Gawker
James Frey—the whining, lying-ass, horrible writer who was probably never seriously addicted to anything in his whole sad, pampered, no-talent life—may have duped The New York Times into giving his new novel a drooling rave. But he received much saner treatment from David L. Ulin at The Los Angeles Times. "'Bright Shiny Morning' is a terrible book. One of the worst I've ever read [...] Two and a half years after he was eviscerated by Oprah Winfrey for exaggerating many of the incidents in his now-discredited memoir 'A Million Little Pieces,' he's back with this book, which aims to be the big novel about Los Angeles, a panoramic look at the city that seeks to tell us who we are and how we live."
"Bright Shiny Morning" is an execrable novel, a literary train wreck without even the good grace to be entertaining.
Written as an Altman-esque collage, it follows several parallel story lines that never coalesce. The idea is to trace a collective vision of the city, high and low, from Hollywood to the Valley to East L.A. — an attempt to get at the fluidity of Los Angeles.
There's Old Man Joe, a drunk who inhabits a bathroom on the Venice boardwalk and seeks mystical affirmation in a daily ritual. Or Amberton Parker, a St. Paul's and Harvard-educated Oscar-winning actor, who lives a perfect life with his wife and children and has a secret. (Bet you can't guess what it is.)
As a connective device, Frey interweaves a series of short passages outlining the history of L.A., beginning with the founding of the Pueblo and extending to the present day. Yet this strategy ends up as a metaphor for all that's wrong with the book. These bits read like encyclopedia entries, devoid of soul or personality, so generic as to be inconsequential, as if Frey has no interest or engagement in what he has chosen to write about.
That's the issue with "Bright Shiny Morning" — or one of them, anyway. Frey seems to know little about Los Angeles and to have no interest in it as a real place where people wrestle with actual life. There are obligatory riffs on freeways and natural disasters and a chapter on visual artists that lists "the highest price ever paid for a piece of their work in a public auction." There are also occasional installments of "Fun Facts" about the city, as if to give the illusion of a certain depth. Did you know that it is "illegal to lick a toad within the city limits of Los Angeles"? Neither did I. But I also don't know what this has to do with the larger story of the novel, except as another example of L.A. as odd and quirky, a territory in which we all "live with Angels and chase their dreams."
Frey, of course, intends this to be amusing, lighthearted and witty in tone. ("Learning fun facts is really an enjoyable, and sometimes enlightening process," he writes. "And, of course, it's fun too!!!") It comes off as two-dimensional, however, not to mention poorly written and conceived — much like the book's narrative elements.
More heart-warming examples of garbage being called garbage here.
Comments
the with 'a million little pieces' wasn't that it wasn't fact. the is that it wasn't a book. that thing didn't even have sentences, just a dribbling trail of diarrhea.
I'm so proud to say I've never read a word of James Frey's except as quoted in Gawker.
Cliff Notes Version of the Review: Narrative and authenticity are not among Jimmy Frey's talents. But liquid crap and annoying newspaper hacks with his undeserved success are!
@jackiecorley: i can't type, apparently
the problem with 'a million little pieces' wasn't that it wasn't fact. the problem is that it wasn't a book. that thing didn't even have sentences, just a dribbling trail of diarrhea.
a chapter on visual artists that lists "the highest price ever paid for a piece of their work in a public auction."
Oh man. He's still on that kick? Dick: [gawker.com]
Gawker should make a habit of always getting the titles of his books wrong. Every media outlet should do that.
We're speaking with James Frey, author of "Broken Up Into Lots of Pieces..."
"James Frey-the whining, lying-ass, horrible writer who was probably never seriously addicted to anything in his whole sad, pampered, no-talent life"
He never slipped into any kind of addiction, nefarious or even just slightly disruptive? What an asshole!
I know, it's not the "not having street cred" that is the complaint here, it's the lying about, and attempt to capitalize on, street cred he so verily verily didn't have, essentially mocking those who actually did live through shit like that. It just sounded a little funny to me. Maybe I'm touchy because I've never had any crippling addictions, I actually fought really hard to avoid them, and I'm starting to think, in terms of the "interesting life experiences" bank that might not have been the solid investment I once thought.
Good Morning Ian!
Washington Post also gave it a great review, which suggests to me :
That many, many reviewers (and journos) are familiar with, and sympathetic to, plagiarism.
That publishers will buy anything if they think there is an audience -- and there always is for crap. (Mitch Albom; that moron who wrote The Notebook; Rod McKuen's poetry.)
And the business of buying and selling books has reached theater-of-the-absurd proportions.
I'll get back to weeding my graden now, and preparing for the onset of early senility.
he's no richard price
We should probably be grateful he didn't name the character Old Black Joe.
@if_i_only_had_a_heart: The world needs more of Richard Price.
Hmmm. I remember when he got publicly flogged by Oprah, there was almost a backlash of sympathy for him. Maybe the positive reviews are another wave of "Jeez, he's not THAT bad".
@SarahHeartburn: yes to all. i don't know a lot about price's life but i believe the stuff in his novels comes from ***reporting***
whoa
Time Magazine gave his piece a generally favorable review, too. So looks like for now, LA Times is the only dissenter..
@Zorica: Isn't it about time to avatar-up?
This is what I always imagine when I read your comments...hmmm?
[images.google.com]
@Bell County: Me too Bell! I was in a bookstore yesterday and I saw it but there was like a force field around it and I couldn't even open it to read even one para to make fun of.
@belltolls: bookstore????? just kidding
@if_i_only_had_a_heart: There were no women hanging out around my Kindle so I had to go out.
outside!!!!!
"Frey seems to know little about Los Angeles and to have no interest in it as a real place where people wrestle with actual life."
That's the main problem most Angelenos have about attempts to "explain" their city, and the last thing reviewers outside Los Angeles seem to care about. But whether you're interested in the actual inhabitants of L.A. or not, that's one of the major differences between good and bad literature.
Personally, I'd rather just go back to playing "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."
I bet everything in this novel is true. Just wait till the real "Old Man Joe" comes suing for royalties. Oprah's really gonna be pissed this time.
@jackvinyl: Ok you've shamed me. I'll get on it tonight.
I actually liked both Frey books -- seriously, couldn't put them down, though still not sure I'd have bothered to shelve next to my copy of Permanent Midnight if they'd been sold as novels -- but the real story here is that David Ulin has been the reliable conscience of the major-daily book-reviewing world for decades now. If he calls it crap, I'm inclined to believe him.
From the website: "I'm reading it now and love it. It's an easy read with short chapters. Good for James Frey!!!" Submitted by: Laey Di
When the best you can say about a book is that it is easy to read and has short chapters, you've got problems.
credit where credit is due department:
it was Bill Bastone at The Smoking Gun who eviscerated the hack douchebag frey, and not the duped oprah who merely tried to save face on her income-generating book club.
I read "My Stroke of Insight" in one sitting - I couldn't put it down. I laughed. I cried. It was a fantastic book (I heard it's a NYTimes Bestseller and I can see why!), but I also think it will be the start of a new, transformative Movement! No one wants to have a stroke as Jill Bolte Taylor did, but her experience can teach us all how to live better lives. Her TED.com speech was one of the most incredibly moving, stimulating, wonderful videos I've ever seen. Her Oprah Soul Series interviews were fascinating. They should make a movie of her life so everyone sees it. This is the Real Deal and gives me hope for humanity.
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?