'Bright Shiny Mornings'- novel by James Fray

This book is the latest from author James Fray (writer of the controversial novel 'A Million Little Pieces'). Fray's latest novel is a stunning comeback which helps proves to haters that he is in fact an exceptional writer and deserves the praise he receives.

For those who don't know Fray, he published the novel 'A Million Little Pieces' which he claimed was an autobiography about his struggle through rehab and getting over his addiction to drugs. After an appearance on the show Oprah and Oprah herself adding Fray's book to her book club, the book became a worldwide hit, selling millions of copies all over the world. However, several months after Fray reached stardom, a website declared that Fray's novel was actually embedded with millions of lies and that in actual fact, this self claimed 'autobiography' was actually a work of fiction. Fray admitted to his lies and had to face an embarrassing ordeal by once again appearing on the Oprah show and being publicly ridiculed. Oprah's exact words, 'You lied to me...you lied to me!'. A very over dramatic reaction which caused many to hate James Fray and for the sales in his novels and future novels to plummet.

I personally loved 'A Million Little Pieces', and after finding out that certain sections were in fact fake, it did not change my opinion of the novel. His latest novel is a perfect comeback and clearly reminds readers that he is in fact a remarkable writer and not some fraud.

Onto 'Bright Shiny Lights'. I thought that this novel was a pretty good read. Initially it was a bit difficult to follow what was happening; Fray writes this novel with little and/or no punctuation. However as you continue to get through the book, you easily adapt to Fray's style of writing and it becomes an effortless and easy-to-read story.

It is hard to describe what this book is about, but basically it revolves around LA (Los Angeles). We are introduced to five main characters, one being LA itself. Fray takes the reader into the journey and lives of people who are trying to fulfil their dreams and ambitions in LA. One character is a famous movie star who appears to be living the perfect life; beautiful, married, kids but in actual fact, he is a man who is secretly gay, married to a women who is actually into women and his kids were made in a petri dish. We also follow the life of a young couple who are trying to start their own life in LA. This story is a bit cliche, but their story becomes one of the most interesting towards the end.

Staying true to his typical style of cliffhangers and eye opening descriptions, Fray presents an absorbing and compulsive read, which keeps readers reading to the end. By the end of the novel, Fray has presented an honest and almost horrifying insight into the actual LA. Contrary to what we see in movies and TV, LA is far from all its glitz and glam and is rather a slum filled with thousands of struggling wannabes and ridden with poverty.

The only thing which I didn't really enjoy was that Fray sometimes dragged on the stories for too long and they became a bit tedious to read. It is quite a thick book and I do admit to skipping several pages due to boredom.

I am giving this book 4/5.