"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
The writer whose career McInernery's most resembles is that of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Both achieved huge, almost overwhelming early success. Both struggled to work their way out of the glare and expectations of that success. Both became known as much for their lifestyles as much as their books. While Fitzgerald wrote a masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, that McInerney, or almost anyone for that matter, has yet to match, McInernery has done something that may, over time, prove to be more interesting: he's lived through the downs of his life, continues to work, and is producing the kind of books we might have expected from Fitzgerald had he lived past the age of 44.
His latest book, The Good Life, is, in my opinion, his best book since Bright Lights, Big City. It tells the story of two Manhattan couples around the days of the events of September 11th. Luke and Sasha, wealthy Upper-East side socialites, and Russell and Corrine, a downtown literary editor and his wife, who were the subject of the earlier book Brightness Falls, are sleepwalking through their lives. They have parties and go to parties, live with spouses they're no longer sure they love, struggle with the correct way to raise their children. Luke is a banker who left his multi-million dollar job in search of something more fulfilling, while his wife is cheating on him with a former rival. Corrine is a stay-at-home mother whose husband is more concerned with work and other women than his family. Neither Luke nor Corrine see any way out of their marriages. Both end up working at a soup-kitchen near Ground Zero in the days immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Centers. They fall in love. They plan a future together. It's a simple story, a basic love story, and in the hands of a lesser writer, The Good Life could be awful. Instead, it's a very subtle, incredibly insightful, heartbreaking story about life in the New York, about marriage, about children and the choices they force us to make, about love and longing, about the search for meaning in our lives. It's a book about hope and how we find it, sustain and lose it, and it's a book about loss and how we deal with it.
It's also a deeply personal book, McInerney's most personal since Bright Lights, and it feels to me like I'm reading about variations of McInerney's own life. He, like Fitzgerald, is at his best when he's putting his own experiences into the lives of his characters, and I've never felt more of McInerney, or felt more vulnerability, which to me is a sign of strength in a writer, Unfortunately, Fitzgerald's life was unsustainable. He died drunk, penniless, alone, forgotten. McInernery could have followed his path, and it sometimes seemed like he would. Thankfully he didn't. People wondered what kind of writer Fitzgerald might have been had he lived. McInerney, his closest succesor, is starting to show us. --James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard
Jay McInerney is the author of eight novels, a collection of short stories and three collections of essays on wine. He lives in New York City and Bridgehampton, New York.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. _______________'A shrewd, acidic portrait of literary life in Manhattan at the turn of this already frightful century' - Guardian'A beautiful, affecting novel, one of the best yet inspired by 9/11' - Sunday Telegraph'Engrossing from start to finish, this compassionate novel depicts a very human response to tragedy' - Mail on Sunday_______________Jay McInerney's classic novel of New York in the shadow of 9/11 tells a story of love, family and conflicting desiresTen years on from Brightness Falls, Russell Calloway is still a literary editor; his wife Corrine has sacrificed her career to watch anxiously over their children. Across town Luke McGavock, a wealthy ex-investment banker, is taking a sabbatical from moneymaking, struggling to reconnect with his socially resplendent wife Sasha and their angst-ridden teenage daughter, Ashley. These two Manhattan families are teetering on the brink of change when 9/11 happens. Through the lens of catastrophe, The Good Life explores that territory between hope and despair, love and loss, regret and fulfilment. This is Jay McInerney doing what he does best, presenting us with life in New York City, in all its moral complexity._______________ Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781408876961
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9781408876961
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Seller Inventory # B9781408876961
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 368. Seller Inventory # 371934651
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __1408876965
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. BRAND NEW ** SUPER FAST SHIPPING FROM UK WAREHOUSE ** 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Seller Inventory # 9781408876961-GDR
Book Description Condition: New. Num Pages: 368 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 130 x 198 x 26. Weight in Grams: 254. Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # 9781408876961
Book Description Condition: New. Num Pages: 368 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 130 x 198 x 26. Weight in Grams: 254. Seller Inventory # 9781408876961
Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # FV-9781408876961