Pieces of LA
"Bright Shiny Morning" Review
NEIRAD enilno edition
So I have some exciting news. Cue the singing baby angels, pop open some sparkling cider, and rejoice readers rejoice! I have finally found a book that I really actually enjoyed reading. I know! It’s crazy, but it’s true.
The book is called, “Bright Shiny Morning” and it’s written by James Frey. Ok…if you’re an Oprah super fan then you know a little something about James Frey. He was the guy who wrote that book about his life that Oprah loved and slapped her little “Oprah’s Book Club Book” sticker on a millions of copies and tons of middle-aged women went out and bought the book (because it Oprah likes it…it’s practically gold) and it was a major success until…(I know…there always has to be an ‘until’ in these happy stories) Until news came out that most of the book was actually completely false and Oprah had James Frey come back on her show, a mistake on his part, and tore him to shreds. Tore into him like an angry pit-bull tears into a piece of steak (Liessss she shrieked…liiiiessss and he tried to defend himself by crying no! almost truth!) and then James Frey was known for many years as, “The Man Who Lied to Oprah” and since most people believe Oprah=Saint, everyone assumed his career was over.
But being the completely crazy, very talented writer that he his, Frey proved them wrong. His book, “Bright Shiny Morning” is a fictional (good choice), but truthful portrayal of every aspect of Los Angeles. When I say truthful fiction, I mean that while the characters and conversations are made up, the facts and history and premise of the book are entirely true.
Throughout “Bright Shiny Morning”, the reader follows the story of five people: A billionaire movie star, a homeless man, a young couple from the west, and the daughter of two illegal immigrants. Their stories, while completely different, are equally captivating and fascinating; fascinating in the sense that it’s almost impossible to believe that these tales all exist within the same city.
Frey focuses for a few sections on the amount of homeless people in Los Angeles and how the population keeps growing and how the police and government have completely stopped trying to help these people and instead chooses to try and contain them. Then, a few chapters later, he talks about how just a few blocks from the most prevalent homeless society, is City Hall and all its employees. A few miles from that is where many Hollywood stars live in completely obscene lavishness. It’s completely mindboggling.
Los Angeles takes center stage in this book. It’s the main character, the plot, the setting. Frey makes it seem like the city is almost alive, “It wakes…almost breathing with life.” (102). He makes every attempt to show every side of the city to the reader. As a reviewer from the New York Times put it, it’s a “captivating urban kaleidoscope”. Art, traffic, movies, gangs, poverty, wealth, the beach, golf, surfing…each are given the same amount of attention and bestowed the same importance.
In between the continuing stories of the American dream, the evils of money, and the importance of friends, Frey throws in little nuggets of facts. Every few pages there are little paragraphs about the history of Los Angeles, starting from the beginning in the 1400s all the way up to 2007. He allows the reader to be immersed in all aspects of Los Angeles…he lets you pick and choose what you want to read and what you want to skim.
I also have to admit something. (Deep breath…) This book made me cry…more than once. And that almost never happens. Seriously, I read a book about the horrible and horrifying job of a Harlem medic and every single Chuck Palahniuk book and only cringed a little. I mean, I watched “The Notebook” and I didn’t cry. But there’s something about this book, the struggling and the failing and the very brief moments of success, which just had me tearing up.
And after I was done bawling into the pages of this book, I realized that I really wanted to visit Los Angeles. I wanted to see what inspired this man to write so genuinely, beautifully, organically, and honestly about this city.