Bright Shiny Morning
by James Frey
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Book Reviews of Bright Shiny Morning
Book Review: 500 Pages Without Much Substance
Summary: 2 Stars
Bright Shiny Morning is a chaotic snapshot of L.A. It's like a music video but without the music or the video. Fictional vignettes, sometimes entertaining though more often predictable and trite, are jumbled with more mundane elements like lists of `fun facts' about L.A., descriptions of highways, historical events, and other minutiae. The book goes something like this: vignette about two in-love teenagers coming to L.A. to escape their abusive parents--cut to a list of the names of all the gangs in L.A.--cut to a one-page snippet about an aspiring actress promised a job in exchange for sex--cut to a three-sentence description of L.A. bank robberies in 1895--cut to a vignette about a self-absorbed movie superstar and his problems with his boyfriends--cut to a dull recitation of all the natural disasters that have ever hit L.A. In Bright Shiny Morning, nothing is sustained and nothing lasts. At times, Frey's quick-paced prose is a refreshing break from the more mundane aspects of this novel, but he indulges too often in repetition. A couple typical examples:
The children thought she was crazy, they were all still scared of him. He seemed bigger every day. He was bigger every day.
Every night before he went to sleep he lay in bed and dreamed, lay in bed and dreamed.
I suspect Frey is trying to add a certain weightiness with this repetition, but I found it to be an annoying affectation, especially after seeing it on almost every page. Although Frey succeeds in capturing the frenetic and ephemeral aspects of modern L.A., I was left feeling this is a 500-page book with nothing in it that's real or important.
Book Review: Had High Expectations
Summary: 2 Stars
I really couldn't wait to read this book. I am in the camp of people who thought Oprah gave James the shaft after A Million Little Pieces. That book, and My Friend Leonard, continue to be the two best books I have ever read, whether they were fiction or memoir, exaggeration or lies. I tend to believe there were basically some truths in that book, or he should have at least gotten kudos for making the reader feel his "imagined" pain. I just don't think it's possible to fake that emotion. But, back to the book.....
So I am a little disappointed that I didn't enjoy Bright Shiny Morning. It was not his style of writing- I happen to love that part, missed punctuation and all, but the story itself. The four main characters were way too cliched. The bum, the closeted actor, the Mexican maid with the uptight Waspy boss, and the young lovers trying to make it. On top of that, he threw in way too many side characters- I think everyone got the point after the 10th or 12th one, that people go west to fulfill dreams, only to find it's really, really tough.
The fun facts and lists drove me nuts and I finally just started skipping them after awhile.
I just think if he had more time devoted to developing the main characters like he did with Leonard and Lilly in AMLP/ MFL, this book would have been a much better read. I will always remember at the end of MFL, crying my eyes out and being totally wrecked for a couple of days. And this book just didn't leave me caring that much about the main characters.
Book Review: The World as Duped or Entertained?
Summary: 4 Stars
Months after the book's release, I am writing a review. The reason for this prolonged response is my skepticism in reading another one of Frey's books. It took me this long to decide to even read the book for obvious reasons.
Somehow the world was duped by James Frey. There is an uneasiness in that, an unacceptability in the unfolding of Frey's story. Our righteousness, our ethics tell us he is not worthy as a result of his major faux pax. Does this "San Andreas Fault Line" crack in the foundation entirely erase the fact that his writing is remarkable, even unforgettable?
Therefore, we must look beyond his untruths in his debut, "A Million Little Pieces," which was an extraordinary piece of literature, fiction or non-fiction. He is a compelling writer, one cannot dispute from the frenzy created even before the truth emerged, in his first and very controversial work.
I didn't want to give him credence either, and didn't run to pick up this book as a result. However, when thought through, credence isn't a requirement for reading his books, and that's the bottom line. His books, fragmented or not, true or not, literary genius or not, are, whether we like it or not, definitively unputdownable. There warrants the only reason why one should read his book(s), and discounts the many other reasons not to.
He is a gifted writer, who just happens to have had a major character flaw unveiled upon the world like a "bright shiny morning" for all to see.
Book Review: Quotation Marks? We Don't Need No Quotation Marks!
Summary: 4 Stars
I looked at the cover of this book, read "James Frey" and went a little crazy trying to remember where I heard it from. It wasn't until I got home I realized it was the same author who's memoir, A Million Little Pieces made such a storm over facts and nonfacts. I decided a novel would be safe to read, and read I did.
I read Bright Shiny Morning (P.S.) more or less nonstop for the next three days. I had a hard time putting it down, once I got past the initial creative formatting. Dialogue was a little hard to follow at first, but authentic. Frey's characters were very vivid, and developed well. I rooted for some, hated others. It takes skill to make characters worthy of emotion, and Frey has this skill.
I enjoyed the adhoc history of Los Angelos spread throughout the pages, as much for the things I learned as the parts I was left wondering about. By sketching the story as a filler for the novel, Frey inspired in me a desire to learn more. I always appreciate a book that serves as a jump off for more reading.
If you like a fast paced book that draws you in and keeps you guessing, "Bright Shiny Morning" is a good one for you. It's not a "normal" novel, but I think we can all agree "normal" can be a little boring sometimes.
Book Review: A Masterpiece!
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely love this book, I cannot put it down. James Frey has created characters so real you feel they're part of your life. Having lived in LA - particularly Venice - for 6 years, this book comes alive for me; so realistic is his description of the city and its inhabitants I could swear I can smell every alley way, every fast food place, motel room and every traffic jam he writes about. I am amazed by the way James was able to capture the feeling of the city, something I would only expect from someone who has lived here many years, which from my understanding he has not.
I got used to his writing style very easily, sometimes it seems he writes exactly the way my brain wants to process the words and sentences. I just absorb page by page.
I also loved "A Million Little Pieces" because I could 100% relate to the subject matter, same as with this book. I really don't care much about the drama that followed his first book.
What really bothers me though is that people are using these book reviews as a forum to bash the author without even having read a word of Bright Shiny Morning and that these so-called reviews are reflected in the average rating stars the book got. If you only look at the reviews from people that actually read the book it seems that the overall rating would be much higher. I wonder what would have happened if he had written this book under an alias...