Bright Shiny Morning

I just picked up James Frey's new novel from the library, and it comes from there because I didn't want to spend any money on it. I originally wasn't planning on reading it but I kept seeing good review. Mainly in the NY Times.

So I was interested to see if it lived up to the good reviews. Back when A Million Little Pieces came out, I read it along with almost everyone else. What it did for me was cause me to rethink how I viewed people with alcohol and drug addictions. Ok, maybe not so much rethink as to actually think about it. It also gave me a renewed respect for those who work with people who have addictions. While these views didn't necessarily change when I found out that Frey embellished parts of his "memoir", it did make me angry. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Why not just publish the books as a novel based on true events? Or at the very least add an author's note that some of the characters and events have been changed. It would not have cheapened the message or experience of the book. Fiction can change the way we view our world and provide deep insight an meaning as much as Non fiction. If he simply chose to call it a memoir because he thought it would sell more books, that's where it gets bad.

Although I admit, I didn't read a whole lot of the follow up when the incident happened and I don't know what he may have said to defend himself or his reasoning behind it all - or even if it was something his publisher forced so they would sell more books. All that aside though, it just left me with no desire to read another one of his books.

Vanessa Grigoriadis, who wrote a review of the new David Sedaris collection in the June 15th Sunday NY Times Book review, writes that she:

sees few similarities between the exaggerations of a comic memoirist and the fabrications of other writers. “I’m not repelled by the notion that Sedaris may juice his stories a little bit, but I was disgusted by the fiasco with James Frey,” she said. “Sedaris isn’t trying to become an icon of temperance or an inspirational warrior in the battle for America’s soul. He isn’t craven in anyway — he’s only trying to make you laugh.”

The entire article is here. Anyway, that's the story behind why Bright Shiny Morning is hanging out on my nightstand and whether or not it is actually going to get read.