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
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: 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
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: 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!
