I have loved all of James Frey’s book, so I was really excited to have a chance to read his newest one. Katerina is a love story set in Paris in the 90s, a wild time in the life of the main character Jay. I can’t help but draw from Million Little Pieces when I was reading this, he makes very specific references that tie it back to his first book. So you can’t help but wonder if this story is also a type of “memoir” just like his very first novel. It was an interesting read, honestly a really tragic story- at times I found it to be a bit too slow paced but overall I enjoyed it.

In a world where books are slotted neatly into a five star rating system, every once in awhile, you come across one that rates a solid seven ... maybe even an eight or a nine. Katerina was that book. Half a dozen pages into reading it, I knew it was going to be a long night, because I wasn't going to want to put it down. I also knew it would make me laugh (I wasn't disappointed) and that it would make me cry (it did).
At it's simplest, this is a love story; a star-crossed romance between an aspiring young writer and a beautiful model, set in the Paris of the early 1990s. At it's heart, Katerina is so much more. It's about youth and hope and possibilities. It's about art and the artist, about literature and the enormous potential it possess, when it's right, to “burn down the world”. It's about friends and lovers and dreams and passion. In short, Katerina is about life, in all it's beauty and it's magic and it's tragedy.
I can't promise you will love James Frey's new novel (although I did), but I'm pretty sure you won't quickly forget it, and maybe, if you're very lucky, it'll be one of those books that will change your life.

Wow! I've been off from the internet for so long and only this book kept me company. It was a crazy and raw ride. Highly recommend!

Gutwrenchingly gorgeous! I guzzled the rambling prose like an addict seeking satiation. Profoundly touching! Bravo, Frey! Worth the wait!

I will.probably be the 1% that did not enjoy this story. But you cant please everyone right.?

I was not fond of James Frey writing style far too choppy for me. I need actual complete sentences.

The story was there just needs work far too wordy needs to be cleaned up.

The whole story was just too many details for me. I skipped alot ot the descriptions of art (who cares) Eat drink sleep fuck the whole book. Tells you from the beginning I should of listened.

Thanks netgalley but this one was a miss for me.

Thanks to NetGallery for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
This is my first James Frey, having been put off by all the lies surrounding his Million Tiny Pieces” novel. But after reading this, I will definitely purchase that one.
This novel switches between 1992 Paris and 2017 Los Angeles and is the story of s young man who goes to Paris to write - but also find drugs (lots) booze (lots) and love. I loved his punchy, leave it out there grammatical style. I loved his way with words - his repetitive words. I loved that I felt what he felt - the raw emotions he felt. I just plain loved this book

I received an ARC of Katerina by James Frey compliments of NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada. I provide my honest thoughts. Spoiler alert, this may give away details of the story to which a reader may not wish to be aware, prior to their own reading.

I will start by saying I am likely the rare reader who did not buy into the hype and controversy that surrounded this author's first book, A Million Little Pieces. I have no respect for dishonesty and lying. Full stop. Do I believe in forgiveness? Sure. So with holding only a minimal amount of knowledge regarding this author and his public humiliation, I went into this book with an open mind. After all he was touted as a best selling author, surely he can write good fiction? I will be bold- I think his writing sucks.

This is a "love" story that takes place in Paris, back in the 90's. And flip flops to 2017. It follows the destructive path of the main character Jay, an aspiring writer and his obsession with Katerina, a fashion model. He drinks copious amounts of alcohol, writes crap stories, pukes, pukes some more, passes out and does it all over again. Oh and enjoys lines of coke and casual sex. And repeats himself over and over and over and over. If you removed this repetition in the story it would be a much shorter tale. Is it a scenic journey around Paris, yes it is but then so is a Paris tour guide, which is not what I was interested in reading.

It is interesting to see that his fan base either loves him and thinks he is a brilliant 5 star author, or is closer aligned to my camp that says, his writing is junk. I am not sure why the divide, I am not one to be swayed by popular opinion and will keep to my own belief that this book will sell lots of copies solely on the premise that the author has a controversial past, not because he has grand talent. 2/5 stars.

I read A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard years and years ago and absolutely loved them. I've re-read them many times. Like those, this has the same "fuck grammar and punctuation" thing going on (which I love; keeps me on my toes). It's poetic. But can be challenging if you're not used to that.

