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A review by iahk
Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
picked this up because I knew Porcupine Tree’s album “Fear of a Blank Planet” was influenced by Ellis’ book. maybe this set me up with different expectations going in, and indeed I still have a vague craving for a novel that leaned more into the themes that PT’s album made me believe Lunar Park featured more heavily (such as escapism through prescription drugs, social alienation caused by technology and emotional vacuity).
in any case, I generally like Ellis’ writing style, but I don’t think it lent itself to what he tried to do in Lunar Park. I usually love his semi-matter-of-fact, acrid, cynical, sort of long-winded tone, but it made emotional beats, which he clearly intended as unironically, genuinely such, feel flat. by no means was I looking for sappiness, but I just don’t feel like the intended sentimantality worked for me. the horror/mystery aspects also didn’t quite work for me for the same reasons. which is unfortunate, I would have liked to enjoy this book more than I did.
in any case, I generally like Ellis’ writing style, but I don’t think it lent itself to what he tried to do in Lunar Park. I usually love his semi-matter-of-fact, acrid, cynical, sort of long-winded tone, but it made emotional beats, which he clearly intended as unironically, genuinely such, feel flat. by no means was I looking for sappiness, but I just don’t feel like the intended sentimantality worked for me. the horror/mystery aspects also didn’t quite work for me for the same reasons. which is unfortunate, I would have liked to enjoy this book more than I did.