Bright Lights, Big City Paperback – August 12, 1984

I loved this short, intimate and clever book. So interesting and unique. I only read it about six months ago. I’d heard about it for years, but I only just got around to reading it. I enjoyed how short it was, the metaphors he used, the humor, the insights into how shallow people can be, like the wife who dumps him.I also Loved the slow reveal that it was the despair he felt at losing his mother, and how he was hiding out from the world as a result, lost in self-destruction, drug use and despair. The ending was wonderfully present and real to me. The act of smelling bread, the act of eating bread was so life affirming to me, and was a great way to end the book.

Before I read this book, I expected Jay McInerney to write in a similar way to Bret Easton Ellis, as many critics consider the two authors to be in the same ideological camp. I have only read Ellis’ debut novel Less Than Zero, which I know is not wholly representative of his oeuvre, yet I can draw conclusions about Ellis’ usual themes. I believe Frank Ocean summarized the experience well in the song “Novacane,” his characters have pushed the envelope of experience so far that self-destructive behavior is the only thing that has any power to make them feel emotion.This was not the case in this book, as I found Jay McInerney’s protagonist to be not so far gone. Though he is prone to self-destructive behavior, there is still oftentimes a self-awareness that his frequent cocaine use and late nights are not healthy. I found the second-person point of view to be a little gimmicky, ultimately because I don’t think it added much to the effect of the novel. Had he used the first person I think the book would have read mostly the same. However, I did feel able to identify with the main character, I was also once a white, twenty-four year old male, living in New York City, an aspiring writer, struggling with a job that I had no passion for, and engaging in self-destructive behavior. The novel was very relatable, and McInerney writes about the city in a recognizable way, despite it taking place in the eighties. I recommend this book as a quick, light read!

A "classic" tale of a young person coming of age upon moving to New York City at the tail end of the 70's. and getting swept up in the currants of the day. There was plenty of vital energy emerging at the time especially downtown. A very interesting tale told with flair, sure footed writing, from the keen eye of someone who came as an outsider who participated as he observed, and managed to survive it.

The story starts out with "Here you go again. All messed up and no place to go". It proceeds to tell the story of a young man living in Manhattan and dealing with a lot of internal conflict. A reader may initially believe that the source of his conflict is the sexual abandonment by his wife, or his boredom with his job. However, the rise in the story seems to begin when the character ironically seems to hit "rock-bottom" - when he loses his job, and finds himself with an under-aged girl after another reckless night of partying. Also during the rise in story his brother Michael starts calling repeatedly, and eventually shows up in town, causing our character to run and hide from his brother, and delaying the admission his current stack of problems.The actual plot of Bright Lights, Big City may be ambiguous to the reader for most of the story. It is not until nearing the final chapters that the story's climax and resolution become evident. In particular the rise and climax can be the most difficult to identify without knowing what the falling action and resolution turn out to be.The climax actually occurs at the point at which he finally faces his brother and admits not only to the loss of his car, wife, and job, but most importantly, that he misses his mom. Michael's visit and this admission occur exactly one year after her death, where we get the first indication that this is the main source of his depression. The morning after the talk with his brother, he indicates "his head is pounding with voices of confession and revelation". Up until that point, we were lead to believe he was acting out with reckless behavior only because of his ex-wife and job issues.We then flashback to learn of the main character's relationship with and loss of his mother. His final statement in the story, "You will have to go slowly. You will have to learn everything all over again." leaves the reader to believe that our character has resolved to shed his destructive behavior and get his life back in order.I found myself wanting to smack this young man for his immature and destructive behavior for most of the story. He was very self-involved and made poor decisions. But as this is considered a coming of age story, in the end he appears to come to his senses and realize he needs to straighten up and do things better.

MacIntyre is described in later reviews as a stylish, accomplished writer. That plus his association with the brat pack put me off reading this now-classic about drugs and the news and intellectual worlds and the bright kids of Manhattan in the 1980s. It’s wonderfully funny, I ended up liking the main character, which didn’t seem likely early on, and it’s the best example I’ve seen of a novel written in second person. A must-read for writers looking for POV tools and certainly good entertainment for anyone else.