To the point: I loved this book. Fucking loved it. Laughing, crying, lowering the book from the view of fellow transit passengers during the filthy sex scenes. Loved it. There are very clear ties to A Million Little Pieces, and Frey walks the dangerous, world-burning line of fiction and reality, and he fucking nails it.

Is the main character literally just James Frey? Probably. Did any of this actually happen? I don't give a single fuck. And that's the point. It's raw, and emotional, and filled with drugs, alcohol and so very much sex. But why the fuck not? Paris in '93 as an alcoholic? People absolutely lived that life.

"[...] people didn't seem to give a fuck what was true or what wasn't. It was all surreal and weird and frightening and thrilling. And it reduced the book to what it was intended to be. A fucking book. Read it as it is. Love it or hate it. Cherish it or throw it in the fucking garbage can. Judge it as a work of art designed to break rules and conventions and traditions, judge it however you please."

And that's exactly what he did. With A Million Little Pieces and again with Katerina. And I think you will get the most out of this book if you've read AMLP first, and most importantly, appreciated it for the art that it is.

10/10 would recommend (to those who didn't sue him for the first book).

Spoiler: There's a bit of swearing.

Until I requested an ARC of Katerina, I had not read James Frey and knew nothing of the controversy his earlier writings had inspired. What drew me to request Katerina was the description of its writing style: and story line: “percussive, propulsive, dazzling, breathtaking”; “a sweeping love story alternating between 1992 Paris and Los Angeles in 2018”.
Now my fingers are hovering over the keyboard as I try to get my thoughts and feelings down on paper. Jay, a struggling writer, is in love with/obsessed by/consumed with Katerina, a young and upcoming model. This is not, however, a typical love story and it is definitely not a happy book. Its language is harsh, the sex detailed , the under-belly of life in Paris in 1992 vividly described. It is tough to read both in content and in style. In parts it is beautiful and brilliant, in parts it is both heartbreaking and soul destroying, in parts it is simply too raw and ugly.
I found Mr. Frey’s unusual, very likely unique, writing style, to be brilliant. Words upon words upon words that seem to flow directly from thought to paper, and which defies all accepted standards of punctuation. The content, however, was simply too disturbing. Jay absolutely fulfilled his stated objective to get himself to Paris and “love fuck eat drink sleep”. I skipped through much of the long descriptions of art and buildings and books, as well as much of the sex scenes. If you have not read Mr. Frey, then I can only recommend that you need to read and judge for yourself.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book.

“A free man in Paris… unfettered and alive” – Katerina by James Frey grabs the reader and doesn’t let go, taking us on a whirlwind, deep dive, trip into the world and psyche of a want-to-be artist, someone searching for a place in the world, and discovering love and meaning along the way. As a musician who chose the safe path, this novel placed me right back at a time when making my first adult decisions about the future, and allowed me to vividly live the alternate route and experience wistful nostalgia for an adventure I didn’t take.

Somehow, James Frey has risen above novel and memoir storytelling to put the reader inside the head and heart of the protagonist, Jay. The tale unfolds beautifully, with events of the present triggering detailed recollections of the past, told in the manner of someone living and reliving thoughts
and emotions
and pain
and self doubt
and erudition.
A wonderful accomplishment by the author, time well spent by the reader!

I found this to be an intriguing love story. A page turner. I just loved the writing style and the storyline.

James Frey’s new novel, Katerina, takes place between Paris in 1992 and Los Angeles in 2017. and surrounds his undying love for Katerina and how that affects his whole life and identity.
The writing style was purposefully disjointed and often paid no attention to grammar or traditional writing styles. The storyline is there and is ok, but the writing style got in the way of me enjoying it fully.

