The Resurrection of James Frey

Posted on May 28, 2008

After all the drama, it appears that James Frey has redeemed himself. The man who fooled Oprah and who was then excoriated on national television for daring to do so, has now hit the bestseller lists with his new novel, Bright Shiny Morning. The book was published on Mary 13th and debuted on The New York Times bestseller list at #9.

If Frey is torn up by guilt or confusion by his role in the largest literary scandal of the last decade, he's keeping it to himself. This may be partly because he is legally barred, because of a nondisclosure agreement with Random House that concluded a series of post-"Pieces" lawsuits, from discussing the book and its presentation to the public as a true story.

He can't discuss the way the five hours he once spent in police custody turned, in the book, into 87 days in jail, nor the fact that he was not part of a train crash he described that killed two girls, nor can he explain whether he really beat the life out of that priest, whom he wrote he met after nearly jumping into the Seine.

But L.A is a subject he's glad to focus on now. The city was a place where he was successful, free of addiction and where his life was relatively innocent. It was a state of grace between the early addiction and rehab years and the post-Oprah period. He was sad to leave, he said, when he and his wife headed to New York in 2002.

"Completely," he added as the SUV provided by his publisher cruised on the 10. "I mean, I met my wife here, I wrote my first book here, I bought my first house here, I lived here from 26 until I was 32, 33. Important years for me."

The critics have been mostly positive and most agree that the man can write. So, apparently, all is forgiven. But somehow we doubt he'll be getting an invite to visit the Oprah Winfrey Show again.

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