Bright Shiny Morning
by James Frey
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Book Reviews of Bright Shiny Morning
Book Review: Tons of talent, but somebody needs to have the balls to edit him
Summary: 4 Stars
I suspect that with Frey's level of notoriety, he's getting treated like the very sort of untouchable celebrity he so accurately satirizes in this book: there are many points in the book where I've got to believe a lesser-known author would have been much more heavily edited. But Frey is currently a rock star in publishing circles, and while that gives his writing a fearlessness that is very compelling, his status also may be granting him an immunity to editing that I think is to his detriment.
The guy's got talent - no question about it. As much as I wanted to dislike this book, I have to give him that: the guy can freaking write. But I think his talent would shine even brighter with some editorial guidance.
For example, there are many "walk-on" characters in this book, who make one appearance and are never seen again. For the most part, they're all pretty good bits, too; unlike the LA factoids, which he ultimately begins to overuse, the walk-on bits are all pretty engaging to read. But as the book goes on, you get the sense that he's less invested in them. Early in the book, all the walk-ons have names, even if they only get a sentence or two of coverage. But later in the book they're all simply "he" or "she," as if Frey could no longer be bothered to come up with names for them.
Similarly, the LA factoids, which are a pretty effective device in the book, later on become longer and more unwieldy, interrupting the flow and slowing the pace. There's a 40-page section of this sort of thing near what should be the climax of the book that does nothing but grind the narrative to a halt. Again, this is the sort of thing an editor could help him with, without damaging his voice or the vitality of his prose.
This was an ambitious book, by somebody I can't really respect as a person, but whose writing talent I cannot impugn. And overall I enjoyed the book, and am glad I read it. I just hope Frey eventually becomes less controversial, so we can focus more on his writing and less on the brouhaha he generates. Because Frey can write. And he's trying things that are more ambitious than much of what we're seeing in currently popular books. But I think somebody needs to rein him in - just a little - before he'll rise to his full potential. I for one will be watching. And reading.
Book Review: LOVED THIS 5 Stars
BRIGHT SHINY MORNINGSuch a mixed bag of reviews and thoughts! I love it! This book is one of the best I have read this year. It is weird, different, enthralling, interesting, never dull. One reviewer wrote it read like a Jackie Collins novel; and yes, sometimes it did! However, I guess that would be a compliment seeing Ms. Collins is right up there on the best sellers lists constantly.
The writing is different and unique. No punctuation marks, no paragraphs, no commas, sometimes just rambling thoughts. Well, maybe more than sometimes rambling thoughts, a lot of rambling thoughts! Put all of these thoughts together and you have got yourself one good read.
This is a big, fat, juicy book. There are main characters; however, we read about them for a bit, then jump on to someone else. Some characters are never named, there is a small paragraph or two about them, and then they are never mentioned again. There is no rhyme or reasoning to the writing style, but hey -- it WORKS!!!
I loved all of the main characters; Joe the homeless drunk, Maddie and Dylan who run away from their respective abusive parents, Esperanza who works as a maid for a horrible rich woman, Amberton and Casey who are rich movie stars, and on and on. Each character brings to light their story, their dreams, their souls. The goodness of mankind. The cruelty of the human race. All of these characters were ones that interested me and ones I cared about. I could not put this book down. When I wasn't reading, I was thinking about the book. IT IS GREAT!!!
This book is LOADED with lists upon lists and facts about LA, about everything and anything you can possibly think of. I enjoyed them. The pages of facts about California's history were interesting to say the least. And I would never have dreamed that reading about the interstate highway system would be interesting and enjoyable, but it was!!!!
This book is a winner. Not for everyone, but give it a chance. If you are offended by language and subject matter, this is not for you. However, this is a book NOT to be missed. I absolutely will recommend it to all of my family and friends.
Go for it!
Thanks!
Pam
Book Review: I enjoyed it!
Summary: 4 Stars
While maybe not 5-star material (it didn't change my life, give me a new perspective, or make me think about it for weeks after I finished) I found the novel entertaining. But more than that, it felt REAL to me. People can moan on and on again about cliches, but really, the reason they are cliches is because these things really happen! How many of us, if we can categorize ourselves in a few sentences would turn out sounding "cliche"?
I think there are three main categories of people that don't like this book.
One group still feels lied to and "cheated" after it came out that James Frey's first book wasn't 100% factual (but then again also, how many memoirs are? Everything is skewed through someone's bias, it just so happened that there was evidence against some of what he claimed was his life.) These people will never like another thing James Frey writes, not even if its the next Great American Masterpiece.
