My favourite psycho (Lunar Park - Bret Easton Ellis)

Member Name: jaggynettles

Product:	Lunar Park - Bret Easton Ellis
Date:	16/02/06 (401 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: witty, dark and fast - paced

Disadvantages: need knowledge of author to fully appreciated

Lunar Park is the latest novel by Bret Easton Ellis, the author of American Psycho.

I mention this because Ellis has been defined by American Psycho since it was published in 1991 - suffering more criticism than most authors - because of the incredibly graphic and gratuitous descriptions of torture and sexual mutilation.

I was one of those critics that felt so physically sick on reading American Psycho that I wrote to express my bewilderment at his choice of narrator (the merciless Patrick Bateman) and to him to ask why he felt the need to share such horrific imagery with the rest of us.

I waited and waited - in fact sixteen long years went by – until I receive his reply. It came in the form of his shiny new hardback, “Lunar Park”.


IN THE BEGINNING

The opening two chapters of the book are a prequel to the Lunar Park story and serve to establish the narrator's frame of mind when he wrote the book. It starts out very light-hearted and I laughed out loud a few times whilst reading the first chapter. The style of prose is back to the Ellis I like - sharp, witty and full of self-loathing.

He leads you upbeat into the second chapter and suddenly the atmosphere starts to turn as he confesses that writing American Psycho had been "an extremely disturbing experience" because the anti-hero, Patrick Bateman, was actually based on his father, whom he had a life-long hatred for.

Whether the real Ellis is being truthful with us here is anyone's guess but that's not the point. The fictional Ellis is obviously still very much haunted, not only by the memory his father but, by of his strongest character to date - Patrick Bateman.

And that brings us to Chapter three, where the book's tale really starts.


THE STORY (in part)

Lunar Park is about an author (aptly named Bret Easton Ellis) who is also the narrator of the book. Having over-indulged in the success achieved by his earlier works, Ellis is now financially and emotional drained. He lives in a huge house in some unnamed affluent suburb of New York with his wife (Jayne), son and stepdaughter.

But all is not well in the Ellis camp. He is utterly miserable as he attempts to fight past demons and make the transition from the shameless, cocaine and alcohol fuelled singleton into a loving, honest and responsible husband and father.

When the book picks his story up, the couple have been married 3 months and are already in "Couples Therapy". Jayne and Bret's utter contempt for each other is uncomfortable to read and, at times, you wonder why they even bothering trying. But it slowly becomes clear. With the children doped up on Ritalin, the family dog hooked on Prozac and several failed affairs under her belt, Jayne is desperate for the marriage to work out. Ellis' reasons, on the other hand, are far simpler. He's lost so much sense of worth that Jayne is the only stable thing left he can cling on to. Without her, it’s clear he'll slide into psychotic oblivion.

Ellis has such an addictive personality, that to grasp back the reigns of his life, he has to fight several battles all at once. Drink, drugs, young men, young women all have to go. This, coupled with his father's death and the inner demons that he's unwittingly unleashed in his previous books, spins the poor guy into an acute spiral of paranoia and self-hatred.

Bearing his present state of mind, an eerie encounter at the start of the story triggers a twelve-day string of events that unfold at a nail-biting pace.

Ellis believes that one of his new college students is the physical incarnation of Patrick Bateman and whether it's coincidence or not, a serial killer is on the loose bumping of people in the manner of his anti-hero. Ellis also thinks he's being followed but his home offers no solace. Furniture keeps moving, the exterior paintwork is changing colour, Jayne's dog hates him, someone is sending him a blank emails and his stepdaughter's wind-up toy appears to be attacking animals.

If this weren't enough to drive a man head first into his addictions, the spirit of his father is hovering around the house issuing unnerving warnings about his son at a time when young boys in the neighbourhood are mysteriously disappearing. Is there a connection? I'm not telling!


MY THOUGHTS

What Ellis does best with Lunar Park is to separate himself from the character. While Fictional Ellis is indifferent toward his writing pursuits, the Real Ellis shows us that he has not.

I definitely felt that Ellis has used Lunar Park as a vehicle to repent for his past literary sins. His attention to the finer points of a very public, high-fashion lifestyle are still at the forefront of his writing and scenes of the grotesque are still present, however, the characters perpetuating the acts show a distinct lack of confidence. Where a younger Ellis gladly had a character smacking someone in the face with an axe, this matured Ellis has a character frozen on the spot at an incident that happens towards the end of the novel (no room for spoilers here!).

There is a certain grace to the prose in the final chapter, which is noticeably absent from the rest of the book. The ending is rather ambiguous, but I think it's meant to be that way. I've read it three times now and have come away with a different understanding each time. Some readers might find this unsatisfactory, but for me, it was perfect.


CONCLUSION

Would I recommend this book? Well yes AND no.

You aren't familiar with Ellis then I'm really in two minds whether to recommend it or not. Without an understanding of the author's background, the novel takes on a different meaning to the one, I imagine, he'd intended and, instead, it reads like a run-of-the-mill psychological horror story with a hint of Stephen King sprinkled here and there.

I feel to fully understand and appreciate Lunar Park you need some knowledge of Ellis's previous books, his reputation and his writing style. If this is you, then YES, I definitely recommend Lunar Park - it's by far his best work since Less than Zero so go out and buy it - I promise you won't be disappointed.


PURCHASING

Hardcover 360 pages (October 7, 2005)
Publisher: Picador
Language: English
ISBN: 0330439537
Cost: £10 to £17

The paperback as far as I know, isn’t available until later this year. The hardback retails at £16.99 but I bought it in “Books etc” on a special promotion for £11.99. You can purchase the hardback new and used on Amazon (and similar) for somewhere in the region of £10.

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© Jaggynettles / kollarosie on ciao

Summary: By far his best work since Less than Zero