I still cannot believe how blown away I still am after reading this book. It was like a train wreck you simply could not turn away from! How he weaves in the snippets of the history of L.A. with the many different story lines was really interesting. I had my husband read it after I was done and he had the same reaction. Then I lent it to a friend and she loved it as well. I've read 'A Million Little Pieces', but it was with this one that Mr.Frey earned another fan with me. Bravo!
Helpful Score: 2
This one took me somewhere. I enjoyed reading several different stories in one...and am really glad Frey didn't tie everything up in a neat little bow at the end. He kept it real. (Well, as real as his writing can be.) ;-)
Helpful Score: 2
When this book came out a few years ago I thought I heard something about Frey doing his book tour dates with a full band...? At the time that seemed cool but awfully presumptuous, especially after the Oprah scandal and such. But it turns out that a grandiose book tour is quite appropriate for what happened to be a very ambitious book.
Bright Shiny Morning is a little bit of a mess and could stand to be shorter, however there's few dull moments and plenty to sink your teeth into. The novel evoked plenty of emotions because much of it is about broken dreams in a city where only the ruthless, rich and lucky survive. Being a dreamer myself this was very disheartening.
Back in 2008 USA Today critic Deirdre Donahue wrote that Morning reads like something "Oliver Stone wrote and Quentin Tarantino directed". The novel is full of parallel story lines that mainly follow these central characters: a homeless man, an Oscar winning actor, a young Hispanic woman with unusually large thighs and a young couple from Ohio. But there's more, more characters, fun facts, not so fun facts, descriptions, lists, etc... If this was musical album it would be a box set.
In his first official novel Frey shows up and throws up. Once you weed through some of the filler you're left with one hell of a novel/fictional history lesson of Los Angeles.
Bright Shiny Morning is a little bit of a mess and could stand to be shorter, however there's few dull moments and plenty to sink your teeth into. The novel evoked plenty of emotions because much of it is about broken dreams in a city where only the ruthless, rich and lucky survive. Being a dreamer myself this was very disheartening.
Back in 2008 USA Today critic Deirdre Donahue wrote that Morning reads like something "Oliver Stone wrote and Quentin Tarantino directed". The novel is full of parallel story lines that mainly follow these central characters: a homeless man, an Oscar winning actor, a young Hispanic woman with unusually large thighs and a young couple from Ohio. But there's more, more characters, fun facts, not so fun facts, descriptions, lists, etc... If this was musical album it would be a box set.
In his first official novel Frey shows up and throws up. Once you weed through some of the filler you're left with one hell of a novel/fictional history lesson of Los Angeles.
Helpful Score: 2
I don't care about the controversy over Frey's earlier books. I loved them and I loved this one as well. James Frey writes to create an atmosphere and then populate it with interesting characters. I like his style. I like his point of view. Sometimes his punctuation drives me crazy but it is a small price to pay for this book.
Helpful Score: 1
One of the most celebrated and controversial authors in America delivers his first novel--a sweeping chronicle of contemporary Los Angeles that is bold, exhilarating, and utterly original.
Dozens of characters pass across the reader's sight lines--some never to be seen again--but James Frey lingers on a handful of LA's lost souls and captures the dramatic narrative of their lives: a bright, ambitious young Mexican-American woman who allows her future to be undone by a moment of searing humiliation; a supremely narcissistic action-movie star whose passion for the unattainable object of his affection nearly destroys him; a couple, both nineteen years old, who flee their suffocating hometown and struggle to survive on the fringes of the great city; and an aging Venice Beach alcoholic whose life is turned upside down when a meth-addled teenage girl shows up half-dead outside the restroom he calls home.
Throughout this strikingly powerful novel there is the relentless drumbeat of the millions of other stories that, taken as a whole, describe a city, a culture, and an age. A dazzling tour de force, "Bright Shiny Morning" illuminates the joys, horrors, and unexpected fortunes of life and death in Los Angeles.
Dozens of characters pass across the reader's sight lines--some never to be seen again--but James Frey lingers on a handful of LA's lost souls and captures the dramatic narrative of their lives: a bright, ambitious young Mexican-American woman who allows her future to be undone by a moment of searing humiliation; a supremely narcissistic action-movie star whose passion for the unattainable object of his affection nearly destroys him; a couple, both nineteen years old, who flee their suffocating hometown and struggle to survive on the fringes of the great city; and an aging Venice Beach alcoholic whose life is turned upside down when a meth-addled teenage girl shows up half-dead outside the restroom he calls home.
Throughout this strikingly powerful novel there is the relentless drumbeat of the millions of other stories that, taken as a whole, describe a city, a culture, and an age. A dazzling tour de force, "Bright Shiny Morning" illuminates the joys, horrors, and unexpected fortunes of life and death in Los Angeles.
Helpful Score: 1
James Frey has come to be one of my favorite authors. He breaks all the rules grammatically, but it works and sucks you in for the roller coaster ride of your life. A history of Los Angeles as never seen or read before...Outstanding!!!
Helpful Score: 1
I am not sure what I think after reading this book. It was different. Some parts I was engrossed in, and others, I lost interest in quick. Overall, I didn't get into this book.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed this book, I think Frey is a great writer, even after all the hullabaloo over A Million Little Pieces. His writing style is unique, and in this book he does jump around quite a bit but the stories intrigue you to keep reading...it got to the point that I couldn't put it down because I had to know how each of the characters stories ended. Enjoy!
Enjoyed it thoroughly. Finished it in 2 days... didn't want to put it down.
I hear the author was exposed as a farce. Too bad bc this is one of my favorite contemporary fiction books. It reads as easily as short stories but with the depth of a novel.
I really enjoyed this book. Didn't want to put it down. Wanting to know more of all of the characters lives kept me turning the pages. The facts of LA were also very interesting. A good read.
Good book. Love Freys writing.
Gives a great insight to LA, and the many different lifestyles there.
Gives a great insight to LA, and the many different lifestyles there.
This book was wonderful. Truly an eye opener. I suggest you skip through the information about California and just focus on the four main stories. That's what I did, and I loved it.
I really like this book! Writing is choppy but colorful. Captures the history of Los Angeles while weaving several stories that are believable. The harsh reality and the enchantment of what happens in LA.
LOVED IT! I couldn't put it down! Much better then his first two, even though I love them to.
I have never read a book like this. It really is a book you don't want to put down. I personally liked reading the 'L.A. facts' that Frey put in the book. Los Angeles is it own character in this book. The only chapter that I didn't like was the one about all the freeways and highways, it was a little long and boring
I just love reading his books. This was an awesome read.
This is one of the most interesting books I have read in a long time. The writing style was different from anything I've read. If lack of punctuation and paragraphs drives you wild then this will certainly hit that hot spot. I find myself still haunted by one of the couples in the book and how their story turned out. I wish it didn't have to be but not everything in life has a happy ending. Live by the sword, die by the sword I guess. It was brilliantly random! I highly recommend it.
The main character in this story is LA, California. Other characters are the millions of people and their dreams who pass through or stay there to make their dreams comes true. Four storylines rise up through the grit, and make you root for the dreams to survive (or in one case, to be blown to smithereens.) This story is put together so well. However, it's not one I'd recommend to just anyone. James Frey is always interesting!
Pretty bad; written with an almost 'stream of consciousness' style. Chapters are interspersed with bits of LA lore, such as Fun Facts about LA, etc. Stories contained in it are for the most part sad.
Personally, I don't think the author even visited LA, but probably got his info from reading; even the dust cover says he lives in New York.
Personally, I don't think the author even visited LA, but probably got his info from reading; even the dust cover says he lives in New York.
