"Brightness Falls" by Jay McInerney

Jay McInerney does vacuous, shallow, wealth-drugs-or-fame obsessed characters really well, better than most other writers and so good that it rivals Tom Wolfe's Sherman McCoy from "The Bonfires of Vanities".

"Brightness Falls" is the ultimate recession-read, a story of having it all and still wanting more, much more. It's a story of a world where the super-rich make the wealthy look poverty stricken, it really messes with your sense of perspective - a bit like a fashion spread in Vanity Fair actually.

It's the late 1980's and Russel and Corrine Calloway have a great life. She's working in bank, making pretty impressive money while still maintaining to be a very decent human being and work in a soup kitchen - a sort of America's sweetheart in designer suits and cocktail dresses. He's in publishing and although he is good at his job, he is restless and impatient to do more and get more. They met in college and have been a golden couple ever since, the people that everyone else looked up to and wanted to be, the ones who had fabulous dinner parties and were beautiful and successful.
Then Russell gets the opportunity to make take part in a deal. A big deal, one that could shake the New York publishing scene. But everything comes at a price and to pursue his dream of big business and a place in publishing history, Russell must ally himself with ruthless investor Bernie Melman for whom everything is for sale - a corporate devil who is evil incarnate and clad in a great suit.

With the ambitions of 1980's yuppies come also the classic sufferances - depression, drug dependency, eating disorders, infidelity and a life spiraling out of control. It's a story with a morale about how everything comes at a price, about the greed danger of greed and "you don't know what you've got til it's gone".

"Brightness Falls" lacks the humour and satirical elegance of some of McInerney's other books such as "Model Behaviour" or "Story of My Life" but it has Corrine who with her likeability and frailty is a guide leading the reader through the story while promising that the world is not as awful as men like Melman and her husband make it. She is the reason that I would read this book again - because I connected with her in some way - and I admire McInerney for his ability to create such an engaging character.
Read it as a warm-up if you like 1980s stories of excess and hubris and then follow it up with "The Bonfire of Vanities" by Tom Wolfe, the iconic read on this topic.

Review: "Model Behaviour" by Jay McInerney

New York. 1990s. Are you looking for Carrie Bradshaw? Then you've come to the wrong place, but what I can offer you is Connor McKnight. Boyfriend of leggy, luscious model Philomena. Graduate of Japanese literature, aiming to be a writer at a prestigious magazine but in reality he is slaving away at "Ciao Bella", a celebrity focused magazine for 20-something girls and he is not liking it. He is not particularly good at it either... As much as he is trying, he simply cannot get a get his head about charming the editor and he can't get a an interview with an elusive teen heartthrob. Another thing he can't do is find his girlfriend. Phil, his taken-for-granted personal piece of gorgeousness, has disappeared of on what he thought was a fashion shoot and now she has vanished. Connor has a feeling that this was his own fault but instead of looking to himself for the answers, he decides to seeks comfort with sympathetic airhead stripper Pallas and his anorexic sister Brooke. 

During the last year I have really come to appreciate the writing of Jay McInerney - the guy is funny, really funny. His "Story of My Life" is a like a light, hilarious crossover between Gossip Girl and "Bonfire of the Vanities" by Tom Wolfe and the short story collection "How It Ended" is full of goodies, little moments that make you laugh or think or both. 

Unfortunately, "Model Behaviour" doesn't quite live up to that level... It is good, it has its funny moments, it is alright. It is not a gem and to be honest, I wasn't that keen on Connor. Honestly, I can't blame Philomena for running off because the guy is quite annoying. He is full of ambitions but he never seems to act on them, he is happy to be the boyfriend of a famous model, that seems to be enough. So when she leaves, there is nothing left. 

And maybe this is exactly the problem, because Philomena leaves early on in the book and for the rest of the book, you are stuck with just Connor. Actually, this probably would have been a much better book had it been Phil's story instead. So Mr. McInerney, if you are reading this, please lend a voice to to beautiful Miss Briggs!

Read it if: You wonder who the winners of America's Next Top Model end up dating. You love the thought of strippers named after Greek mythical figures. You are out to read everything written by Jay McInerney (but please don't start with this one). 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I'd Hand to Someone Who Says They Don't Like To Read

You and I both know it - one book can make the entire difference. One book can turn a "nah I'd rather watch a movie"-person into "book please"-person. They know that over at the Broke and the Bookish and this weeks TTT topic is Books I'd Hand to Somebody Who Says They Don't Like to Read.

