Bright Lights, Big City
Book description
It is six am, the party is over and reality is threatening to intervene in the power-fuelled existence of a young man who should have everything but who might just end up with nothing at all. His wife has left him, his job is in jeopardy, and his social life…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Bright Lights, Big City as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I’ve been on a second-person narrator kick this year, both because I love the intimacy of the format and for my own novel-writing research. This book is such a romp.
It follows a guy with a bunch of problems he’s not talking about, among them a drinking problem, as he tries to stamp out those problems with chaotic fun. It teeters between light and dark in such an affecting way, all the humor with a tinge of pain. Plus, the voice is like candy.
It’s an ode to the dumbassery and bravado of youth that felt both nostalgic and voyeuristic.
Bright Lights, Big City published in 1984 written by Jay McInerney captures 80s NYC from an outsider who experiences it head-on. I was drawn to the novel because I lived the same world and went to the club Heartbreaks but as an insider. McInerney’s lead character is a copy editor for a reputable publishing house and he is madly in love with his wife who is now a hot model and no longer has any interest in him. On top of that his mother just died of cancer and his younger brother comes to NYC hoping he will be strong…
From Richard's list on the darkly insane world of NYC in the 1980s.
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