those balls. When it starts hurtin, start squeezing " 2. "I know I'm about to experience something horrible and I don't know if I've been through worse, but in order to do this, I have to blieve that I have." 3. "If I leave the Clinic there is either death or Jail." 4. "I am an Alchoholic and I am a Drug Addict and I am a Criminal." 5 "Within each of these groups, there are two other divisions. One group is made up of the Hardcore. They are the heaviest users..."
 * Quotations - Colleen**


 * Week 3**

1. What did James throw out the window? James threw the big book out the window because he didn't want to read about alcoholism. 2. How severe is James medical condition? So severe that if he drinks one more time or does drugs one more time he will die. 3. What meeting does James attend? James attends an AA metting. 4. What happens to James at the beginning of the reading? James has a break through with his addiction he begins to realize that he is an addict and that it is killing him. 5. Who is another important character in this reading? Ken.
 * Questions - Anthony Mele**


 * Quotations - Kevin Baharyan and Gaetano DeSantis**

“You’ll get tired of being an asshole and you’ll get tired of not having any friends and you’ll talk to me.”

“I am going to leave here and I am going to find something to drink and I am going to find something to smoke and I am going to rink and smoke until I die.”
"The second is that if you ever have another drink or use any type of hard drug again, there is a good chance you will die"

"I'm sweating and my teeth are chattering and my heart is speeding up and slowing down and it hurts and there are fucking bugs everywhere."
Since Colleen wasn't here this week, we were missing our group leader. But Kevin really took control with our group discussion. He knew exactly what to do and how to lead us, which is good because Gaetano and I didn't really know how to lead the discussion. Anthony and Colleen were both missing, so our group was down two members and we really had to make up for it. We have come to realize that our book is becoming quite vulgar as we get more into it. We agreed that the main character James Frey's situation is a very delicate and difficult one to be in. In our reading from this week, he had come to terms with his addiction and realized that if he continued with it, it would kill him. In this part of the reading, we also got a time line of his life and addiction. Reading the time line was gut-wrenching, he started getting drunk at 10 years old. We agreed that this was probably the most interesting part of this week's reading. I think our group discussion was successful and productive this week.
 * Group Summarizer- Ashley Martino**


 * Week 4**


 * Quotations- Ashley Martino**

James is talking about committing suicide, "Got fourteen more hours." His friend Leonard says, "You're keeping track?" James answers, "Part of me is." Leonard says, "Which part?" James says, "The part that'll kick your ass if you try to stop me again."

"My Mother and Father are at a house in Michigan that I've never seen and my Mother is crying and my Father is trying to comfort her and their hearts are broken and they want to come see me and they want to try to help me and I don't want them here and I don't want their help."

"...he buries himself under the covers and I can hear him cursing himself. He's a poor, sick, sad Motherfucker, but once he was an innocent young Boy. A Boy with a future, a Boy with his whole life in front of him."

"My heart and my hands are slowing down, my senses and the ability to think are returning, the nerves, anxiety, and anger are fading away. Beyond need and into abuse. It is nice to be comfortable. It is nice to be Home."

"I haven't slept in forty hours. I'm still smiling. I have fifteen minutes left. I'm still smiling. My hand drops. Still. Eyes close. Smiling."

**Group Summarizer - Anthony Mele**

We came to class and had to take a vocab test. I don't think i did very well on my vocab test. Anyway we started our group discussion and our group leader led it well. Kevin asked his questions and we answered them succesfully. .Ashley just finished copying her quotations to the wikispaces. We were all really surprised that now to people can edit at the same time without one persons work being deleted. But apparently you cant edit at the same time and i just misunderstood so everybody yelled at me. The group is very quiet because we got everything we needed to get done done. We decided to discuss the book a little bit more and it led to a good discussion. We're starting to really like the book now. We then started talking about jobs for next week. The other thing we discussed was the fact that we still need to read the same book for the next marking period. This was the end of the period so the book club meeting was over after that.

