"A Great Gatsby for the end of the century."--The Baltimore Sun
"Swift and amusing. . . . An astute social observe... read full description
"Swift and amusing. . . . An astute social observe... read full description
reviews
Dec 27, 2008
Patrick
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May 02, 2010
Steve
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My S.F. Chronicle review from 1998:
It's hard to escape the feeling, reading the latest from the author of ``Bright Lights, Big City,'' that Jay McInerney really wanted to write a novel about a good-looking, model-dating Manhattan-based writer, still fighting the hangover of early success, who falls into a crisis over whether fiction-writing is meaningless.
McInerney actually does weigh in with ``Model Behavior,'' a 174-page novelette about a model- dating trash-magazine writer More...
It's hard to escape the feeling, reading the latest from the author of ``Bright Lights, Big City,'' that Jay McInerney really wanted to write a novel about a good-looking, model-dating Manhattan-based writer, still fighting the hangover of early success, who falls into a crisis over whether fiction-writing is meaningless.
McInerney actually does weigh in with ``Model Behavior,'' a 174-page novelette about a model- dating trash-magazine writer More...
May 27, 2009
Sarah
rated it:
another mcinerney book where there is a dude with an almost intellectual job in NYC who fucks models and has a platonic relationship with anorexic intellectual girl (in this case his sister, with whom the narrator deveops some kind of creepy incestuous subtext). Model-fucking dude has an almost respectably intellectual profession (in this case he is working on his screenplay while employed for a stupid celebrity gossip magazine) and hangs out with some writer guy. Funny hijinx ensue (bathroom bl
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Sep 15, 2009
Joe
rated it: 
With Model Behavior Jay McInerney revisits that tired assed genre of writing he and Bret Easton Ellis helped to create. You know what I'm talking about. That genre of bored disaffected rich 20/30-somethings who whine incessantly about how awful their lives are while fucking, drinking, and drugging non-stop. Well, that genre is dead. It's over. It's like, soooo 1987.
When this was released in 1998 it totally slipped under my radar so maybe it would have been a bit more relevant reading More...
When this was released in 1998 it totally slipped under my radar so maybe it would have been a bit more relevant reading More...
Jan 23, 2010
Stefani
rated it: 
This book was fairly bad. Although Jay McInerney seems to have cornered the market on writing about disaffected NY'ers (along with Bret Easton Ellis)I'm not sure that kind of character still has relevance today or even in the year it was written (1998?). Unlike the protagonist in "Bright Lights, Big City", the main character is not at all likable or quirky. He's a writer for a celebrity tabloid, despite having an advanced degree in Japanese culture. And he has a model for a girlfrie
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Dec 16, 2009
lizz
rated it: 
i read this while drunk on a plane. i liked it a lot then. not sure if i still would.
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Mar 18, 2011
Myles
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Model Behavior does come back to the territory of Bright Lights, Big City, but only in a superficial way: writer in New York loses his model girlfriend, has family troubles (and a paragraph or two written in second person). It is altogether a much quicker book to get through divided as it is into dozens of headlined sections like those of the cheap woman's magazine Connor McKnight works for.
It is that quickness, that lightness, that separates this book from Ransom and Story of My Life, More...
It is that quickness, that lightness, that separates this book from Ransom and Story of My Life, More...
Jun 06, 2009
Christie
rated it:
I read this book because I enjoy McInerney's writing on wine. He is a humorous writer, and I thought I would appreciate him as a novelist as well. Maybe because this book takes place in a very NYC setting (not my scene) and in the modeling and glamour magazine world, I didn't relate to it. But I did like The Devil Wears Prada, so maybe that isn't a good excuse.
Either way, I was a bit disappointed in this book. It was an easy read, but to be honest, I can't even recall the ending.
Either way, I was a bit disappointed in this book. It was an easy read, but to be honest, I can't even recall the ending.
Jan 30, 2010
Brendan
rated it:
This is going to sound dickish, but I really love reading great author's least-great works. I love watching them struggle with being pigeonheld. I love them writing down bad ideas. I love when an author becomes so famous that all they can think about is the thoughts and emotions of a famous writer.
Aug 03, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
Bright Lights, Big City exposed the drug culture of the 1980's.
Model explores and destroys the myths and any romantic fancies anyone may still harbour about supermodels of the 1980's -1990's.
Vintage McInerney.
One of my favourite authors.
Very good book.
Model explores and destroys the myths and any romantic fancies anyone may still harbour about supermodels of the 1980's -1990's.
Vintage McInerney.
One of my favourite authors.
Very good book.
Feb 23, 2009
KateSpears
rated it:
I enjoyed this book and parts of it made me laugh out loud. It is kind of a pre-Sex & the City look at NY...the glamorous lifestyles, fashion, etc. One thing that was strange was the POV shifts that took place (made it a little confusing at first) but I stuck with it and am glad I can add it to my already-read list.
Aug 22, 2009
Steph
rated it:
Pretty good. Again, a sense of morality--twisted or not--that weaves it way into the story. Not as pressured as Bright Lights, Big City. A nice read.
Jun 06, 2009
Howard
rated it:
I actually only read the main story 'Model Behavior' I love it. I actually re-read it every 2 or 3 months!
Aug 09, 2011
Josephine
rated it:
ok but not his best, story of my life is my absolute fav... really loved it!
Dec 05, 2007
Ray
rated it:
I really liked Bright Lights, Big City despite the fact that my sympathy for a somewhat well-off, spurned white straight man was minimal. However, that work really took a portrait of a period of time in the US in the 80s in a way that seemed meaningful. BL, BC used perspective really well and made second-person narration work.
It is for these reasons that Model Behavior was readable. No doubt this is well written too, but the plot and themes that McInerney chose to focus on just we More...
It is for these reasons that Model Behavior was readable. No doubt this is well written too, but the plot and themes that McInerney chose to focus on just we More...
Aug 16, 2010
Jo
rated it:
I enjoyed reading this and the writing kept me turning the pages. The story wasn't anything too original or special, but it was still an enjoyable book.
May 30, 2008
Kurt
rated it:
Bright Lights, Big City a few years down the road with different people. McInerney is growing more jaded, or is that just growing older? Or perhaps I am growing more cynical in my readings and have discovered something out about myself in this four sentence review?
Nov 10, 2008
Rowan
rated it:
It's like a college creative writing student wanted to update Bright Lights, Big City for the 90s and decided that the second-person narrative would be too difficult to hack.
Dec 31, 2009
Tonya
rated it:
One of my all time favorite books! McInerney has such a voice. If the house were to ever burn down, this is the one I'm grabbing before I jump out the window.
Mar 01, 2007
Jen
rated it:
The novella is only alright, but there's a short story in here called "Smoke" that's a precursor to "Brightness Falls" that's his best work.
Jun 25, 2008
Ian
rated it:
Even if he writes the same book every time, at least he had the decency to write it as comedy this time around.
Jan 29, 2012
Kristel
rated it:
McInerney est un auteur génial, y compris dans ce livre. Hilarant et profond.
