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Topic: NYT Review of James Frey's New Thing
| Author | Message |
| testing123 | Posted – 7/5/2008 10:13:27 PM | show profile Did anyone catch today's NYT book review of Bright Shiny Morning? Wow. Even I was bleeding after reading that. And smiling. The review was right. I know I am behind the times here w/this next bit, but....can anyone tell me WHY ANYONE BELIEVED A Million Little Pieces was TRUE? Seriously, folks. I bought that when it was released and literally THREW IT OUT MY WINDOW from the fifth floor onto the roof of the adjacent bldg same evening. I was on about page 40 or so. Maybe not that far. Truly. When historians someday piece together the stages in the decline of American civilization and intelligence, this book, all his books, and HIM, will be out front. I cannot believe 1. He's PAID to write this shit 2. People PAY to READ IT 3. And come back for more! Go Help us, every one. |
| Canadiana | Posted – 7/6/2008 9:17:46 AM | show profile I didn't see this latest review or read his 'new thing' but I did read A Million Little Pieces. Although I'd already heard it was a a fake at the time, it certainly is well-written and compelling. |
| Rulebook2 | Posted – 7/6/2008 5:42:05 PM | show profile ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Really? Well written? Are you sure? It's a fucking abomination. |
| testing123 | Posted – 7/6/2008 6:03:31 PM | show profile That's what I'm sayin'. Like this post, it's not writing. It's printing! I can't believe - REALLY cannot - that he's paid so much to churn this out and people buy it. It's so sad. And this, not to get onto a diff track, is why I cannot stand Oprah Winfrey. She bought this thing hook line sinker, pumped it into the stratosphere, and millions followed her word and created this Frey Monster, and now, people who want to write will be like I'm gonna write write write like James Frey Frey Frey If Oprah said she had a great recipe for corn fritters, but the corn had to come from your neighbor's shit, do you think people would try the recipe? Hell, yeah! "Oprah says its safe and tastes good, too!" Fuck Oprah. |
| foodlit | Posted – 7/6/2008 9:11:42 PM | show profile Sadly though, this isn't the first time the NYTimes has reviewed his book. The first review was one of the most painful things I've ever read....look it up, it's nauseating. The reviewer wrote it in his 'style', which was embarrassing for her...clearly she was aiming for 'clever' and loved the book. Loved it. This made me actually pick the book up, but I couldn't get past page one, it's that bad. Thing is, it doesn't matter much if the review is bad...it's still another review, bringing more attention to his work and will result in more sales....especially if people read both reviews and then want to make up their own mind. |
| chucho | Posted – 7/7/2008 4:11:44 AM | show profile I love the description of the book as a series of captions with no photos. That's a perfect way to desribe a poorly written novel. |
| chucho | Posted – 7/7/2008 8:40:56 AM | show profile PS: I didn't find A Million Little Pieces to be particularly well written. Arbitrarily capitalizing words here and there (which Hunter S. Thompson did to great effect over 30 years ago) doesn't make you an edgy writer. The problem with that book was that Fray's talent doesn't carry the book once you know it's not a memoir. Once you realize he didn't get a root canal without anesthetic, you raise the level of your expectations. It becomes a novel, not a memoir. And the difference between the two isn't just that one is fiction and the other isn't. Memoirs don't have to be brilliantly written. You read a memoir to find out with whom Barbara Walters had an affair. You read a novel to read wonderfully written description of an affair between a television interviewer and a politician figure. It seems that Frey has not had a compelling life to describe in a non-fiction narrative, and he also doesn't seem to have a lasting talent for novel writing. She where does that leave him but just a product of the modern American business of publishing. I doubt a nobody would have been able to sell this novel -- Frey sold it because there are people out there who will buy it based on the self-perpetuated promotion surrounding his previous "scandal". In that way, his book is just a product on a shelf thrown out into the market in hopes that it will sell more than it cost to make. Before this book, did anyone associate Frey with Los Angeles, or did he just move out there because he could afford to on the millions he got for that fake memoir? |
| bookmap | Posted – 7/7/2008 10:58:29 AM | show profile to the OP: you threw it out after reading 40 pages, and so you feel justified to tear it down and and give it a horrible review? I don't think you're in the position to provide any real insight to his writing. foodlit: I agree, the original NYT review was horrible. She was clearly trying too hard to match his style so it came off a bit pretentious and overly dramatic. chucho: Frey lived in Los Angeles before his first book was published, then came to New York. So no, he didn't move to L.A. on the millions he made. I'll go ahead and say I'm one of the few Frey fans out there. His unconventional writing style is amazing - if you allow it to sink in. The lack of punctuation/quotations/indentations create run-on sentences that keep you turning the pages until you become so deep into the internal mind of his characters you feel like you are going through what they are, or are a fly on their wall at the very least. It's a very different abstract reading perspective that I guess only few appreciate. Maybe you're all journalists who need cold, hard facts, but give me Frey's work, complete fiction or nonfiction, and my opinion won't change. Call it shit, I call it brilliance. |
| testing123 | Posted – 7/7/2008 12:21:33 PM | show profile "His unconventional writing style is amazing - if you allow it to sink in. The lack of punctuation/quotations/indentations create run-on sentences that keep you turning the pages until you become so deep into the internal mind of his characters you feel like you are going through what they are, or are a fly on their wall at the very least." ____________________________________________ Definition of 'amazing' in this context, please. How, exactly, does one 'allow it to sink in'? Are there instructions or does one need batteries or something? What, exactly, is 'the internal mind'? I know, it's got something to do with the brain, right? What? But first, tell us what it is. Shouldn't any reader be at least a fly on any writer's character's walls? Um....that's why we read a STORY! |
| bookmap | Posted – 7/7/2008 1:02:12 PM | show profile Generally one allows it to sink in when they read more than 40 pages. Typically the entire book, before they can make judgement calls. His writing allows the reader, or at least me, to internalize what the characters are feeling, which is crazy, to get that deep into their minds. Not all writers can do that. And certainly not all readers can be a fly on the wall. We become an active part of the story - that is why we read stories - but it takes a little more talent to stick your reader on the wall. |
| chucho | Posted – 7/7/2008 1:06:06 PM | show profile Everyone is entitled to their own artistic tastes, but I'm not sure there's anything news about lack of punctuation, run on sentences, etc. When Jack Kerouac wrote 'On The Road' (whether that novel is overrated or not, Kerouac craps bigger than James Frey) he did so on a roll of paper so he could capture that "run on" stream of consciousness without stopping to change pages on the typewriter. I'm not sure how old you are, but speak like somebody who has just discovered a style, and assigned to the artist credit that is not due. I would be careful not to sound like you're confusing an appreciation for a particular style of writing with the talents of the artist that adopts it. |
| chucho | Posted – 7/7/2008 1:14:54 PM | show profile Which, come to think of it, is why I'm not a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino. |
| bookmap | Posted – 7/7/2008 1:25:14 PM | show profile That's exactly it - my appreciation for his adaptation of a style of writing in a post-Kerouac era. He was able to reinvent the stream of consciousness writing in a modern setting, and I happen to think he did it beautifully. (My dutiful respect to Kerouac - Frey has nothing on On the Road). I am young, but I've studied literature extensively. I enjoy seeing emerging writers reinventing some classic writing styles. |
