9780061688287
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Bright Shiny Morning audiobook

  • By: James Frey
  • Narrator: Ben Foster
  • Category: Fiction, Urban
  • Length: 13 hours 38 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: May 13, 2008
  • Language: English
  • (12656 ratings)
(12656 ratings)
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Bright Shiny Morning Audiobook Summary

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 LA’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 nineteen 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.

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Bright Shiny Morning Audiobook Narrator

Ben Foster is the narrator of Bright Shiny Morning audiobook that was written by James Frey

An award winning actor, Ben Foster can be seen in the films Birds of America, 3:10 to Yuma, and X-Men 3: The Last Stand among many others. He shared the SAG Award for Best Ensemble Cast for his work on the acclaimed HBO drama Six Feet Under, and garnered a Daytime Emmy for his lead performance in Showtime’s Bang Bang You’re Dead.

About the Author(s) of Bright Shiny Morning

James Frey is the author of Bright Shiny Morning

Bright Shiny Morning Full Details

Narrator Ben Foster
Length 13 hours 38 minutes
Author James Frey
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date May 13, 2008
ISBN 9780061688287

Subjects

The publisher of the Bright Shiny Morning is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Fiction, Urban

Additional info

The publisher of the Bright Shiny Morning is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780061688287.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Jen

January 13, 2013

I loved this. For so many reasons. One of course is James Frey's style of writing. I can't explain why I love the way he writes. I can see how it would get on so many people's nerves. Then I think, anyone can do this..use weird commas or no commas, and then I see it done poorly and realize that it really is a talent.I loved the first line of the book..before the actual book starts "Nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable." Way to go James--you tell them! Then the further I got into the book, I started thinking wait a minute, all this LA history, all these fun little facts...are they true? Are they false? I loved the way the book played around in my head like that. Of course, I don't think I would have questioned their truthfulness with any other author of any other book. It was just the unique circumstance of following the "lies" of Million Little Pieces.I loved all the characters that were brought up for a paragraph or two and then I wanted to know more. I loved Amberton and Esperanza. I didn't come to appreciate Old Man Joe until towards the end. I loved his dilemma over God.I know a lot of the people were total stereotypes and I realize many characters weren't "real" in any sense of reality, but I enjoyed that about it.I loved the originality of LA as a character--the main character and what it stood for. I love that it was a book full of dreams. Some realized, some not. I loved that the bad guys won (because it works that way a lot of the time), but sometimes the good guys won too.And in the end, I hope that the book itself with all its dreams is a symbol of more to come from James Frey. That he will continue to be able to push through all the memoir-Oprah mess and continue to give us more books that for whatever reason all their rawness, sarcasm, irony, truth, and lies just appeal to me in a way that many other books do not.

Jamieson

February 04, 2009

Everyone remembers the controversy surrounding A Million Little Pieces, James Frey’s first book. Published as a memoir, it was later revealed that much of the book was fabricated to protect those Frey wrote about.In the end, however, the controversy doesn’t matter. Frey’s books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard did what all good books should do: they evoked emotion, touched long forgotten places inside of us and inspired people to live better lives.So despite the controversy, I was excited to get my hands on Bright Shiny Morning. I wanted the book to be wonderful, breath taking, as incredible as A Million Little Pieces. Thankfully, Bright Shiny Morning is so much more than that.Bright Shiny Morning, Frey’s first work of fiction, is a novel about people living their lives in the fast paced city of L.A. It’s told in James Frey’s typical breath taking, beautiful prose and pulls you right in.The book isn’t an ordinary novel as can be expected with Frey’s writing. Instead of a linear narrative, we are presented with a few reoccurring characters:Dylan and Maddie, two teenagers who are madly in love. They run away to be together and find out about the darker side of life and love too soon.Esperanza, a Mexican American, who takes a job as a maid in the house of Ms. Campbell, a woman so mean and rude that she borders on being abusive.Amberton Parker, famous award winning actor who hides a secret so incredible that it could ruin his career if it was released.Joe, a homeless man, who befriends a fifteen year old girl who is new to the streets and addicted to meth.Sprinkled through out their stories are vignettes of other people, other characters who fill the city streets. As well, we learn factoids about Los Angels, about the city that serves not only as a backdrop for this novel but is essentially the largest character in the book.James Frey has penned no mere novel. Instead he has given us one of the most intense studies of human nature. In this book is pure emotion sprawled across the page for us to read and it almost seems unseemly, looking into the characters lives as we do.What I love most about Frey’s writing is that it’s real, it evokes emotion, it haunts you after you’ve turned the last page and closed the book. This is the true power of the written word, the ability to stay with the reader after the book is finished.Frey has this in spades.In Bright Shiny Morning, Frey proves that he is not only the subject of controversy. He is a writer and a true wordsmith. Bright Shiny Morning is, hands down, one of the best novels I have ever read. Ever.If you haven’t read this yet, what are you waiting for? You have no idea what you’re missing.

