Bright Shiny Morning

I just finished reading this book on CD, "Bright Shiny Morning" by James Frey. This is the notorious author who claimed to write his autobiography and was eviscerated by Oprah after she hawked his book for him. I haven't read "A Million Little Pieces" and I don't know if I will. This book, Bright Shiny Morning" was engaging. The actor who read the book was very talented and really added a lot to my enjoyment of the book. This book tells a story about Los Angeles. James Frey describes the history of the town, the roads, the natural disasters (droughts, floods, fires, earthquakes and mudslides), the gangs and the people. To describe the people, he picks out four stories and follows them over time. One story is about a kind homeless man named Joe. Joe likes Chablis; an odd choice for an alcoholic. He heard the word Chablis as a third grader and was forever entranced by the beauty of the word Chablis. He eventually dedicated his life to Chablis. Another story is about Esperanza - an impoverished young woman on the brink of adulthood who seems unable to make peace with her body. The third story is a couple from the east coast who moved to Los Angeles to escape the alcoholic terror of their childhood homes. This couple is very much in love. The last story is about a truly messed up individual who has all the fame and fortune Hollywood can provide. I would not recommend this book if you are the least bit sensitive to coarse language. I'm not overly sensitive to it but this book had the f word in it 50 times more frequently than any other book I have read. Sometimes there were 4 f words in a single sentence. This book had the f word as a command, an expletive, a verb, an adjective and as a compound word (motherf-r). You'd think the author (who I heard was offered 1 million for this story) could think up better words or at least give us some variation. But if coarse language doesn't trouble you, you just might like this book.