10) "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
For teenage girls who don't like to talk and who keep to themselves, this is dark, deep YA at its best. Reading this one hurts because it is so sincere. I love it and so will most teenage girls I think.

9) "How It Ended" by Jay McInerney
This one is for the non-readers with short attention spans. Short stories that burst at the seams with energy, life and action - if this can't keep your attention grabbed, I don't know what will.

8) "Valley of the Dolls" by Jacqueline Susann
This one is for the girls who love Hollywood glamour and glossy magazines! It has more drama than any glossy and will keep them turning the pages.

7) The "Orphan Train Adventures" series by Joan Lowery Nixon
This one is for the younger (pre-teen) non-reader. I read this series over and over again when I was a small girl and they sent me on imaginative journeys into historic America. Amazing books. If you like "The Little House On the Prarie" you will love this series.

6) "Driving Over Lemons" by Chris Stewart
This one is for the adventurous and the daydreamers alike. It is the story of how Chris Stewart and his wife left the safety of their normal lives behind and sought happiness in Andalusia. Pure inspiration.

5) "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
For the teens and the imaginative adults. Not too long but full of an energy that will take even the most reluctant reader by storm.

4) "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
This series is perfect for non-readers who like reality shows and lots of action because not is the series a prime example of dystopian, dark YA, it also contains a) reality shows and b) lots of action.

3) "Liar's Poker" by Michael Lewis
For the ambitious business school or finance student who doesn't see the values in books. This is a non-fiction book that is the a testament to the fact that real life is sometimes stranger than fiction.

2) "Emma" by Jane Austen
For those of your girlfriends who don't read but who can appreciate a good intrigue. If they like Blair from Gossip Girl, they will flat out love Emma.

1) The "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling
This is for everyone! Not only is this series about magic, about witches and wizards, it is also magical in that it has transformed legions of non-reading children into book-devouring young adults. My absolute foolproof remedy for non-readers.

So what do you recommend to remedy non-reading?

Review: "Story of My Life" by Jay McInerney

A few months ago I read a collection of short stories by Jay McInerney, "How It Ended", and I absolutely loved the style and the subject matter so I decided to try one of his novels. One of the great things about McInerney (apart from his cool name) is the fact the he has been quite a prolific writer so there is lots to choose from! In the end I went with "Story of My Life" based on what little I could read about it on the back of it and it turned out to be a great and very captivating choice!

The narrator is one very difficult young lady. Alison is a 20-year-old girl who makes Lindsay Lohan look like a saint by comparison. Living in New York, she fancies herself a bit of an actress but in reality she spends most of her time drunk or high or having sex or all three things more or less at the same time. She is a rich daddy's girl - only daddy has run off with a bimbo - and she is a train wreck. Her room mate Jeannie is a little bit better but the rest of Alison's friends, not to mention her sister, are just as bad as Alison and together they seem to finance a large part of the bars and clubs in 1980's New York.

When it comes to guys, Alison is blasé. She doesn't fall in love, she falls in lust and she has random sex. That is the range of her emotional commitment. When she falls in lust with (or is it love?) bond trader and Shakespeare lover Dean, she takes him with him on her ride through the excesses of New York where it is no surprise to her to enter a room where she has slept with all males present. Alison is the kind of girl that makes you want to send your daughters to convent school or move far far into the countryside. At twenty she has gotten herself into so much trouble that as a reader, I found it hard to imagine how she would ever survive to 25. We - the reader - never find out if she does, but following her in her quest for self-destruction up to her 21st birthday is fascinating. And in the end there is a twist that makes everything fall into place.

According to that trusted source Wikipedia, Alison Poole is based on a real woman whom McInerney dated and the fictional character Alision Poole appears in works by Bret Easton Ellis. Intriguing.

I loved this book. It is fast-paced and it forces you to focus on difficult questions and topics that are really important today. The extravagance and excess, the lack of parents. This girl could probably be one of the it-girls depicted in glossy magazines... The story is incredibly well-written and oh so funny. Hilarious. Alison is absolutely thick with little self-awareness and following her exploits is not for the faint-hearted. However, if you like a good laugh and a bit of drama, you should be okay.

Read it if: You like a book to both touch you and make you laugh. If you find yourself strangely attracted to stories about Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and similar "graceful" young ladies...