Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Bright Shiny Morning

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 7,305 ratings · 1,133 reviews

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...more

Hardcover, 501 pages

Published May 13th 2008 by Harper (first published July 10th 1970)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Los Angeles

7th out of 162 books — 89 voters

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Contemporary Cult Fiction

63rd out of 71 books — 67 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jan 13, 2013 Jen rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who like Million Little Pieces

I loved this. For so many reasons. One of course is James Frey's style of writing. I can't explain why I love the way he writes. I can see how it would get on so many people's nerves. Then I think, anyone can do this..use weird commas or no commas, and then I see it done poorly and realize that it really is a talent.

I loved the first line of the book..before the actual book starts "Nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable." Way to go James--you tell them! Then the further I...more

25 likes · like · see review

May 19, 2008 brian rated it 2 of 5 stars

alright, well, i just read the first 225 pgs and i'm not gonna continue. it's not that it's soooo terrible. it's not. his stylized prose works more often than not and he can definitely set a tone. if i didn't have a stack of books on my desk that i've been dying to read, i'd probably finish... but, no. the minutes tick by and monsieur reaper hides behind every corner.

it's not that just'bout everything in the book (the individual pieces and the sum of their parts) is cliche, cliche, cliche... cl...more

12 likes · like · see review

Jun 10, 2008 Lewis rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am so busy that sometimes I curl up in a fetal ball in my mind. The fact that I read this 500 page book is a testimony to how well it is written.
Now everyone who knows me knows how I feel about the self-indulgence of memoir. Nevertheless, I always found Oprah's treatment of Mr. Frey distasteful and stupid. Do we really believe authors such as Augusten Burroughs are telling the absolute truth about their lives? No. But they don't get publicly flayed....although in the case of Mr. Burroughs I w...more

13 likes · like · see review

Feb 16, 2013 Eddie rated it 4 of 5 stars

A 4.5 rating for me.

The only thing I knew about James Frey was what almost everybody who is an avid reader knows, that his memoir was, well, a novel. I'm sure there was some truth to that memoir, and if anyone really believes memoirs to be fully factual, just get far away from me. What am I talking about? Most of my inner circle of acquaintances and friends probably have no idea what a memoir even is. I'm not joking.

So with all that said, I was truly reluctant to read this book with all the bad...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 04, 2009 Jamieson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Everyone remembers the controversy surrounding A Million Little Pieces, James Frey’s first book. Published as a memoir, it was later revealed that much of the book was fabricated to protect those Frey wrote about.

In the end, however, the controversy doesn’t matter. Frey’s books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard did what all good books should do: they evoked emotion, touched long forgotten places inside of us and inspired people to live better lives.

So despite the controversy, I was e...more

18 likes · like · see review

Jan 28, 2009 Elaina OKeefe rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I read "A Million Little Pieces" I thought, wow, this is some really vivid and engaging prose, as if it were a novel. (And of course, infamously, it turns out it was a novel) I felt the same thing reading this one; Frey writes very vividly, almost cinematically. He expertly sets a cool, gritty tone, and his staccato, almost free-associative style of writing works for me. I really liked the way he presented each vignette interspersed with the ever growing tidal wave of facts about Los Angele...more

