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New day for disgraced author and his powerful writing
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Published: September 28, 2008
BRIGHT SHINY MORNING. By James Frey. HarperCollins. 501 pages. $26.95.
Welcome back, James Frey. The disgraced author of the fabricated memoir A Million Little Pieces has written his first novel actually published as such. When asked recently by an interviewer his thoughts on nearly destroying his life and career by lying in his memoir and being publicly disgraced on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Frey defiantly shrugged it off with, "I just had a bad couple of months at work. Everyone has them. Mine was just more public than most." It is that resilience that no doubt enables him to write this 500-page novel less than two years after that damaging blow.
The star and main character of Bright Shiny Morning is in many ways the city of Los Angeles itself. Many pages are full of seemingly realistic data about the city, although Frey offers a disclaimer in the opening of the book, stating, "Nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable." Other pages are blank except for a single fact about the city, which has the effect of making it appear more authentic.
In fact, during the reading of this manuscript, I caught myself several times telling others these little known specifics about Los Angeles and had to remind myself that I was getting my information from a novel and not a factual source. This perhaps offers the answer to my greatest question concerning James Frey as an author. I read A Million Little Pieces before the discovery that much of it was untrue. I, like many others, simply could not put it down and felt it was an excellent read. I have wondered, however, if I would have had the same high opinion of the book had I known it was untrue at the time of the reading. Would a novel saying the same thing have kept me awake at night wondering what happened to these fictional characters?
The answer is a resounding yes. Love him or hate him, James Frey writes a book you swear is authentic, even though it contains the disclaimer. You are certain the characters have actually existed in Los Angeles at some time or another, and you believe this is what happens on the streets of the great city. There is Amberton, the hungry, closeted gay actor trying to silence a former lover; 19-year-old lovers, Maddie and Dylan, who have fled abusive homes to find their bright shiny future together; Esperanza, a first generation Mexican American, who dreams of more than the manual-labor jobs her parents performed; Joe, a homeless alcoholic, who sits on the beach every morning hoping that today will be the day his life turns around. A myriad of other characters also make brief appearances. The common denominator of all those who come to the city is that they all have a dream and a hope for a better life. A few do indeed find the happiness they seek, but most are simply chewed up by the harshness and impersonal nature of the city.
Frey is unapologetic about his past and not at all modest about his goals as a writer. He has stated publicly that he hopes to write the elusive Great American Novel. Bright Shiny Morning does not quite put him on the same list as greats such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville or John Steinbeck, but he is definitely on the right track. With his raw talent and the unique lens through which he views the world, he just may eventually be the one to write that epic novel of our time.
■ Cindy Bunker is a free-lance writer who lives in Lexington.
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