Lunar Park
A haunting, autobiographical novel from the author of American Psycho
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4.3 • 12 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
In Lunar Park, Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho, rips into his most frightening subject yet: himself.
He became a bestselling novelist while still in college, immediately famous and wealthy. He watched his insufferable father reduced to a bag of ashes in a safety-deposit box. He was lost in a haze of booze, drugs and vilification. Then he was given a second chance.
This is the life of Bret Easton Ellis, the author and subject of this remarkable novel. Confounding one expectation after another, Lunar Park is equally hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking. It’s the most original novel of an extraordinary career – and best of all: it all happened, every word is true.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Having ridden to fame as the laureate of Reagan-era excesses, Ellis serves up a self-eviscerating apologia for all the awful things (wanton drug use, reckless promiscuity, serial murder) he worked so hard to glamorize. Narrated faux memoir style by a character named Bret Easton Ellis, author of bestsellers, L.A. native, friend to Jay McInerney, the book seeks to make obvious its autobiographical elements without actually remaining true to the facts. In the novel, Ellis marries B-list actress Jayne Dennis (with whom he'd fathered a child years earlier), moves to the New York City suburbs and begins working on his latest neo-porn shocker, Teenage Pussy, when things start to go awry. His house becomes possessed by strange, threatening spirits intent on attacking his family and transforming their home into the pink stucco green shag disaster of Ellis's childhood; a well-read stalker begins acting out, victim by victim, the plot of American Psycho; and the town becomes enthralled by a string of child abductions (oddly, only the boys are disappearing) that may or may not be the work of Ellis's son. This is a peculiar novel, gothic in tone and supernatural in conceit, whose energy is built from its almost tabloidlike connection to real life. As a spirit haunting Ellis's house tells him, "I want you to reflect on your life. I want you to be aware of all the terrible things you have done. I want you to face the disaster that is Bret Easton Ellis." Ultimately, though, the book reads less like a roman clef than as a bizarre type of celebrity penance. The closest contemporary comparison is, perhaps, the work of Philip Roth, who went for such thinly veiled self-criticism earlier in his career, but Roth's writing succeeded on its own merits, whereas Lunar Park begs a knowledge of Ellis's celebrity and the casual misanthropy his books espoused. Yet for those familiar with Ellis's reputation, the book is mesmerizing, easily his best since Less than Zero. Maybe for the first time, Ellis acknowledges that fiction has a truth all its own and consequences all too real. It is his demons who destroy his home, break up his family and scuttle his best chance at happiness and sobriety. As a novel by anyone else, Lunar Park would be hokum, but in context, it is a fascinating look at a once controversial celebrity as a middle-aged man.
Customer Reviews
Loved it.
If you're familiar with a lot of Ellis's other work, this may not be what you're expecting. 'Lunar Park' shifts away from his usual biting social satire and signature writing style (not so much of that lifeless tone), instead presenting something wholly more personal and touching. One quality that has remained in this anomaly of a novel is that, as usual, Ellis manages to elicit sympathy for a narrator who is, at best, a total douchebag. A theme of horror underpins the second half, and is pulled off beautifully; I particularly enjoyed the frequent Hamlet references.
For all those who think that Ellis is a one trick pony, give this a read - it might just change your mind!
Chilling
A totally disturbing, yet compelling story. There were many times I was freaked out by the imagery and suspense. A classic novel in my view, couldn't put it down!
Viciously Gripping
Unlike American Psycho and Less Than Zero, the viciousness and violence characteristic of Ellis is targeted at a humanised character - a contorted version of the author - and this makes the book terrifying. The relationships and family turmoil are believable and gripping, for once the monsters are to be run away from and not studied and masochistically revered. Read this book. Just not in the dark or alone.