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onewhitetree's review against another edition
3.0
I can't say exactly where this book lost me. There's some incredibly truthful poetry here, but he human relationships always seemed manufactured for shock value rather than humanity.
haudurn's review against another edition
2.0
Tedious and superficial. Lacking the social commentary of his earlier works. Is McInerney lazily riding the coattails of his own success?
litdoes's review against another edition
4.0
A romantic story set in the aftermath of 9/11, somewhat apt in its protrayal of imperfect love set in these postmodern times... So morally ambivalent,you root for the adulterous pair...
lbast's review
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
alexbond3's review
5.0
What can I say, I just love Jay McInerney, and Russell and Corinne. I feel like I know them. I want to read this one again.
superdilettante's review
3.0
McInerney's 9/11 book, from which we are to learn that tragedy and catastrophe makes people altruistic for about four seconds until they remember their own banal problems and set about causing more. I wish I could have just looked at this as a love story, or as a group of people trying nobly to exit unsatisfying situations. Instead (like all of the McInerney books I've read) it comes off as a story made even more shallow and pathetic by the heavy surroundings of a life-altering event. At least it didn't have a happy ending.
rogerb's review
3.0
I was dealt this as I'm joining a Book Club and have to discuss it next week: it's not something I would ordinarily either have picked up or avoided.
I suppose the story rocks along and I didn't find it hard to want to know what happens next so there's a sense in which it's OK. But really I don't have much empathy with the people they describe here - maybe that's the point? Most of the characters seem to me to be pretty ghastly, and the premise that 11-9-01 is/was catalytic seems to be OTT - could not the domestic crises have been played out against a more everyday backdrop? I thought so. I dissent from the back cover blurb about it being a splendid 9/11 book.
I actually took offence at the way the "ordinary" people (cops, firecrew etc.) were displayed as Noble Savages while our heroes (?) played out their important dramas centre stage. Attempts to bring Jerry into their circle failed because he obviously wasn't rich/arty/clever enough to succeed - yuk.
An editor might have excised a few adjectives - very often a sentence caused me to go "no".
I suppose the story rocks along and I didn't find it hard to want to know what happens next so there's a sense in which it's OK. But really I don't have much empathy with the people they describe here - maybe that's the point? Most of the characters seem to me to be pretty ghastly, and the premise that 11-9-01 is/was catalytic seems to be OTT - could not the domestic crises have been played out against a more everyday backdrop? I thought so. I dissent from the back cover blurb about it being a splendid 9/11 book.
I actually took offence at the way the "ordinary" people (cops, firecrew etc.) were displayed as Noble Savages while our heroes (?) played out their important dramas centre stage. Attempts to bring Jerry into their circle failed because he obviously wasn't rich/arty/clever enough to succeed - yuk.
An editor might have excised a few adjectives - very often a sentence caused me to go "no".
jessicaesquire's review
3.0
Here's the thing about Jay McInerney. I really want to like him a lot. As one would expect, I compare him to Bret Easton Ellis and when you look at Less Than Zero and Bright Lights, Big City side by side, I think McInerney wins that one handily. I loved that book. It was vibrant and everything it should have been. But I really love Ellis's whole body of work, I feel like he is always interesting. This is my 3rd McInerney and I haven't liked anything except that first awesome book.
This, an obvious attempt at a Big 9/11 Novel, isn't all that interesting. Traumatic-event-leads-to-affair isn't a new plot twist. But you don't need new if it's good. And this isn't, really. It has two other spouses who are nothing more than caricature, neither of whom I'd want to be married to for five seconds. It gets a lot of that new-love-thing right, but not much else. For example, it contains two young children whose major role in the plot is to ask questions such as, "Mommy, what does S-E-X spell?" For reals.
I did a good job of ignoring one of my big pet peeves--novels about fancy New Yorkers, complete with galas and name-drops and all of that. But this novel just didn't deliver and I think I may have to just give up on McInerney.
This, an obvious attempt at a Big 9/11 Novel, isn't all that interesting. Traumatic-event-leads-to-affair isn't a new plot twist. But you don't need new if it's good. And this isn't, really. It has two other spouses who are nothing more than caricature, neither of whom I'd want to be married to for five seconds. It gets a lot of that new-love-thing right, but not much else. For example, it contains two young children whose major role in the plot is to ask questions such as, "Mommy, what does S-E-X spell?" For reals.
I did a good job of ignoring one of my big pet peeves--novels about fancy New Yorkers, complete with galas and name-drops and all of that. But this novel just didn't deliver and I think I may have to just give up on McInerney.
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