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

This was a difficult book to rate. I did enjoy his writing style which was gritty and propulsive. Abandoning rules of grammar and punctuation, quotation marks, apostrophes, and short dynamic sentences (often consisting of 1 word) I found compelling. The narration reads as an unfiltered stream of consciousness. His style kept me riveted to the page, although uncomfortably. I rate his ability as a writer based on this book 5 Stars.
But the content I found sickening. If one believes this is partly autobiographical, I found the author to be self indulgent. I certainly did not wish to know every detail of Jay’s sexual encounters (avatar for Frey?) I was unsure whether I was reading a memoir, a work of fiction or porn. Also his drinking, throwing up, feeling sick with more drinking to feel better or to send his mind into oblivion and darkness was upsetting. Sniffing cocaine before, during or after drinking was very unpleasant and disturbing. Ever so often he got away from his pursuit of sex, drugs and alcohol to mention books he was reading or works of fine art to impress us with his culture. I give the book’s content 1 Star. Averaging style and content leaves me with a reluctant 3 Star rating.

The story is set in Paris in 1992 when he was leading a dissolute life style and falling in love. The love affair ended badly. It moves between Paris and present day Los Angeles where he has a loving wife and family and is writing as a business. He still has regrets and is not content. He is now living a lifestyle he rejected in his youth. Jay describes a book he finally wrote and how he embellished and added fictional sections to what was sold as a memoir. He makes excuses and has regrets. Think ‘A Million Little Pieces’.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of the book in return for an honest review.

A Review of Katrina by James Frey
I disliked this book. I found it trite and terrible. It was neither entertaining nor a pleasant read; merely a rude, crude example of bad writing. Set in Paris in 1992 and Los Angeles in 2017, the story, such as it is, involves the author getting Facebook messages from a woman he doesn’t remember who was his lover 25 year ago. The book quickly deteriorates into a foul mouthed puerile and dreary litany of reminiscences of sex, pain, drunkenness and drug excesses.
Frey seems unable to write in complete sentences, loves to write in streams of consciousness and is prone to an overabundance of four letter words and gutter language. He seems to suffer from a constipated vocabulary and imagination when choosing words. The book would be much shorter if it was cleaned up.
I could not finish the book and cannot imagine anyone buying and enjoying it. This is particularly so at a time when his misogynist views of women are unacceptable. Frankly I am surprised that any reputable publisher would care to handle it.

A kiss, a touch. A smile and a beating heart. Love and sex and dreams, art and drugs and the madness of youth. Betrayal and heartbreak, regret and pain, the melancholy of age. An intriguing, page-turning love story.

James Frey’s new novel, Katerina, takes place between Paris in 1992 and Los Angeles in 2017.  It is the story a young writer trying to carve out his place in the world and a torrid love affair that consumes him to his core.

I came to read James Frey quite late - long after the controversy subsided surrounding A Million Little Pieces and the verbal dressing-down he received by Oprah on national television.  Already knowing this and then choosing to dive into his two-part “memoir” (A Million Little Pieces & My Friend Leonard) likely made the reading experience more enjoyable.  His follow-up novels Bright Shiny Morning and The Last Testament of the Holy Bible were interesting reads, but failed to stick with me like his infamous first releases.

When I heard he was releasing a new novel, his first in the blistering style he is most known for in nearly ten years, I was excited.  Because above all else, it’s his writing style that draws me into his novels.  Frey writes in quick, punchy sentences that tends to leave raw emotion on the page like blood stains.  That said, in Katerina, the style is front and centre and in full force, but something didn’t click with me this time around.

I didn’t find the story of Jay, the main character and seemingly an avatar for Frey himself, pining over this beautiful woman nearly as powerful as the emotions evoked in his earlier works surrounding alcoholism and drug use.  In fact, I found Jay downright insufferable at times.  He reminded me of a self-righteous, overbearing, fedora-wearing poster on Reddit - constantly bragging to anyone who would listen about his taste in books, his appreciation for art and his disdain for pseudointellectual Americans abroad.

And dear God, the sex-scenes.  Look, one or two is alright in a novel and bear in mind, I’m no prude, but this felt like straight-up porn at times.  They also all seemingly blended together like they could have been simply copy-and-pasted.  After the fifth scene, I just skipped over the rest.  I got nothing out of these.

Katerina is not my favorite of James Frey’s work, obviously.  The character mirrors Frey in that they have similar career paths (right down to the controversy surrounding an exaggerated memoir) but it leaves some of the more intense self-criticism that Jay unloads lingering in this weird purgatory between fact and fiction.  Is Frey really this miserable with his life?  I guess it’s up to the reader to decide.  One thing I can say for sure is that I was pretty miserable when I was reading about it.