5 likes · like · see review

Dec 20, 2008 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

One of the first pages of the novel Bright Shiny Morning, just after the title page, bears this single sentence: “Nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable”.
Its author, James Frey, shot to infamy in early 2006 when it was revealed that several incidents in his bestselling memoir A Million Little Pieces (2003), about his struggle with alcoholism and drug addiction, were fabricated or exaggerated – for example, that he had once spent 87 days in jail (he actually spent only a f...more One of the first pages of the novel Bright Shiny Morning, just after the title page, bears this single sentence: “Nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable”.
Its author, James Frey, shot to infamy in early 2006 when it was revealed that several incidents in his bestselling memoir A Million Little Pieces (2003), about his struggle with alcoholism and drug addiction, were fabricated or exaggerated – for example, that he had once spent 87 days in jail (he actually spent only a few hours).
No wonder, then, that his comeback stresses its status as a novel. About the city of Los Angeles, it was released in the United States last month, and reviews so far have differed dramatically from coast to coast.
The New York Times gave the novel a rave review, declaring that the author had “saved himself”, while the Los Angeles Times called it “an execrable novel, a literary train wreck without even the good grace to be entertaining.”
The novel certainly is an uneven, and at times tedious, read. But it also has its page-turning sections and is frequently touching, even if much of that is thanks to sentimentality rather than pathos.
It has multiple unrelated storylines and a multitude of characters – some followed through the novel, others mentioned once and never seen again – and is chockful of various (and hopefully factual) nuggets of historical and contemporary information about the city.
The author’s conversational writing style, characterised by repetition, single-sentence paragraphs and a casual relationship with punctuation, has a rhythmic, rap-like charm which is invigorating at first, but gets slightly cloying over the course of a whole book. An example: “They slept on the floor of the living room, the three of them under one blanket, father mother and daughter, together under one blanket.”
The main characters are familiar American archetypes: the gay, hedonistic movie star who has a carefully managed public image as a happy family man; a smart but shy Latina housekeeper and her rich, cruel boss; a drunkard with a heart of gold; and a teenaged couple who flee their sad lives in small town America to the bright lights of the big city.
The characters’ lives are tumultuous enough to keep readers interested in what happens, but the characterisations tend to be crude and superficial. Thus, the housekeeper’s romance with her rich white employer’s geeky son, which the author attempts to portray it as heart-warming, ends up feeling more sleazy than sweet.
It doesn’t help that the suitor utters platitudes like: “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, inside and outside and in every way, and part of the reason you’re so beautiful is because you have no idea how beautiful you are.”
These stories are interspersed with paragraph-long chapters about the development of the city, from its founding in 1781 to its economy in 2000. Though these sound random, Frey somehow makes it work, as the passages weave seamlessly into the bird’s-eye view he gives of the city, without becoming didactic or irrelevant.
Less successful, however, is his use of lists, both fictional and (supposedly) non-fictional. There are whole chapters devoted to trivia, much of it generic, such as “The average citizen of Los Angeles owns 7.4 pairs of shoes”, which might be amusing enough if read on a website, but which in a novel slows the narrative down without contributing anything to the story.
At other times, such lists do strike a chord, such as in a chapter about the young hopefuls who flock to Hollywood with big dreams, but who end up stuck in menial jobs. Inserted between more fully fleshed-out character sketches are lists of names – “David. Actor. Bartender. Arrived at 23, he is now 40” – which in their terseness eloquently hint at the numerous stories yet untold, numerous dreams inevitably shattered.
In the end, this novel engagingly and at times poignantly portrays Los Angeles as most people already imagine it – sprawling, superficial, lonely, hopeful. Whether it is an accurate portrayal of the city is another, perhaps irrelevant, matter altogether.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jul 07, 2008 Shea rated it 2 of 5 stars

A book with so much potential that realized very little of it. Bright Shiny Morning follows about 5 major characters, and another 20(ish) minor characters, in and around the Los Angeles area. Some of these characters have recently moved to L.A. and some have lived in L.A. their entire lives. All are connected by the city itself and Frey's notion that it is really the "city of broken dream". For example, Esperanza, a Mexican-American whose parents moved to the U.S. in order to provide a better li...more A book with so much potential that realized very little of it. Bright Shiny Morning follows about 5 major characters, and another 20(ish) minor characters, in and around the Los Angeles area. Some of these characters have recently moved to L.A. and some have lived in L.A. their entire lives. All are connected by the city itself and Frey's notion that it is really the "city of broken dream". For example, Esperanza, a Mexican-American whose parents moved to the U.S. in order to provide a better life for their daughter, is employed to work as a maid by your stereotypical nasty old woman throughout most of the book. Her dream is to go to college and live a different life from her parents. Another character, Old Man Joe, is a homeless man who lives in a bathroom on the beach and has no idea how he got there. Every morning he wakes up and goes to the beach to stare into the ocean and the sky trying to figure out how he ended up there.

Out of every character that Frey writes, there are very few stories that don't end up shattered into a million little pieces (heh, sorry, couldn't help it). Mind you, there's nothing particularly wrong with this. Artistically speaking, it's certainly far more interesting to read about a character's demise or the disastrous consequences that character finds themselves dealing with than some sort of happy go lucky existence. But Frey turns it into a systematic and basically inevitable conclusion for each character he writes. In fact, I was far more surprised when a character actually managed to survive his/her ordeal in relatively good shape. Bright Shiny Morning proved to quite predictable in the end, and Frey all but beats you over the head with his major theme uniting all the characters. A little subtlety can go a long way, but Frey does not seem to know (or care) about that.

