Bright Shiny Morning [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

I really wanted to find fault with this book, given Frey's history, but I was moved shaken, stunned and even goddman educated by this incredible magnum opus. what moves me so much is the spartan story telling technique, the way it lays peoples lives out in broad simple strokes, un-decorated with similies metaphors and poetic language. There are no nature metaphors here, there is no God and no transcendence, there are just people in their multitudes, with their mini-story lives, and that is a thing of beauty to behold.
Bright shiny morning is a powerful and moving picture of a very messed up city. every character seems real and alive and we feel for them all, whether they are abusers or abused, victims or conquerors. life goes on and lives through these pages.
My only grievance is that one of the narrative strands seems to end short but then I just wanted this book to go on and on and on.

This is a riot of a book, with a fast-paced, frantic feel created by using a `stream of consciousness' narrative style in the present tense. (NB there is a distinct lack of punctuation, so if that bothers you, give this a miss). James Frey does an excellent job of trying to capture the character of a city through the style of writing. I loved the structure, in which more factual sections are interspersed with stories - some uplifting, most shocking - of those who come to LA seeking fame and fortune. A great holiday read.

Bright Shiny Morning is a sprawling modern epic which revolves around the city of Los Angeles. The novel is focused mainly around five main characters: Esperanza, a fiercely intelligent Mexican American who pretends to be an illegal immigrant to obtain a job as a maid; Old Man Joe, a homeless alcoholic who tries to give his life some sort of meaning by rescuing a runaway; Amberton, a rich, handsome and successful (gay) movie star with a wife and children; and Dylan and Maddie, two young adults who run away to escape their impoverished and abusive upbringings to start a new life.

Alongside these characters are dozens of other characters whose stories are told in short vignettes, never to be mentioned again, including a troubled young starlet reminiscent of Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears, and a thinly veiled account of Perez Hilton's life. These brief sections are largely successful at adding more depth and variety to the novel whilst developing interesting characters and situations in a very short space of time.

To provide the reader with an idea of the background of LA, each "chapter" opens up with a brief outline of a significant event in the city's history, and throughout the novel there are illuminating facts and figures about LA. The juxtaposition of these different stories and trivia creates a fragmented, almost schizophrenic structure to the story which mirrors the crazy dualities of LA itself. Topics include pollution, crime, gang membership, immigration, gun ownership, the film and pornography industries, homelessness and education. Most of the time these passages are interesting and add further detail to the novel, but can on occasion become repetitive lists, for example of motorways and roads in LA or the names of various gangs that exist.

The overall impression is of a colourful, complex city of which the author is exposing only a snapshot at one moment in time. It is reminiscent of films such as Crash and Magnolia which also focus on large casts of characters and their interlocking lives in LA. We are warning at the beginning of the novel, "Nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable," which establishes that regardless of whether these bite of trivia and story are based on fact or fiction, it is the message behind them which matters- and that's an accurate reflection of a city where suffering, violence and injustice prevails beneath the sheen of Hollywood glamour and success.

It is the four main characters who are most likely to stay in memory as they are more developed over the course of the novel, finding themselves in complicated situations and faced with difficult choices. Almost all of the characters do things that could be considered morally ambiguous, but ultimately Frey remains distant and non-judgemental, allowing the reader to decide the difference between right and wrong. On a few occasions I felt Frey fell slightly short of creating fully sympathetic, believable characters, for example Amberton become remains as cruel and selfish as the novel progresses and we never get a glimpse of real humanity beneath the mask to make him a truly compelling character.

One thing that remains constant throughout the book is that fate plays a cruel role in all of the character's lives, and the overall impression is that life is a difficult battle for survival, particularly in the battleground of LA where the rich get richer and the poor stay poor, where the population continues to increase as it is flooded with yet more people trying (and usually failing) to achieve the American Dream.

Frey deals with issues of race, class and economics in a realistic manner and explores the relationships between people in these terms. It's just unfortunate that in some ways he misses opportunities to develop these ideas further- for example of the five main characters, only one could be classified as "non-white" so most of the other characters of different races appear only once or twice in short passages and then disappear.

Throughout the story, there are glimpses of humanity and kindness which prevent the book from becoming too depressing, and relationships which manage to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way. Ultimately I was a little dissatisfied with the way the novel ended, but perhaps that was the point. At least one of the characters seemed to get a happy ending, but many of the others ended ambiguously or with unhappy circumstances. I felt that we hadn't reached the end of some of their stories- but after all, life doesn't always result in a happy, neat ending.

I was thoroughly engaged in the story throughout, but I do wonder whether such a flurry of situations and characters will eventually leave a strong impression on me, despite several powerful and well written moments. It is worth wondering how the novel might have been improved Frey had removed all of the shorter vignettes and trivia sections to focus solely on the four main story threads and develop them further, but again this might have missed part of the transitory message of the novel, and that every successful superstar or homeless alcoholic has ten more people ready to take their place.

Note- one previous reviewer dismissed the entire novel, on the grounds that the some of the punctuation and grammar was incorrect. However others should be aware that the copies given to Amazon Vine reviewers are NOT an accurate reflection of the final product- they often contain typos and lack the punctuation that will obviously be finished for the final edited version, as Amazon advises, "we ask that you focus on the potential of the overall book and its content as opposed to missing editorial features or errors in syntax."

Thus when reading I was aware of this and it shouldn't discount the entire book from serious consideration. Even with the mistakes present in the unfinished copy, it was hardly difficult to re-read the occasional sentence to make sense of it and mentally insert the correct punctuation.