The second group is angry that Frey presumes to know THEIR city more than they do. They go through the book saying, "Ha! This could never happen! and This description is off!" They just come off sounding elitist and petty.
The last is the group of people that call out "CLICHE!" all the time. The things that happen to these people actually occur, and they happen enough so that it is well recognized. The trouble is making these stories and people three-dimensional and I feel that the cliche-shouters can't look past their discovery of cliches to see if there is actually any dimension beyond that.
You kind of have to weed through those reviews to find the ones that aren't quite so biased. I can't claim that mine isn't, I am human after all, and opinions still are just opinions. However, I found the novel engrossing and the facts interesting, although they did stop the flow of the narratives from time to time. Mainly because the jokey, "hanging out with your buddies" language was disparate with the language of the rest of the novel. But when it comes right down to it, I was interested in the lives of the people and I wanted them to succeed and be happy. I wanted to see what was going to happen to them, and to me, that is what makes a good book.
Book Review: Whose LA?
Summary: 2 Stars
I have never written an amazon.com review before, and I had never planned to, but I just couldn't let this one slide past. As someone born and raised in LA, and actually a fourth generation Angeleno with family members stretching back to the 1880s in the city, I felt scandalized by James Frey's shallow, uninformed depiction of my hometown. Sure, he's read a few books on the subject and can give us some interesting factoid-type info. But if Frey had ever lived here for any length of time his book would have sounded much different.
I love books on LA and actively seek them out. Sometimes the tone is just right: Ask the Dust, What Makes Sammy Run, and the recent Zeroville are just a few examples of books that truly "get" this town. All you have to do to understand Frey's perspective is look at his "See James Frey's Top Ten Books to Read About LA" on the amazon website... the list reads like he did some google search on "The Top Ten Books to Read About LA" and these are what came up, in google order. They're all good books, but there's no depth to the list. This is the most hackneyed, trite, tired list imaginable, and these are the books that informed Bright Shiny Morning's LA.
I like Frey's writing style, but even still, to quote David Ulin from the LA Times, "Bright Shiny Morning is a terrible book." It is incredibly racist and snide, it is misinformed about gangs and crime (hey James: did you only read headlines or what?), it is arrogant and cruel in its treatment of people's hopes and dreams, it demonizes and stereotypes just about everyone, and worst of all its rendering of LA is devoid of any true sense of the city itself, it's streets, its crazy architecture, what it's like to actually spend time in all those different neighborhoods, the aliveness that the flamboyant variety of the city brings about. This is the 'big book about LA' I would expect from someone who grew up in Ohio and lives in New York. A view of LA from a distance, informed by too many bad movies and sensationalized news stories.
The only part I liked in the book was the section on LA freeways, which I thought he nailed pretty well... but it begs the question: did he ever get off the freeway and have a look around?
Book Review: So Shoot Me: I Enjoyed It
Summary: 5 Stars
There's been a lot of negative ink about Frey's latest book, probably people who are mad at him for having betrayed Oprah.
This effort is huge in scope. It's influenced by the movie CRASH (which is one of my favorites) and in a way I saw echoes of SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY and FERN HILL...only with graphic violence and sex. In a way, reading this is very much like using Google maps to explore Los Angeles.
Some characters are sustained throughout the book, others make brief appearances and are seen no more. Throughout the book we are told facts (how factual? good question) about the history of Los Angeles. Frey keeps his chapters short, so I kept reading and kept telling myself just one more characters.
Several have said that the characters are "cliches" which may be true, until you think about it. A few cliches that come to mind:
Myself: Work in law enforcement Monday through Friday, spend my nights writing book and movie reviews, poetry and short stories; regular churchgoer; vote Republican. Done to death, major cliche. Worse yet: go to my homepage on the computer, there's a link to a screenplay I'm working on.
Mrs. Bear: Music teacher, ditto church, ditto Republican, takes care of the grandbabies a lot.
Older daughter: Lives inside the loop in Houston, semi-glamorous job, good wardrobe, tremendous wit and sense of humor, married, child free, grown stepchildren. Wow. Nothing original there.
Younger daughter: Divorced single mom, senior in college, hard worker, no social life, still not dating. A good part for Reese Witherspoon, but still nowhere near unique.
Yep. It looks like everyone I know is a chiche.
My only gripe about Frey's book was that I didn't want it to end. I looked forward to diving into at night before bed and felt bad when I reached the end.
It's a good read. Enjoy.