Now, the writing style...don't get me started. If Frey was attempting to be poetic, it didn't work. If he was trying simply for a prose style, it didn't work. If he was actually aiming for a style that was bad, it worked. Sometimes the absence of punctuation and a run-on sentence extravaganza can work (Cormac McCarthy anyone?), but in this case, it was just bad. What really drove me crazy were the bits and pieces that he would repeat over and over again throughout different parts of the book. If it wasn't good the first time, repeating it over and over again isn't going to improve it. I eventually got over the writing style enough to finish the book, but it certainly drove me crazy.

I liked Bright Shiny Morning well enough. Personally, there's nothing more frustrating than reading a book with SO much potential that falls so short of it. Frey set himself up with so much to work with in order to turn this into a great novel, but he came nowhere close to doing it.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 16, 2008 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

After all the controversy over Frey's "memoir," A Million Little Pieces, I just couldn't resist picking up his recent novel to see him take a stab at writing fiction that is actually represented as fiction. Bright Shiny Morning is both a history of Los Angeles, and a portrait of the various people attempting to live out their dreams in the City Angels. There is the American-born and raised daughter of Mexican immigrants, trying to make her parents' sacrifices worth their while. There is the worl...more After all the controversy over Frey's "memoir," A Million Little Pieces, I just couldn't resist picking up his recent novel to see him take a stab at writing fiction that is actually represented as fiction. Bright Shiny Morning is both a history of Los Angeles, and a portrait of the various people attempting to live out their dreams in the City Angels. There is the American-born and raised daughter of Mexican immigrants, trying to make her parents' sacrifices worth their while. There is the world-famous celebrity couple living together in their mansion for the cameras, but privately living separate homosexual existences courtesy of non-disclosure agreements. There is the 19-year old couple from the midwest who have come west with nothing but hopes for a better future. Along the way, there is the usual sex, drugs, violence and destruction of dreams that one would expect only in Los Angeles. As a concept, I liked this novel - Frey divides up his short chapters on the various characters with factual statements about the creation and growth of Los Angeles - beginning in the 18th century and continuing up to the current day. The idea that all of Los Angeles and everything it has come to represent began as nothing more than a pueblo is an incredible thought. Frey's writing, however, is all over the place. Not only does he jump from character to character, but he avoids punctuation with no rhyme or reason, making dialogue and thoughts often difficult to follow (giving him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps this is supposed to represent the haziness and confusion of LA itself?). In many ways, the characters are quite real - all trying in their own ways, but with a huge dose of tragedy. In my hopes of a coincidental Dickensian end, I anticipated that some of the character paths would cross, but they never did. Of course, this does make the novel a bit more realistic - simply a portrayal of all these different types of lives living in parallel existence in such a seemingly small area. But, it doesn't make for an interesting cohesive story. Frey has great character ideas - he just needs to reach a bit more for a plot. I appreciated the creative aspects of this novel, though often found myself thinking that Frey was trying to hard to be different, shocking, or original. Again, kind of like LA in general. (less)

1 like · like · see review

May 28, 2008 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am NOT just giving this book 5 stars to get back at the spiteful reviewers on Amazon (who didn't even read the book!) The integrity they lack- giving a book you haven't read 1 star. In my mind, it goes to show how many people think what Oprah thinks just because she thinks it. For more background on my review, I read "A Million Little Pieces" BEFORE it was revealed that it was not completely factual. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and although I didn't base my own rehabilitation solely on his writin...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jul 07, 2008 Betsy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is just a scattered collection of my thoughts on this book. I liked certain aspects of this book and was majorly turned off by ohers. I plowed through it in a matter of days and looked forward to reading it each night before going to bed. I easily connected with the characters and towards the end of the book, found myself skipping the commentary/facts on LA. (Some of it was interesting, some of it was way too long. I didn't feel I was missing anything by skipping a lot of it at the end.)Fre...more This is just a scattered collection of my thoughts on this book. I liked certain aspects of this book and was majorly turned off by ohers. I plowed through it in a matter of days and looked forward to reading it each night before going to bed. I easily connected with the characters and towards the end of the book, found myself skipping the commentary/facts on LA. (Some of it was interesting, some of it was way too long. I didn't feel I was missing anything by skipping a lot of it at the end.)Frey's portrayl of some of the characters was really cliched, annoying, and over the top. (Amberton putting on a fake beard and staking out Kevin? Cheesy B movie. It read like fan fiction at that point. BAD fan fiction.) Still, I did find myself rooting for many of the characters; Esperanza and Dylan and Maddie in particular. I would have rather seen Amberton die than Dylan, without question.

