Disgraced memoirist James Frey opts for fiction with 'Bright Shiny Morning'

BY SHERRYL CONNELLY

Saturday, May 3rd 2008, 10:38 AM

BRIGHT SHINY MORNING by James Frey, Harper, $26.95

James Frey was publicly scourged by Oprah for fabricating pivotal passages in "A Million Little Pieces," his "memoir" that she made a best seller when she chose it for her book club. Frey sat still for her nationally televised shaming, his dejection more real than his work.

Well, Frey isn't taking it sitting down anymore. He defends his processes and calls out his editor for manipulation in the current Vanity Fair. Now comes his first novel, or at least his first book labeled fiction.

In the tradition of novels about Los Angeles, take Nathanael West on one hand and Jackie Collins on the other, then spread your arms wide. Somewhere in the middle, "Bright Shiny Morning" falls in your lap.

Frey begins on a droll note: "Nothing in this novel should be considered accurate or reliable." He's referring to the L.A.-centric lists that stud the book - highway routes, gang names, eccentric laws - where he's said to mix facts with fiction, just like in his memoirs (his second was "My Friend Leonard"). Get it?

His many stories mix in the passing with the interspersed narratives of four couples.

A homeless drunk tries to protect a teenage street kid; a Mexican-American maid is humiliated by her mistress but loved by the woman's son; two young runaways from the Midwest are desperate to start a new life in the city, two high-gloss movie stars fake their marriage to hide the fact both are gay.

It's about grim failure in Tinseltown (West) and it's so Hollywood, baby! (Collins) with screen-ready portrayals of the little people, too.

"Bright Shiny Morning" is a bit literary and a lot schlock. It's also get-out commercial. Oprah won't be reading it, but maybe you should. It won't improve your life, but your weekend maybe?

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