Ashley

November 28, 2020

I know there’s been some controversy with some of Frey’s other works but I’m a huge fan nonetheless. Whether it’s fiction or not, who gives a shit, it’s still good. Anyways, enough of that and onto this book! I didn’t like it quite as much as the other books I’ve read by Frey but I did still very much enjoy it. I love the different views he gives of the city, showing us all facets and faces of it. Some were heartbreaking, some were groan worthy but all of them were fascinating and captivating. My only minor complaint is that there were so many different viewpoints that I had a hard time keep tracking at some points. But all in all, I loved this story and I’m just a huge fan of Frey’s writing style!

Vonia

June 17, 2018

This is possibly the best book I have read all year. Following The Million Little Lies, I had lost my faith in Frey as a writer... Cliche, I realize... but it's true. Now, I believe that if that is what was required for him to whip up this masterpiece, so be it. That is exactly what this is. A masterpiece. Although I do not agree with his "this is my style because I am cool & I do not give a fuck about grammar"... I have to say it works. Although it requires me to concentrate in ways I am not familiar with in order to not be completely lost, I like it. He definitely has a style I have to say I find nothing short of genius. Otherwise, he's on drugs & was lucky enough to have it work. And I mean no disrespect with that statement. In all honesty, I do have great respect for him because I know what it is like to not have an easy life... However, I still find it hard to sympathize with some of the sheer, bold, outright lies in regards to his memoir. That being said, this book was enough to bring him back to idol stature in my eyes... as far as writing talent goes. As far as his personal life... I cannot comment more, as the media, I am sure, painted all over the truth as well. All of the main stories in this piece were well written & showed the vast variety of people, cultures, socioeconomic strata, etc. etc. etc. in The Great City Of Los Angeles. And, yes, I have lived in Los Angeles... Alright, Los Angeles County, anyway. But I visited enough to get a good laugh out of all the inserted chapters... especially the one on all the freeways... Only a true Californian could appreciate this one. I felt some of the short stories and/or character studies that were visited only once were unnecessary... and, honestly, I hated reading them, knowing it would be that much longer before I could get back to Dylan & Maddie (My favorite story), Esperanza & Doug (My second favorite), and/or Joe (My third favorite). I had to read them anyway, of course, since, although I suspected I would never hear about them again, one never knows. Re: Trivia Facts and/or Historical Knowledge About The City Of Los Angeles... I found to be interesting at times... and, well, informative, but mostly in the way of the stories. In all, I loved this book. The stories were wonderful concepts, as I have said, but, honestly, it was the way they were written presented, detailed, conveyed, that has me singing such praise. Now, all we need is a book of such caliber to represent other respectable cities of this country.

Kate

May 28, 2008

I am NOT just giving this book 5 stars to get back at the spiteful reviewers on Amazon (who didn't even read the book!) The integrity they lack- giving a book you haven't read 1 star. In my mind, it goes to show how many people think what Oprah thinks just because she thinks it. For more background on my review, I read "A Million Little Pieces" BEFORE it was revealed that it was not completely factual. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and although I didn't base my own rehabilitation solely on his writing (I don't do drugs thankfully) I felt it was a book that had a lot of merit. And, he tried first to sell it as fiction and was convinced by publishers to make it a memoir- give the guy a break.Since, I enjoyed his writing and because I read the reviews of people who read this latest offering (it may have originally been his first unpublished novel???), I decided to read it. I confess than, the reviewers- who described the book as a novel with Los Angeles (the city) as the main character, may have guided my reading/interpretation. Excellent book. I can't think of a book that better describes a city - through facts, trivia, even stereotypical "LA" characters (that he gives interesting authentic voices). I wonder how actual residents of Los Angeles will receive this book versus people like me who can only guess what life there is really like. Frey has a very intimate (at times crass), often manic writing voice that could certainly be tiresome to read too frequently but it seems to be a great voice for Los Angeles. I highly recommend the book and encourage those who feel Oprah needs to get over herself to give this guy another chance.

Anastasia

March 12, 2016

Day after day I see them. I walk and I hear them. I walk and I feel them. I walk in the Land of Angels, I walk in the Land of Dreams.What a book! At first it seemed a bit messy, you get paragraphs of one or two characters and then there are new characters and so it continues. However, in the middle of the book I was just dying to know how does their story continue, where do they end up. It's a novel about LA, it's beautiful! All the little facts about LA's history, statistics about the city were stunning and they supported characters and the story. They help you see what's LA all about. Los Angeles- city of angels and city of dreams. But so often wings of those angels have been cut and their dreams have been crushed.Frey's writing is very different, highly unique. He doesn't use commas, sentences are often very short. I adore it because it's sort of raw and it gets the message through.5/5

Roxane

March 19, 2009

Odd, interesting book. Kind of incoherent but one of the most accurate descriptors of Los Angeles I've read in recent memory.