Something I don't take issue with that I know many other people do is Frey's writing style. Sometimes I had to reread a sentence because of the lack of punctuation but I liked the sense of urgency it instilled in me as the reader. I wanted to find out what the characters would do next.

However, I think it would have been to Frey's advantage to stick to the five characters who had the biggest stories. Some of the ones that show up and disappear didn't have an affect on me or seem to fit into the story very well.

The biggest issue I have with this book is the random inclusion and discription of Mario Lavanderia or Perez Hilton. Frey seems to describe characters that are loosely based on Hollywood/LA rumors and stereotypes. In this instances, he very clearly described Perez Hilton, "the poor little Cuban blogger who hit it big." Is that to imply that all of the other vignettes and characters are also completely real? I was just confused by the inclusion of this not-even-a-little-bit-subtle story. It was distracting for me. Plus I would never feel sorry for Perez Hilton. He hangs out in a coffee shop and rips on people. I am not sorry he got fired from one of his jobs and gets sued all the time. He gossips for a living! (less)

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 25, 2008 Bree rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008, fiction, favorites

Only got halfway through and had to return it - so I've requested it again to finish it! So far, this is one of my favorite books of 2008!

Update: Yep, this is definitely one of my favorite books I've read this year. I was completely engrossed in this one, I just loved everything about it. It starts out with random stories about people who are in LA, moving to LA - some of them he wraps up so you know they're not going to be recurring characters, and others he just lets the subject drop and goes...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 28, 2008 Keith rated it 4 of 5 stars

This main character of this novel is the city of Los Angeles. Essentially, the book is a series of sub-stories and secondary characters that revolve around LA. I suppose it could be a bit frustrating that the crux of the novel is a bit abstract and that it might be a bit hard to digest if you have not experienced the glorious weirdness that is LA, but I really loved it.

Of all the places on the west coast, I've always liked LA the least. I've been out there quite a bit this year and I still don'...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 25, 2008 Renee rated it 4 of 5 stars

From the reviews I have read, this book is a solid 50/50 love/hate with literary reviewers. I am definitely in the "like very much side" of this ratio. Yes, this is over the top, at times, and gives a new meaning to overkill (at times) as well. However, I found myself caring about the characters in this book and looking forward to what happens to them. I love that as a connective thread, Frey interweaves a series of short passages outlying the history of Los Angles. Read this and let me know wha...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 24, 2011 Dave Tedesco rated it 4 of 5 stars

A great read and in-depth look at Los Angeles. I love all the major stories weaved throughout the novel -- very original and provocative. A lot terrific characters, I almost feel like each could have their own standalone novel. The book also has a very original and fun voice.

My only gripe is that Frey tried a little too hard to be experimental. I found the odd punctuation and lack of quotation marks to be somewhat distracting and, often, the random stories/facts got in the way of the actual narr...more

1 like · like · see review

May 21, 2008 Miriam rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Janet Maslin, who I generally mock, tricked me into thinking that this was going to be brilliant. But, then, halfway through, I remembered that Janet Maslin is kind of a dingbat most of the time. And she was wrong about this book. It has its moments. But it is full of stupid filler crap that I just started skipping by the end. If he would just stick with simple storytelling, like he did in A Million Little Pieces, which I know is NOT HIP to like, but I did like it regardless of its truth or untr...more

2 likes · like · see review

May 22, 2008 Rob rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: shame-i-tried, abandoned

I've only read the first 10 pages or so, and it's terrible. Still, and I want everyone to hear this, I purchased this book just to stick it to Oprah. For this reason alone, I believe my pennies have been well deposited. More later.
Here's the later: Really, I apologize to anyone that I've offended just by having tried to read this work. Yeah, I've read further into this hulkish nightmare. It's a complete disaster. The story's cliche, weak, poorly written. The million little pieces Mr. Frey kicked...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 19, 2008 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: shelve-it

OK, so I bit & went for it...kind of sorry I did...

