Comments on: 2009 Delete Key Awards First Runner-Up — James Frey’s ‘Bright Shiny Morning’

By: sarahsk

sarahsk — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:11:13 +0000

I haven’t either, but I liked the link you had to his L.A. Times review of “Bright Shiny Morning,” so I bet I’d enjoy it. (Also let me bang my head against the wall while remembering how much Frey was paid for this book!!)

By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom

1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:18:49 +0000

You’re right: It is a strange way of telling the story of the city. You have the sense that Frey wanted to write the big L.A. novel that so many of us would love to read and that the job defeated him.

Did you ever read David Ulin’s anthology of literature about the city? I haven’t but would love to.

By: sarahsk

sarahsk — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:02:05 +0000

I haven’t read the book, but it annoyed me that he inserted random facts about L.A. throughout, as if he wanted to prove he’d done research. L.A. is a strange, fascinating place but I’d argue you can’t “know” it, or any city, through research; it refuses to be known that way. I’ve lived here 10 years and I don’t consider myself an expert either, but it seemed a strange way to go about telling an L.A. story, so to speak.