Bree

July 25, 2008

Only got halfway through and had to return it - so I've requested it again to finish it! So far, this is one of my favorite books of 2008!Update: Yep, this is definitely one of my favorite books I've read this year. I was completely engrossed in this one, I just loved everything about it. It starts out with random stories about people who are in LA, moving to LA - some of them he wraps up so you know they're not going to be recurring characters, and others he just lets the subject drop and goes onto something else. Between chapters there are little blurbs of facts about LA from it's founding right up until the 1990's. The first half of the book is more like short stories with some random facts thrown in. The middle of the book are chapters of random facts about all sorts of things in LA, with a bit of stories of the recurring characters in there. Then towards the end we're brought back to the characters that he's decided to tell us about all through the book, more random facts and a handful more short stories about people who have lived/moved to LA. I just found the whole thing SO interesting, I can't even explain why.I liked the style of his writing...it was blunt, there wasn't proper punctuation, he repeated himself a lot. It just worked in this novel (other novels I've hated for the same reasons).My only complaint about the whole book, which I decided didn't merit a whole star being taken off, was that he would randomly decide to start saying the "F" word and would say it 10 or more times in about 5 sentences, then lay off it again for several more chapters. Where he inserted it, it wasn't really necessary. I found that annoying, like he'd realized he hadn't sworn enough in the last 10 chapters, so he threw a whole bunch in to fill his quota and then continued on.

Mosco

August 07, 2017

Sognando California? Ma per carità! Bello bello. (4,5 stelline. 9/10) Però. Ho letto l'edizione elettronica, (comprata e regolarmente pagata, per chiarire!) e come ho sperimentato più volte l'impaginazione negli ebook è spesso fatta coi piedi o con altre parti anatomiche situate dalla vita in giù. Frey ha una scrittura molto originale, usa la punteggiatura in modo personalissimo, gli "a capo" danno il ritmo ai dialoghi e al racconto, ritmo che cambia a seconda delle situazioni narrate e non sono lì per allungare il brodo. Ecco, ogni tanto un "a capo" va a farfalle. Scelta dell'autore o impaginazione cialtrona? Quelle virgole ballerine sono di Frey, sicuramente. Tutte? Scusate, ma non è un dettaglio da Dottoressa Perfettini. Sgrunt! Resta comunque un gran bel libro, al punto che quasi quasi chisseneimporta degli a capo, il linguaggio è talmente squinternato di suo che uno in più uno in meno... però mi piacerebbe sapere se sono suoi o no.

Evie

February 12, 2022

I love this author

Josh

June 08, 2010

James Frey's "Bright Shiny Morning" is daunting at onset. More a character study of the city of Los Angeles than anything, it alternates constantly on a whim between a series of ongoing tales, raw journalistic-style facts (if they are indeed facts) and encapsulated glimpses of every type of life in the city you could imagine.At first this approach can be disorienting, and I found myself wondering if any thread could be found to follow through this urban literary maze. Although four stories do finally emerge and continue throughout the novel to a satisfying (if not frustrating) conclusion, the book could probably be best understood to be like a Picasso, ugly and beautiful at the same time in its startling maze of angles and perspectives. With a subject as multi-sided and multifaceted as the city of Los Angeles, to approach it in any other way could not give a true sense of the whole.In "Bright Shiny Morning", Frey has made a bold attempt at creating a world that is so like the intricate, multi-cultural, complex real life Los Angeles, it's really impossible to know where the facts stop and the fiction starts. One story in the novel read suspiciously like the biography of the blogger and self-made-self-promoting celeb Perez Hilton, so close that I could not tell if it was Perez himself or a alternate-universe echo. The attention to the details is also astounding, as Frey skips around to nearly every corner of the city and addresses nearly every locale and archetype as well as some you would have never have thought of. Because of this, the novel could almost be given to visiting tourists as a guidebook.Contemporary novels like "Bright Shiny Morning" that employ a coolly detached narration style always walk a thin line. They can have power in expressing the effect of modern life such as in the novels of Don Delillo. This can also backfire, causing the reader to be unable to connect or care about the fates of the characters contained within. Thankfully this is not the case here, and every time the style of the book seems like it might overwhelm the story, Frey lands a heartbreaking, emotional blow.If you love Los Angeles, or if you are interested in Los Angeles, "Bright Shiny Morning" is an important contemporary examination into the character of the city so many love, hate and love to hate. Although not without its flaws, Frey's novel could easily companion similar work by John Fante, Charles Bukowski & Nathaniel West.

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