Bright Shiny Morning

De: James Frey

Narrado por: Ben Foster

One of the most celebrated and controversial authors in America delivers his first novel - a sweeping chronicle of contemporary Los Angeles that is bold, exhilarating, and utterly original.

Dozens of characters pass across the reader's sight lines - some never to be seen again - but James Frey lingers on a handful of L.A.'s lost souls and captures the dramatic narrative of their lives: a bright, ambitious young Mexican-American woman who allows her future to be undone by a moment of searing humiliation; a supremely narcissistic action-movie star whose passion for the unattainable object of his affection nearly destroys him; a couple, both 19 years old, who flee their suffocating hometown and struggle to survive on the fringes of the great city; and an aging Venice Beach alcoholic whose life is turned upside down when a meth-addled teenage girl shows up half-dead outside the restroom he calls home.

Throughout this strikingly powerful novel, there is the relentless drumbeat of the millions of other stories that, taken as a whole, describe a city, a culture, and an age. A dazzling tour de force, Bright Shiny Morning illuminates the joys, horrors, and unexpected fortunes of life and death in Los Angeles.

©2008 James Frey (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers

Very, very good.

Another really good read by Frey! Not better then My Friend... but still interesting, funny, insightful and telling.

Sooo Good

This is such good writing. I love this author. I forgive him that he wasn't an addict. Oprah, you need to rethink your anger towards him. Maybe he just got caught up in the moment.....the NOW. He is becoming one of our primo authors. I was born in LA. I got out of there. Frey shows the butt end of that community and it is true and not pretty. If you ask me this is a piece of work, and by the way, this reader gets my 5 star applause.

Genial

Describe LA de manera cruda pero real. No te permite parar de escuchar muy bien

Book of the year

This was one of my best reads this year. I loved the format and subject matter. The characters were rich and the narrator was outstanding. I will read his other 2 books as as soon as possible.

Gets annoying.

Not a fan of the elevator music that seems to act as chapter breaks. Repeating phrases to elude importance or just for effect are annoying...are annoying. Narrator's voice doesn't fluctuate much so you need to follow character names to realize who is talking or which story you're immersed in. Most characters are painfully predictable and sad. There are several different characters and you'll probably find yourself more interested in one person's story over the others so it's irritating to have to listen to the ongoings of the other character's stories when you just want to hear yours. Hear yours.

Couldn't Stop Listening

I purchased this book by mistake having confused it with A Bright Shining Lie. Initially I was disappointed as this really isn't the kind of book in which I'd normally be interested, but there I was on a long trip with this book in my iPod so I started listening. Before I knew it I couldn't tear myself away. I quickly became wrapped up in the lives of each of the different characters and almost two years later something will remind of the book and the memory of it is still vivid - which as forgetfully as I am - is truly amazing.

extremely well read

The reading of this book is one of the best I've ever heard.
But..., this is a difficult book to hear/read. Much of the ugliness you imagine about life in LA is played out in this book in the stories of the various characters. The stories are interspersed with interesting details about LA itself. Read the book and don't move there.

A very different book

I've never listened to a book like this before. You end up learning a lot about the characters and lots of LA trivia and history along the way.

Crazy, inappropriate music

I liked (not loved, but liked) the book, but what was the deal with the awful music breaks? Sometimes they were at the chapter breaks and sometimes they were right in the middle of everything. It was MOST annoying....was that some sort of mistake in production?

Gritty Los Angeles satire

If it weren't for the music between chapters, I might give this book 5 stars overall. The music, which is at the end of every chapter and then repeated again at the beginning of every chapter is by far the most annoying music I have encountered in an audio book. It has nothing to do with the story and is entirely unnecessary. I generally don't like music between chapters but have never hated it so much....

The book, however, is great - it follows several fairly stereotypical characters in L.A. and has both extremely harsh and tender moments. Frey writes in an almost stream of consciousness manner which serves to portray each character's thoughts intimately.

It's not as dark as A Million Little Pieces but it's not a cheery piece of fiction (Frey is careful to point out that this work is FICTION, to avoid flack from the critics).

It's read by Ben Foster, the actor in 3:10 to Yuma and the Messenger and he does an amazing job of capturing Frey's characters.

Highly recommended.