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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 31-35 of 132
 LET DOWN August 6, 2008
Barbara Kennedy (ct)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read the first two books Mr. Frey wrote and will probably read them again. I bought several copies of each book and gave them to people that I knew would appreciate them. I was so happy to find that he had written another book and was so looking forward to making it my "Summer's Best Read". The book started out good and held my attention but about half way through I got bored with his stories (other then the parts about the three main tales) and the facts about LA did nothing for me. I guess if you are interested in LA you might find it worth reading. I don't think I will reccommend or buy this book for anyone this time around. Maybe the next one will make me stand up and cheer for James. Wish this could have been a positive review!
 Maybe the best I have ever read August 6, 2008
J. Schumacher (Bellevue, WA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I was 19, I took a class in undergraduate about Los Angeles based fiction. It was an interesting class, I only wish this book had been around during that time so that it could have been part of the required reading.
I come from a family of voracious readers, I started with Jurassic Park when I was only ten years old, and haven't stopped reading since. I have read Hemingway, Joyce, Emmerson, Kerouac, all wonderful storytellers in their own way. But I can honestly say that I cannot remember a novel in recent years that moved me quite as much as "Bright shiny morning". I was literally reduced to tears (I can't remember the last time this happened!!) by the end. I'm not sure if I cried because I felt so strongly for these characters, or because I was sad that the book had come to an end. All I know is I want more, more, more!
The word "cliche" has been used an awful lot in reviews of this book, and fairly so. The bum with the heart of gold, the hispanic maid, the shallow actor who adds very little (nothing?) of value to society and yet is worshiped as a God. These are all stories that have been told before. It is the WAY in which Frey tells them that is so powerful, so moving, so thought provoking and emotional. It is a story that manages to entertain and simultaneously cause you to question your own priorities in life, causes you to think about what is really important, at least thats what it did for me.
Saying this book is no good because it uses cliches is like missing the forest for the trees. Frey's writing here is exceptional, emotional, and beautiful. Do yourself a favor, suspend any prior opinions about the author you may have, and try to read the book with an open mind. I think you'll find, as I did, a literary treasure that rises miles above what is traditionally put out there these days.
Original idea, disappointing result August 3, 2008
Froggie (Montreal, QC)
In his most recent literary work, Frey offers a surprising mixture of fictional and historical shots of Bright Shiny LA. His idea of covering the formation of the city from its early days and providing facts about its current state as a background to the fictional lives of a dozen characters is beautifully original. But it is over-celebrated in long passages, and poorly integrated into the novel. Mostly, the facts are evidently introduced in order to give credibility to a series of characters and stories that are all equally stereotypical. Frey might have better served the literary genre by zooming in on the lives of actual Angelenos who, although they participate in the statistics, do not impersonate them. As it stands, the novel offers page after page of shallow characters and cliche story-lines and dialogues. The book appears to reflect the author's own preconceptions more than it offers an occasion to mind-travel among the streets and people of Los Angeles.
 Tedious, but not a bad book July 30, 2008
Katherine Zurcher (Geneva Switzerland)
I bought Bright Shiny Morning because I liked James Frey's other books very much. I was disappointed, but read the whole thing anyway and I can say it's a fairly good book if you enjoy his style but, for me, it's not a great read. I especially disliked the lists he inserted in the book. Once I got the jist, I skipped over many of the items.
Tons of talent, but somebody needs to have the balls to edit him July 30, 2008
anonymous
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I suspect that with Frey's level of notoriety, he's getting treated like the very sort of untouchable celebrity he so accurately satirizes in this book: there are many points in the book where I've got to believe a lesser-known author would have been much more heavily edited. But Frey is currently a rock star in publishing circles, and while that gives his writing a fearlessness that is very compelling, his status also may be granting him an immunity to editing that I think is to his detriment.
The guy's got talent - no question about it. As much as I wanted to dislike this book, I have to give him that: the guy can freaking write. But I think his talent would shine even brighter with some editorial guidance.
For example, there are many "walk-on" characters in this book, who make one appearance and are never seen again. For the most part, they're all pretty good bits, too; unlike the LA factoids, which he ultimately begins to overuse, the walk-on bits are all pretty engaging to read. But as the book goes on, you get the sense that he's less invested in them. Early in the book, all the walk-ons have names, even if they only get a sentence or two of coverage. But later in the book they're all simply "he" or "she," as if Frey could no longer be bothered to come up with names for them.
Similarly, the LA factoids, which are a pretty effective device in the book, later on become longer and more unwieldy, interrupting the flow and slowing the pace. There's a 40-page section of this sort of thing near what should be the climax of the book that does nothing but grind the narrative to a halt. Again, this is the sort of thing an editor could help him with, without damaging his voice or the vitality of his prose.
This was an ambitious book, by somebody I can't really respect as a person, but whose writing talent I cannot impugn. And overall I enjoyed the book, and am glad I read it. I just hope Frey eventually becomes less controversial, so we can focus more on his writing and less on the brouhaha he generates. Because Frey can write. And he's trying things that are more ambitious than much of what we're seeing in currently popular books. But I think somebody needs to rein him in - just a little - before he'll rise to his full potential. I for one will be watching. And reading.
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