Bright Shiny Morning

Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey is absolutely brilliant! I loved this book! At first I couldn't put my finger on it, but then it finally occurred to me..the writing reminded me of Stephen King' writing. Characters are magnificently developed, and the pace was quick. Probably hundreds of characters are introduced, but there are just a few that thread through-out the book. Very well written and I think that it really portrays what living in a large city is like for much of that city's population.

This is from the Publisher:

"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. "

Interestingly, this book is the pick of my book group for August. I would not have ever read it, I don't think, except for that. I had read his first two books and thought that they were very good, but was quick to realize (being in the substance abuse field) that the books didn't ring true. I was disappointed in the author. However, this, his first novel, redeems himself mightily in my eyes.

A great read. And perhaps, may be a classic!