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Title: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney ISBN: 0-394-72641-3 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 August, 1984 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.56 (62 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Superficial and tired
Comment: This novel reads much like an entertaining article in a magazine; it's light, with little insight into the human condition or, more specifically, into the psyches of the central characters. The word surface has a gloss, which is pleasant enough, but which falls far short of sustaining repeated readings. It is disposable literature, masquerading as something more permanent.
*
The protagonist identifies himself swiftly as enjoying an elite, Ivy League, background, with an accompanying modest cushion of wealth. His talents and, more desperately, his potential are hailed as grand and admirable. His interest in literature, in particular, is implicitly cited as rescuing and validating his moral worth. All this is somewhat tiresome and self-satisfied, and does recall the basic scenario of Catcher in the Rye (for better or for worse). Unlike in that alleged classic, here the author feels obliged to explain the protagonist's lack of direction, and he does so clumsily, resorting to a poorly realised appeal to grief.
*
The minor characters fair still less well. Amanda, the prodigal model cum wife, is empty and vacuous - no attempt is made into fathoming how or why this might be so. Similarly, Tad, an accomplice in drugs and clubbing, is rendered flatly. The surface might well be amusing, or even alluring, but in a novel one could expect more than what could be provided in the space of a thirty second television commercial (and that's all that's offered).
*
The eighties in New York might have been interesting in some sense, but the source of that interest remains opaque after reading this ultimately rather dull book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Not excess, LOVE
Comment: This book is for me, nothing more than a young man dealing with the end of his relationship, confused about the circumstances surrounding that end, trying to find a way to cope. The fact that it takes place during the 80's has no real bearing. He does coke and drinks vodka simply because he needs something to dull the pain of this breakup, and since it is the 80's, these were the drugs of choice. If this book took place now, he might take ecstacy and go to a rave as a way to cope with his confusion. I don't see why people are so obsessed with talking about the historical setting, or the second person narrative, or the book being compared to Catcher in the Rye. It's about a man dealing with the end of his marriage. If you've ever been dumped for seemingly no reason, READ THIS BOOK. You'll feel better.
Rating: 5
Summary: Timeless
Comment: At once meaningless, yet meaning laden, Bright Lights Big City is an allegory for our times.
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Title: Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis ISBN: 0679781498 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 30 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: San Francisco Tenderloin - Heroes, Demons, Angels and Other True Stories by Larry Wonderling Ph.D. ISBN: 0965941515 Publisher: Cape Foundation Publications Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Story of My Life by Jay McInerney ISBN: 0679722572 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 28 August, 1989 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Prayers for Bobby : A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son by Leroy Aarons ISBN: 0062511238 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 20 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Bone : Novel, A by Fae M. Ng ISBN: 006097592X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 12 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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