This is the story of Los Angeles according to James Frey & his bag of cliches. BSM was readable, but somehow not very satisfying. The more you read of the character stories the more ridiculous some of them become (gay entitled actor, homeless guy with a heart of gold, Mexican-American with a heart of gold & African American couple who make it despite the odds against them, runaways from Ohio...) . Really the character development is...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 11, 2013 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. My favourite stories were that of Esperanza and Doug, Maddie and Dylan, and Old Man Joe. The main point that comes across from the book is that everyone flocks to Los Angeles, the city of angels, for their dreams to come true. Sadly the city is overpopulated with undiscovered talent and 'could be's. This brings the harsh reality that LA is the city where dreams are squashed without a second thought and people have to struggle and do whatever they can to meet the bare...more

like · see review

Jun 21, 2012 Victoria rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Victoria by: Rhiannon Elward

Shelves: book-club, fiction, read-in-2012, read-with-roy

Fantastic characterisation, even if Frey does need to go back to school in order to learn correct use of grammar. I already miss Old Man Joe (how could he not make you smile?) but I am pleased to welcome commas and speech marks back into my life. (I thought I appreciated them before but I was clearly wrong. Please, punctuation, never leave me again). Another surprising plus side of Bright Shiny Morning is that I feel suddenly lightened by my new-found freedom from dry, tiresome lists of LA facts...more

like · see review

May 31, 2012 Pat rated it 3 of 5 stars

I saw reviews saying the book was spectacular, as well as reviews saying it was crappy writing. Well, it's both. His non-use of punctuation is irritating. And I don't particularly think he's all that deep, but that said, I really enjoyed this book. Like Twilight, sometimes books don't have to be great for you to enjoy it if the story is compelling enough.

It's set up like a Robert Altman movie with a bunch of unrelated vignettes. Maybe there are too many different storylines/characters and the fa...more

like · see review

Mar 14, 2012 Joan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Frey is a controversial writer, whose highly successful book, A Million Little Pieces, published as a true memoir of his drug addiction and treatment, was determined to be largely fiction. He and his publisher were taken to task by Oprah, live, on her show, for their deception. The man can write fiction, however, and write it well.
In Bright Shiny Morning, he hurls character after character at the reader, in a long and disjointed tale about Los Angeles and the dreamers who populate it. Although...more

like · see review

Nov 22, 2011 Kacee added it

Bright Shiny Morning follows the story of several people who live in Los Angeles. There are also facts about Los Angeles throughout the story, which add to the theme of the book. I really like James Frey’s writing style. I loved it. I liked all the characters and the different stories. I liked how he would talk about a certain character for a few pages and then forget about them. I liked all the main characters and seeing the contrasts between them. My favorite parts were all the lists-about peo...more

