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 enlarge | Author: James Frey
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $8.33
You Save: $18.62 (69%)
New (60) Used (48) Collectible (9) from $8.33
Rating:  132 reviews
Sales Rank: 5295
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 512
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.9 x 1.7
ISBN: 0061573132
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780061573132
ASIN: 0061573132
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Clean book with no markings.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 116-120 of 132
 Compulsively readable May 21, 2008
Star Ace (Abq, NM)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
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 ...
Flashes of brilliance May 21, 2008
Stephanie
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
It's not surprising that there are such divergent opinions of this book - it's very much in keeping with the uneven nature of the novel itself. For all its flaws - and they are numerous (incoherent, almost non-existent plot; wooden secondary characters; self-indulgent sidebars) - Frey should be applauded for his ambition and what he does so well: create compelling storylines and interesting settings, as well as interesting personalities on which to train his narrative.
That he is able to make this disjointed mishmash compelling says a lot about his writing. Now he just needs to work on creating a whole, consistent work. Still, very much worth the read.
Not a scorned reader... May 19, 2008
Wendy A. Tedesco (White Plains, NY USA)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Despite feeling duped the first time around by Mr. Frey, I'm not a scorned reader and had a go at "Bright Shiny Morning". I tore through this book just as fast as everyone else did who was able to review it so quickly following it's release, so make no mistake people, we do have a page turner here.
While I recognize the main character as being LA herself, I didn't care about her. I was more interested in the 4 supporting stories. I was so caught in the grips of those stories that I actually found everything else in the book to be a distraction, the facts, the traffic, the gangs, the highways, etc...
Every chapter relating to the 4 main stories end in a mini cliffhanger The irregularity of this book left me eager and impatiently wanting more! There is no rhythm or flow, it seems random and scattered, and kept me moving forward to see if these stories were revisited.
We are introduced to so many different people and situations during the first half of the book I thought the author was suffering from ADD. In my opinion, any single one of the dozens we meet could be an independent stand-alone story that I would a happily indulge in.
 Send a Message: Boycott This Book May 19, 2008
Luka Brasi
8 out of 67 found this review helpful
Plagiarism is a writer's deadliest sin, the literary equivalent of murder. As I writer myself, I would debase not only my readers, but also myself by stealing someone else's work or lying about a work that claims to be non-fiction. How James Frey got a publishing deal after his "Million Little Pieces" debacle is anyone's guess, but shame on you Harper for printing "Bright Shiny Morning."
Many people argue that Frey's first book helped a lot of people. It doesn't matter. The fact is that Frey broke a sacred covenant between author and reader, something that he can never repair. Like Stephen Glass, and dozens before him, Frey should be consigned to never putting words on paper again.
Send a message to publishers everywhere: boycott James Frey, the trash he writes, and the morally questionable publisher who continues to market his work.
Fabulous Summer Read May 19, 2008
Lit Chick (California)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
What a great summer read! James Frey does not disappoint!
Despite his public "disgrace" a few years ago (and what an overreaction that all was, really), James Frey proves, once again, that he is truly gifted writer. Although the book is 500 pages, I was unable to put it down and finished it after only 3 days. Raw, honest, beautiful, tragic, educational, and at times funny, this book weaves several stories together into one fast-paced and compulsibly readable book.
The background he gives on Los Angeles is also very interesting. The way he mixes history with the story lines and lives of the ficticious characters adds to the meatiness of this novel. Bravo!
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