Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey

Bought it at a steal at a fair because it's second-hand.
Being superficial, I bought it primarily because of its wonderful cover art and the fact that I'd been noticing it at various bookstores.
Of course, there was also the rather intriguing summary at the back.

Bright Shiny Morning is basically the story about the stories of different people from all walks of life (migrants and locals, rich and famous) residing in Los Angeles - their lives, their hopes, their despairs, their secrets.

It's quite a thick book, mostly because a number of pages only contain sole paragraphs which state facts and history about the US city.
This translates to a fairly patriotic, American-Dreaming kind of storyline which would seem to interest just Americans at first.

And that was why it began insipidly for me.
Also, the book rotates in narrating about 4 main characters (and their significant others) with other "mini-stories" and this was really confusing for the reader at the start.
It was hard to focus.

What was obvious is that Frey writes with a stream-of-consciousness style, so the book has been very clear (in terms of lexicon and plot), which isn't what I'm used to reading.
But that doesn't become a problem.
Simple as the language is, Bright Shiny Morning is a big book able to tell big stories.
1/3 into it, I then caught on who was whom and thereon began flipping the pages fast, eager to read the next line after.
Frey writes these stories explicitly, descriptively, simply and the reader devours them hook, line and sinker.
And so it is, that I've gone from being a cynic to giving BSM credit.

As with most books, I hesitated upon reaching the end, not wanting to predict that the story would end this or that particular way ( insofar as I could tell), and this, is a sign of a good read.