like · see review

Oct 17, 2011 Adam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Bright Shiny Morning
By James Frey
Report by Adam Michaelis
“It is estimated that 100,000 people a year move to Los Angeles to pursue careers in the entertainment industry. They come from all over America, all over the world. When they arrive, they join the 100,000 that came the year before they did, and they await the 100,000 that will arrive the year after, the year after, the year after, the year after” (pg.231).Through this book it tells a story of people’s lives moving to Los Angeles to escape...more Bright Shiny Morning
By James Frey
Report by Adam Michaelis
“It is estimated that 100,000 people a year move to Los Angeles to pursue careers in the entertainment industry. They come from all over America, all over the world. When they arrive, they join the 100,000 that came the year before they did, and they await the 100,000 that will arrive the year after, the year after, the year after, the year after” (pg.231).Through this book it tells a story of people’s lives moving to Los Angeles to escape, to start fresh, or just because LA is a better place than where they came from.
James Frey combines true facts of history of LA and how it started. In between the book he sandwiches the stories of the main characters and other stories of people struggling to have a better life. The four main characters he focuses on are a homeless man named Old Man Joe, a couple Maddie and Dylan, Amberton an international superstar, and finally a Latino teenager named Esperanza.
Old man Joe has lived in LA County his whole life. He had an average life until he decided to become homeless. Every day he lurks up and down Venice beach finding food and begging for money to buy his favorite drink Chablis. Then he returns home to his bathroom behind a restaurant in an alley after watching the sun set. He watches the sunset thinking, sitting, trying to find a purpose in life but the sun sets too soon and he gives up.
Dylan and Maddie are the two teens from Colorado desperately escaping the unadulterated anger of their families. Believing in love is the driving force that pushes these two to LA. They want to hit the reset button on their lives; trying to pursue the dream life, the dream job, the dream home, and the dream family. They believe Los Angeles can do this for them. They believe LA will change their lives, believe me it does.
Amberton is an arrogant, good looking, makes millions, loved by all, international super star. He has made countless movies; he is a heartthrob around the world. He has made a name of himself being a celebrity. He has the dream home, dream family, and a trophy actress wife that blows all of the other women in the world out of the water. He is the man that makes other striving actors want to move to LA and hope they can make it big like him. He kind of reminds me of an actor in our Hollywood today, but I’ll let you find out. He has a super secret though. It is a secret that could crush or destroy his career. His dirty little secret is he is gay. He not only has payed for sex with other girls and women but he is a total flamer on the other side. The only person that truly knows is his wife but she sees other men too. They are both having different affairs with people and they’re ok with that. What gets me is that he has this huge crush on an aspiring actor and goes to any measure to get him.
The final main character is a girl named Esperanza. When her mother was pregnant with her they decided to move to America. Having the baby in LA would make her and her mother have to become citizens of the country. They wanted a better life for her to give her something they didn’t get in Mexico. A great education, a well paid job and a life that her parents will never have. They wanted the dream for her daughter. When she grew up she got straight A’s throughout school but when she graduated she stopped the process and didn’t proceed to college. She hit a little emotional speed bump along the way. Time went by and she needed a job so she went to one of her moms work friends and got a job cleaning mansions. One of her big customers was an old haggy lady who had a heart that was worse than a black hole sucking all the nice out of the world. She was mean to everyone. Esperanza being Mexican, she was ten times worse to her. Esperanza moved on though and got paid but she wasn’t happy where she was going in life. Then she met the son of the old lady and was skeptical at first but soon fell in love.

All these characters are striving for one thing; to a get grab on something they didn’t have before. It’s not just them; it’s so many more people. This really jumped in my face once I figured it out. There’re people coming from around the world all over the place. James Frey illustrates this story beautifully. It made me laugh, cry, and it blew me away how real it is. I loved this book. I recommend it to teens and adults because there are some bad words, sexual situations, and lots of violence. All people want a better life to peruse their dreams and they think LA “The City of Angels” and vast possibilities is capable of doing this.
PLEASE READ THIS BOOK IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!!!!

James Frey, Bright Shiny Morning
New York: Harper/HarperCollins Pub., ©2008. (less)

like · see review

Sep 20, 2011 Sam Quixote rated it 5 of 5 stars

Like John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" which is a novel about the Salinas Valley, James Frey's written a novel about Los Angeles, and wouldn't you know it, it's amazing.

The novel doesn't have Chapter 1, 2, etc. but does have separate sections which follow 4 main plot threads - a gay movie star, a young teen couple who've runaway to start a new life in LA, the daughter of immigrants out to find acceptance in society, and a beach bum. The book is also interspersed with sections devoted to facts abo...more Like John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" which is a novel about the Salinas Valley, James Frey's written a novel about Los Angeles, and wouldn't you know it, it's amazing.

The novel doesn't have Chapter 1, 2, etc. but does have separate sections which follow 4 main plot threads - a gay movie star, a young teen couple who've runaway to start a new life in LA, the daughter of immigrants out to find acceptance in society, and a beach bum. The book is also interspersed with sections devoted to facts about LA while separate pages divide these sections with each page containing a piece of history of LA from it's founding to present day. The main character - Los Angeles, the city itself - has separate sections about it's highways, it's movie industry, it's ethnic sections like Chinatown etc, it's weather and geography, it's inhabitants.

