MY FRIEND LEONARD

The author's first book, A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, is the Oprah-endorsed bestselling memoir that turned out to be scandalously untrue. "Mr. Bravado Tough Guy,' Winfrey called the addict-alcoholic-criminal whom she had championed until a muckraking Web site revealed his lies. If MY FRIEND LEONARD, which takes up the author's relationship with a mobster and fellow addict, is also mostly fiction, it is atrocious fiction--florid, melodramatic, redundant, tasteless, and perversely self-aggrandizing. Andy Paris's unctuous interpretation matches the writing in quality. He reads in cadences so monotonous as to make ridiculous all his efforts at tension and pathos. For vicarious thrill-seekers only. Y.R. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 06]