In the 1980s, the author was influenced by writers Brett Easton Ellis and Jay Mcinerney, who both wrote about drugs and sexual relationships. Mcinerney’s novel Bright Lights, Big City, about a writer’s descent into New York’s seedy side, became a hit. Mcinerney continued to write about New York life, drawing from personal experiences. Her latest novel, The Good Life, dealt with life after the 9/11 attacks. Critics say Mcinerney’s stories may be too personal, but she builds on the theme of social relationships in society.
By the mid-1980s, you realized you were spending too much time in bars and clubs and not enough time writing. You were reading too many books by authors like Brett Easton Ellis and Jay Mcinerney, and they were having a profound effect on your psyche. You found yourself thinking in the second person, just as the narrator did in Mcinerney’s second but most famous novel, Bright Lights, Big City, published in 1984.
In the eighties you were a fan of Brett Easton Ellis or Jay Mcinerney. You might like both writers, but most people had a preference between the two. The press connected these two writers, as they had some common factors. They were about the same age, both wrote about drugs and sexual relationships, and seemed to be more famous for their social lives than their writing.
While Ellis has written morality tales of Los Angeles populated by narcissistic characters, Jay Mcinerney has written about New York’s angst among the creatives and the well-to-do. Bright Lights, Big City turned Jay Mcinerney into a seemingly overnight hit. Many critics found his voice reminiscent of F. Scott Fitzgerald or JD Salinger.
Bright Lights tells the story of a writer adrift in New York after his model wife leaves him. He quickly succumbs to the seedier side of New York life. Drinks, drugs and shallow friends claim the main character’s soul. Eventually it turns into a story of redemption in which the narrator realizes the true value of his life.
Bright Lights, Big City was made into a not too well received movie with Michael J. Fox in the lead. Jay Mcinerney has continued to write books about New York life from an ostensibly personal point of view. Story of My Life, released in 1989, played the aspiring New York actress adrift in a world of alcohol, drugs and meaningless sex. Sound familiar? Jay Mcinerney’s critics say that although he has an honest voice, his stories about him may be too personal. It takes a brave writer to work out their mental issues within the pages of a book.
Brightness Falls and The Last of the Savages, published in 1993 and 1997 respectively, were altogether more complex than Mcinerney’s previous novels. They still delved into the lives and relationships of the New York yuppie, but the characters were more developed and multi-layered. It seemed that Jay Mcinerney was using his personal relationships and experiences to create a world that readers would envy, but be glad they weren’t a part of.
Mcinerney’s latest novel, The Good Life, published in 2006, rejoined the characters from his previous novel Brightness Falls. The book dealt with life and relationships in New York in the aftermath of the attack on the Twin Towers. Although the book was considered her comeback novel, media attention seemed to focus more on Mcinerney’s personal life than her writing. None of the novels Jay Mcinerney has written seems to have captured the times as accurately as Bright Lights, Big City, but using his own experiences and his own original voice, Mcinerney manages to build on the theme of social relationships as defined by the society we inhabit. .
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