**Questions - Kevin Baharyan and Gaetano DeSantis**



Why did James’s brother and his two friends come to visit?
It was visiting day at the treatment center. 2.

What did Lincoln tell James when he sat him down for a talk?
He told James that Eric finally admitted that Roy was the one who trashed the bathroom after James cleaned it and framed him of not cleaning it. 3.

What are James’s feelings about Leonard at this point of the book?
He is starting to think of Leonard as somewhat of a friend, rather than not liking him at all as he did in the beginning of the book. 4.

Why did James love the Cleveland Browns so much?
5. Cleveland was his hometown and his dad always took his brother and him to games in their childhood.

What happened in John’s past that made him have an addiction?
His dad molested him.

Group Leader - Colleen Gargiulo

The theme of //A Million Little Pieces// is of recovery. It's about getting over the past and fixing yourself. James along with the other patients have to overcome their addictions to survive and live a better life. The theme is showing James path to recovery, and that even though it's difficult it has to be done. Within the theme there are many topics. Topics of self-loathing, denial, hatred, are shown throughout the book. Depression is within the book as well as pain, guilt, and fear.


 * Week 5**


 * Questions- Ashley Martino and Kevin Baharyan**

1.) What is James forced to write on when Ken brings him to his office? They're making him write in a First Step workbook, but James perceives it as a coloring book.

2.) What is the shrieking that wakes James in the middle of the night? Roy standing on a couch holding a thick stick that had blood all over it, swinging all over at invisible enemies and is basically going insane with this stick, and even hurting himself with it.

3.) What does Roy tell the security guards when they come to get him from the couch? He tells them his name isn't Roy, he is Jack the man-hammer and he will kill them. He's making disturbing threats toward them.

4.) What instrument did James play as a kid and why did he quit? He played the trumpet and he quit because Miles got famous.

5.) What is James’s pick-up line to the girl? When you’re gone, the World starts again, and I don’t like it as much.

1. "Her voice calms me and her arms warm me and her smell lightens me and I can feel her heart beat and my heart slows and I stop shaking and the fury melts into her safety and she holds me and she says...okay." 2. "It takes all my strength to open the door" 3. "Screaming, long, and loud and hideous, like a Child being burned alive." 4. "I gave him a hug and i asked him where he'd been and he told me he was here at this clinic where you and i are right now" 5. "Last night at about three thirty he snuck past security entered this facility and came down to the unit"
 * Quatations - Anthony Mele **

This book is around 400 pages so we get to read the book in two group discussion sessions. i reccomend this book to others because it is very interesting and mind grabbing. The book may be a little inapropriat for school curriculum but is a very good book.
 * Group Leader- Gaetano DeSantis**

today the group leader was Gaetano. He lead the group in discussions about what was going on in the book right now. Instead of reading the whole book in 5 weeks, we split ours up into 10. This means that while the other groups have finished, we are still only half way through with the book. We discussed what James was going through and his struggles at Rehab. Kevin and Ashley both did the questions, so we also discussed those. Through these questions we talked about different things.
 * Group Summary - Colleen Gargiulo**

We talked about Ken getting James to complete the first step to recovery. We also discussed James being woken up in the night by Roy standing on a couch going insane. We also discussed James meeting Miles and Warren. We also talked about John leaving and what we thought would happen to him once he was gone.


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doc Today, the group leader was Gaetano. He lead the group in discussions about what was going on in the book right now. Instead of reading the whole book in 5 weeks, we split ours up into 10. This means that while the other groups have finished, we are still only half way through with the book. We discussed what James was going through and his struggles at Rehab. Kevin and Ashley both did the questions, so we also discussed those. Through these questions we talked about different things.
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We talked about Ken getting James to complete the first step to recovery. We also discussed James being woken up in the night by Roy standing on a couch going insane. We also discussed James meeting Miles and Warren. We also talked about John leaving and what we thought would happen to him once he was gone.