It was a perfect airplane read. I am of the category of fan that really doesn't care whether his first published work, A Million Little Pieces, is true or false, because I just like how well he tells a story. Whether the facts are true or not, his voice is authentic and unique and he is hard to put down. The whole Oprah thing was too bad, but for me it really didn't register. It's a great debate and one worth having but I just think his talent speaks volumes and that's really what it's all about.
So why James Frey as my inspiration for today's sprint from work? He's a fast read, not unlike a July commute on 101. I have this hypothesis that there is a 10-20% vacation dilution on the ride to and fro work on the peninsula for the summer months, a lightening that is just enough to loosen up the gridlock and cut 15-20 minutes from the average commute. Its not enough to eliminate all the slow downs, but it is enough that you keep think you're getting lucky for a couple weeks in a row. This leads to the inevitable "traffic is not as bad as it used to be" theories that will draw in unemployment, people leaving the Bay Area, blah blah blah but really we're just hurtling towards our own proverbial 12 car pile up that is the first day of school. One of the two worst commute days of the year, the first day of school is.
Despite my adoration for his work, I've got a minor gripe with my boy James. As part of an interview included in the paperback edition, Frey reveals his disdain for the rules of grammar and punctuation. In his mind, the rules shouldn't be acknowledged as they limit his opportunity to write the way he thinks the way he speaks the way things take place in the real world. It's his signature writing style which, again, I find engrossing, but at the same time, I think it's a cop out. The great jazz musicians perfected all forms of musical composition precisely so they knew the exactly how to break all the rules, not unlike Milton's quest to master everything on his way to the timeless epic. So part of me thinks Frey is cutting corners here because he's obviously got the talent to hit to all fields.
I guess the cutting corners call is a kind of a cheap shot. Sorry James.
He can see the glow forty five miles away and he's on a crowded highway full of cars. He's been driving for two hours. He grew up in a small town outside of Boston he's known traffic his whole life, he's always been in traffic even when he was too young to know what it was or what it meant he is always in traffic. He's thirty-four now. He leaves when the bus comes to pick him up in the morning, the bus picks him up every morning except sometimes on Friday when he carpools with his friend. She likes to talk about work he just likes to complain about traffic sometimes they listen to music. They started carpooling together on Fridays when they were twenty-nine.
They carpool he rides the bus she usually drives alone. There are cars all along the highway. It could be anywhere everywhere, an American highway full of cars full of people cars with one person on their cellphone talking on the radio. He takes the bus she drives alone they're both just trying to get to work as fast as they can. Traffic so much traffic there's always traffic except in the summer but always the first time it rains and when school starts.
He looked at her and spoke.
What are we doing?
We're stuck in traffic.
I know but get over to the left lane.
I cant just get to the left lane we're all stopped.
Yes you can. Go to the left lane.
We cant just go to the left lane. There's too much traffic.
We're not going anywhere. We're just stuck here. We're sitting here stuck like everyone else waiting and sitting in traffic. We should get in the left lane.
How should I get over?
You'll figure it out.
You mean just start turning and get over to the left? There is traffic.
Just turn to the left and get over.
She laughed, turning the wheel.
This is crazy.
Staying stopped is crazy. Getting left is smart. I don't want to waste our lives.
Our?
Yeah.
She smiles.
They pull out head north and start driving towards the glow it is forty-five miles away, they start driving towards the glow.
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