Bright Shiny Morning
by James Frey
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Book Reviews of Bright Shiny Morning
Book Review: Unconstrained and unbound by the rules of English grammar
Summary: 2 Stars
James Frey is a masterful storey teller. Unfortunately, he has a penchant for writing in an odd way, without regard for the rules of English grammar. His sentences without proper punctuation - commas to separate the phrases, and periods to separate the sentences - often grate upon a literary ear. English grammarians can easily experience deep shock after reading only two of his pages. But readers seem to like his style, and they clamor for his books.
I was hoping that his English might have improved after writing two bestsellers. Alas, it hasn't. In "Bright Shiny Morning", sentences without the necessary commas and periods are in abundance: "Instead of using his real name he started using the name of his site the more it was printed and repeated the more it was recognized the more people came the more people wrote about him the better the stories he got." "Run-on" sentences can test a reader's patience: "He has a TV show a talk/reality show that's going to be on cable he hopes it will lead to roles in network shows, studio films, and eventually, the place he always wanted to be but never dreamed he would find via gossip the Internet and breaking stories, Broadway."
The story is fascinating. The editor of this book could have done a better job. This book would have been lot more readable and enjoyable if only the author had adhered to the rules of English grammar.
Book Review: Compulsively readable
Summary: 5 Stars
Frey has developed a writing style that mimics the way the millennium brain process information. Think it's easy to do? Check out Janet Maslin's May 12 New York Times review of this book, which tries to be cute by imitating Frey's style but ends up reading like badly translated Russian song lyrics. In the tradition of Woolf, Stein and Kerouac, Frey brings us a up-to-the-minute voice that reflects this high definition dominated, Myspace conquered, interactive experience called the twenty first century. The language is sparse yet beautiful. The stories are compelling. Frey resists tying the sub plots together in some unlikely and contrived plot twist at the climax of the novel and instead allows the city to be the only link between these varied characters. The 501 pages go by quickly because the writing pushes you forward. The four parallel stories create a tension that compels you to turn the page, to say to your self, "just one more chapter" until finally you look up and realize your lunch hour was over fifty minutes ago. This is a really good novel that does what the best fiction should do - entertains, takes you away, encourages you to think.
P.S. The Amberton sub plot is especially enjoyable if you envision Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in the title roles. Of course, this is a work of fiction, so the characters are absolutely, totally, 100% not based on them but ...
Book Review: Not Much Shiny Here
Summary: 3 Stars
Bright Shiny Morning is the story of four groups of people, broken up by a lot of useless information and the beginnings of other stories that never go anywhere. The four stories include a homeless alcoholic, two teenage runaways from Ohio, a secretly gay movie star in a fake marriage (think Tom Cruise), and a Hispanic girl who works as a nanny. These stories are interesting and James Frey definitely knows how to tell a story. I was immediately dragged into two of the four. The other two I didn't care for because I didn't like the characters.
The rest of the book contains, like I said, a lot of useless information. Does anyone really want to read 20 pages of useless facts about Los Angeles? This is the kind of thing you get as a forward in your email, not spend $25 on. There are also a lot of characters introduced, but then never heard from again. I would have been interested to find out more about the gun salesman or the rape victim who purchased the gun after seeing her assailant at the fast food restaurant. Alas, not in this book.
I will say that the book was difficult to put down. I kept skipping past the useless (in my opinion) pages to get back to the main characters. It is difficult to read at times and not all of the stories have happy endings.
While not a perfect book, it does showcase Mr. Frey's talent and I hope that more is to come.
Book Review: Mostly Lugubrious
Summary: 3 Stars
Is this really a great piece of fiction? To me it was pulp fiction, each of the individual stories interesting, but too exaggerated, too lugubrious, too ridiculous, nothing really good happening to any of the characters, big mean LA and big mean LA boogeymen beating up on the little guy who is struggling. I admit that I followed each of the stories with interest and that there were times I was happy. But why not tell a great story instead of shallow stories with made up characters? This writing reminds me of what is wrong with a lot of Hollywood movies. All sizzle and no steak.
The factoids of LA are extensive and not very interesting. Gosh, there are a lot of artists, cute young girls in the porn industry, lots of all kinds of LA disasters, Hollywood moguls and actors who are jerks! Don't waste our time!
The writing style reminds me of an amateur Tom Wolfe. Too many repeated words, loves, loves, loves! Arduous and sometimes hard to follow dialogue.
As a whole, I give it a C+. I wanted better stories with better outcomes. I wanted some of the main stories to be success stories. I wanted great fiction, not long lists of guys who got injured or killed in various wars or why LA, in some ways, is cooler than NYC.
Instead of trick writing, let's see if the author can write some real fiction next time. I don't think he can.
Book Review: Nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable.
Summary: 5 Stars
That is the first sentence one encounters when you open Bright Shiny Morning. That got a huge laugh out of me. That a boy, Frey!
This time just say nothing is true. Not one iota, Rien!
I started reading with a smile on my face that stayed through all 501 pages. If we need to start saving paper because we are running out of trees, get rid of the FUN FACTS pages-those were inane.They seemed like they were page fillers.
I am giving this book 5 stars, howver, because you can skip those fun facts and it will have no impact on your enjoyment of the book.
This book brought me back to the early days of Joyce Carol Oates. Frey can
really get inside of a huge range of characters. I loved each and everyone and loved the format of the book- a different character at every chapter. And then those characters come back through out the book.
I moved to LA right after college many years ago and all of those chacters were there-I just didn't get to meet them all. In this book, I found them.They are timeless.
I love the movie star family-why was I thinking of Tom Cruise whenever those chapters came up?
I loved the couple from the midwest and I loved Esperanza.
This was a book you want to keep going.This book had more truth than the last.
Movie-anyone?