The beach bum, Old Man Joe, showed the life of a homeless person and yet was by far the most attractive (sort of). Joe is a great character, a man who lives in a toilet, drinking Chablis during the day, and sits on the beach at dawn awaiting a vision. He meets a young girl addicted to meth and beaten nearly to death and takes it upon himself to help her. Esperanza, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, provides the warm centre of the book. The beaten down underdog who succeeds in the end, her story was the sweetest and the one you cheered for once you reached the end. The young runaways, Dylan and Maddie, were the ones I thought were supposed to show the opposite to the many horrorific stories Frey throws out about people who come to LA, and it very nearly was until the ending. Frey really doesn't believe in happily ever after and keeps you guessing until the last page. The gay movie star, Amberton Parker (Parker = Cruise?), was the least interesting but was still readable.

I mention "East of Eden" because it's the great California novel. "Bright Shiny Morning", it's 21st century equivalent, is also a great California novel. It's ambitious and it's scope is large but Frey pulls it off admirably with maverick writing skills (difficult for some because of the unconventional use of grammar and punctuation - or absence thereof) and a strong instinct for storytelling. It's never boring and he never resorts to hackneyed reveals, coincidence, or melodramatic deus ex machinas.

There's too much in the book to talk about and too much I liked about it but suffice it to say that I wouldn't be surprised to see this in the Penguin Classics range in 100 years time. It's clever and has many layers to it but is also very entertaining and can be enjoyed by the casual reader looking for an excellent tale. I really think this is one of the best American novels of the last 10 years and if this is any indication then Frey is destined for quite a career. I look forward to the next novel. Bravo James Frey! (less)

like · see review

Aug 07, 2011 Nikole rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read both of Frey's "memoirs" years ago and despite the controversy regarding "A Million Little Pieces", I was impressed with his story telling ability. I had little doubt that Frey would have problems with the fiction genre. However, upon finishing Bright Shiny Morning, I'm left wondering. While I enjoyed the main stories presented they didn't seem all that different than a million other stories of Los Angeles that I've heard of in the past. Granted, that might have been the point...Los Angel...more

like · see review

Jul 27, 2011 Eric Barber added it

My girlfriend lent me this book, and I was hesitant at first because of the style the author uses. He indulges in a lot of run on sentences and does not use traditional grammar and punctuation.

I am SO glad that I took the time to read this, though, what an engaging book, I finished it in four days and I couldn't put it down.

The story is about a diverse cast of characters living in Los Angeles, some make fleeting appearances, some of the characters remain through the entire story. From down and o...more

like · see review

Jan 09, 2011 Curtis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, audiobooks

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...more

like · see review

Dec 23, 2010 Kathy Hiester rated it 4 of 5 stars

To say I was a little bit afraid to pick up Bright Shiny Morning would be a lie. I was not afraid to read a book by an author rife with social, moral and ethical controversy but instead I was afraid of what people would think of me reading it. Well, I am so glad I grabbed this book from the bargain bin and at 1.97 it was a steal.

Bright Shiny Morning has managed to leave me floored. The book does not have just a single plot; but rather, contains several stories of people's lives and efforts to en...more

like · see review

Nov 11, 2010 Jasmine Chehaiber rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

2 likes · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
New Book	6	71	Sep 02, 2011 04:38pm

combine
Other Editions (39)

More editions...

Genres

Contemporary

18 users

Novels

10 users

Drama

8 users

Book Club

8 users

Adult

7 users

Adult Fiction

7 users

Modern

5 users

Literature

5 users

Realistic Fiction

5 users

Short Stories

4 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About James Frey

James Frey is the author of a million little pieces and my friend leonard. After battling with alcohol addiction and spending time in rehab, he wrote A Million Little Pieces which was published in 2003 in America and the following year in the UK to critical acclaim. He wrote the sequel, My Friend Leonard about life after rehab, which was published in 2005 in the US and the year after in the UK.

Jam...more

More about James Frey...

Books by James Frey

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Bright Shiny Morning

9 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Bright Shiny Morning

“To live with angels and chase their dreams.” — 30 people liked it

“They had dreams but they called them dreams because they were unrelated to reality, they were a distant unknown, an impossibility, they would never come true.” — 19 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Bright Shiny Morning
avg rating	preview: Bright Shiny Morning Goodreads rating: 3.74 (7305 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2179832.Bright_Shiny_Morning?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347880875l/2179832.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2179832.Bright_Shiny_Morning?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey[/url]

Bright Shiny Morning

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website