Lunar Park [Paperback]

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 à 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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

There's a danger when a writer becomes a character in his own novel in order to explore the dissonance between fact and fiction: for readers who haven't followed the writer's personal life, much of the writer's effort will be wasted. In Jay McInerney's--woops, Bret Easton Ellis'--latest, the writer imagines an alternate reality for himself in which he attempts to transform from drug-addled, city-dwelling celebrity author to caring suburban dad. The first chapter promises intimacy, but soon we're trekking through a familiar emotional moonscape. The family drama is hung on a convoluted horror plot that involves missing boys, a possessed toy, the ghost of Ellis pere, and a mysterious stranger who may be impersonating American Psycho's (1991) Patrick Bateman, reenacting his murders note for note. Ellis the writer explores the complex relationship between art and life--deducing that, shockingly, familial bonds are more important to happiness than success--and seems unhappy, ready to shed his violent past. But must he write a horror novel to exorcise his demons? The sense of creeping dread is excellent, and the beasts confronted by the Ellis character are genuinely frightening, but they don't lend any meaningful urgency to his psychological journey. It's as if he used an ax to kill off his ax murderer. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

 

"Addictive. . . . Sublime. . . . Exquisite. . . . Stirringly executed. . . . A phantasmagoria of love and loss, a fusion of hallucination and wisdom."–The New York Times

 

“The deftness with which Ellis handles an entertaining and suspenseful plot, as well as a sophisticated play between truth and fiction, real selves and imagined selves, is impressive. Lunar Park is not only enjoyable and consuming, but insightful.”–San Francisco Chronicle

 

“John Cheever writes The Shining. . . . A strange triumph. . . . Here is a book that progresses from darkness and banality to light and epiphany with surprising strength and sureness.”–Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly

 

“A mesmerizing read. . . . Genuinely frightening. . . . Lunar Park is a story about the momentous pain parents inflict on their children. . . . The worst violence is internal and emotional, and in its beautiful closing pages, this rich, deceptively complex novel argues that’s the most damaging violence of all.”–The Miami Herald

Bret Ellis, the narrator of Lunar Park, is a writer whose first novel Less Than Zero catapulted him to international stardom while he was still in college. In the years that followed he found himself adrift in a world of wealth, drugs, and fame, as well as dealing with the unexpected death of his abusive father. After a decade of decadence a chance for salvation arrives; the chance to reconnect with an actress he was once involved with, and their son. But almost immediately his new life is threatened by a freak sequence of events and a bizarre series of murders that all seem to connect to Ellis’s past. His attempts to save his new world from his own demons makes Lunar Park Ellis’s most suspenseful novel.

In this chilling tale reality, memoir, and fantasy combine to create not only a fascinating version of this most controversial writer but also a deeply moving novel about love and loss, parents and children, and ultimately forgiveness.

"[Ellis's] most enjoyable novel . . . The story of a doomed marriage blends with a satirical take on upscale suburban angst, a campy horror story about a haunted house, a Frankenstein-like case of a monster unchained and a serious rumination on the damage fathers can do to sons. Ellis stirs these elements into a steamy witches' brew and works his way through to a marvelously elegiac ending, displaying real artistic discipline . . . Even his harshest critics may now have to acknowledge that this versatile, resourceful writer has formidable skills." --Kirkus, starred review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Bret Easton Ellis is the author of Glamorama; The Informers, a collection of stories; American Psycho; The Rules of Attraction; and Less Than Zero, all of which are available in Vintage paperback. He lives in New York City.

Please visit eastonellis.com to read an excerpt, and get more information about the book.


From the Hardcover edition.

James Van Der Beek affects the flat tone and world-weary attitude of burned-out, drug-addicted novelist Bret Easton Ellis in this fictional memoir of a novelist named Bret Easton Ellis. Van Der Beek shines in the first chapter as Ellis mixes real and imagined scenes from his tabloid-documented life. The story contrasts the heightened reality of his life among the million-dollar mansions of the newly rich with details of his adjustment to his new roles as husband and father. There's social satire mixed with true horror and pathos as Ellis deals with issues related to finding himself in a family. As always, Ellis's take on modern life can be jolting. R.O. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.