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165th out of 535 books
—
552 voters
Brightness Falls
Brightness Falls is the story of Russell and Corrine Calloway. Set against the world of New York publishing, McInerney provides a stunningly accomplished portrayal of people contending with early success, then getting lost in the middle of their lives.
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
March 31st 1993
by Vintage
(first published January 1st 1992)
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Have you ever attended a long cocktail party at an elegant hotel with crowds of well dressed people chattering while a piano player provides background music and after the ball is over find yourself at home with the vague impression that you have not actually been anywhere? If so, you have a good idea of what this book is about.
Jay McInerney enjoyed some acclaim for "Bright Lights, Big City," but this effort is eminently forgettable. It is well written, mildly humorous at times but ultimately in...more
Jay McInerney enjoyed some acclaim for "Bright Lights, Big City," but this effort is eminently forgettable. It is well written, mildly humorous at times but ultimately in...more
Brightness Falls -- what an appropriate title. How could McInerney have gone from Bright Lights, a narrative tour de force, to this sprawling, turgid mess? Occasional sharp turns of phrase remind us of what he can do, but they're lost among excruciating passages of (sometimes repetitive) exposition and a narrative voice that's often too distant and disengaged. That distance comes from ambition: McInerney has set up too many threads and doesn't have space to tie them all together convincingly.
Som...more
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Possibly my favorite book from the entire literary brat pack canon, this book goes beyond New England undergrads in orgies of blow and manages to fully explore the relationship of a Manhattan power couple. The novel opens on a storybook marriage between Corrine and Russell with Russell on the cusp of becoming head editor of a large publishing house, replete with coke fueled parties filled with models and the life of the jet set. Everything crashes down at once: the stock market crashes, Russell...more
Jay McInerney's first novel - Bright Lights, Big City - was a stunning literary debut. The book was vividly written, extremely funny, possessed of a big heart, and notable for its use of the second person present tense, which was unusual prior to that time. It seemed that most aspiring writers in the mid-1980s wanted to be the next Jay McInerney, and for good reason.
Brightness Falls followed eight years later, in 1992. The story is set in 1987, bracketing the one-day stock market crash that occu...more
Brightness Falls followed eight years later, in 1992. The story is set in 1987, bracketing the one-day stock market crash that occu...more
Wisdom for a Lost Generation
Having witnessed the recent (and on going) collapse of the real estate, mortgage, and banking industries, which were preceded by only a few years by the Dot Com bubble of the late - 90’s – I wonder – will we ever learn?
Brightness Falls is a needed morality tale (and history lesson) for a lost generation. I read this book nearly twenty years ago, yet the characters and story still resonant within me. Our culture is ruled by greed, unbridled ambition and more of everyth...more
Having witnessed the recent (and on going) collapse of the real estate, mortgage, and banking industries, which were preceded by only a few years by the Dot Com bubble of the late - 90’s – I wonder – will we ever learn?
Brightness Falls is a needed morality tale (and history lesson) for a lost generation. I read this book nearly twenty years ago, yet the characters and story still resonant within me. Our culture is ruled by greed, unbridled ambition and more of everyth...more
Brightness Falls is a great American novel, which owes a great deal to F. Scott Fitzgerald and his Gatsby. At times, it seems as if McInerney wants to re-tell the Gatsby tale on Wall Street during the Crash of '87. McInerney's Nick Carraway is, after all, Crash Galloway. However, the meaning of this novel transcends this decade and its hideous "greed is good" mantra: it's not simply a "period piece." The story is about the mad pursuit of wealth, the shallowness of the great Faustian trade and th...more
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From the doldrums of his rehab facility, Jeff Pierce, the party boy novelist reflects "begin with an individual and you'll find you've got nothing but ambiguity and compassion; if you intend violence, stick with type." He is referring to his best friends, Corrine and Russell, the perfect power couple, or so it seems. Thirty-one and together since college, they are the stabilizing force for their group of friends who are still navigating the Bacchanalian frontier that is New York of 1987.
McInerne...more
McInerne...more
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Going into this review I had this funny little idea about 1991-2 being a year of growing up for the literary brat pack (a marketing and a journalistic invention that would be long forgotten if it weren't for the fact that we reviewers love it), I made a connection between McInerney, Ellis, Janowitz, Tartt, et al. and the rise and fall in fortunes of the teen pop stars of the late 90s in 2002-03: Timberlake, Aguilera and Spears redefined and ramped up their image while others failing to do so eff...more
Found this in the laundry room.
I don't want any giddy expectations to get in the way of an eventual critical response, but in the early going, it's already showing signs ...: this one looks like it might have "dumpster" written all over it ...
I don't want any giddy expectations to get in the way of an eventual critical response, but in the early going, it's already showing signs ...: this one looks like it might have "dumpster" written all over it ...
2 likes · like · see review
this reminded me of how "the beautiful and damned" is technically better than "the great gatsby" but not as well-known. this is better than "bright lights, big city."
2 likes · like · see review
This is a surprisingly rewarding read. Its a good page turner and yet it also captures something respectful about the MBA-greed generation of New Yorkers - a demographic easily dismissed as shallow and short-sighted. This is a tale of a book editor who sees a way to back an leveraged buyout of his old-time white shoe publishing firm that has not been desperate about profits. The characters are engaging and the story propels itself to a predictable ending. The writing is what makes the book speci...more
Holy shit this book was good. I decided recently that because it is possible to read all of McInerney's fiction in a month that one should do so. This whole book really rocked. I like the characters and the arc. I've said this before but a few years ago McInerney seemed dated, but now it's more like his eighties books are a perfect time capsule of a forgotten era that came on the heels of a depressed, near bankrupt 70s. I turned the last page and immediately went on to read his next and then ord...more
New York during the late eighties : the city is blooming with traders, investors and financial animals of all sorts. Russell and Corinne are a successful couple, yet they crave for power. Especially Russell, who is a typical ruthlessly ambitious junior working at Corbin, Dern, a prestigious editor. Corinne, on her side, has became a broker almost without knowing it. Both of them are convinced of their good hearts, Russell because he works in culture (but is obsessed with money and social positio...more
It started out well. I loved that he was able to sustain his cast of characters largely through their speech and decision-making behaviors, with only sparse and carefully placed physical descriptions. He got off some wry and witty lines in places. But around the 2/3 mark it seemed like McInerny kind of got sick of his own story, and the writing turned mushy and hurried. Having read this immediately on the heels of Bright Lights - which was quite smart - I expected more. It ended kind of like the...more
Anyone who has just survived the boom-and-bust in Ireland (or elsewhere) will find themselves nodding along to McInerney's acerbic, knowing and very occasionally sentimental account of the lives of literary agent Russell, his beautiful stockbroker wife Corrinne and brilliant but drug-addled Jeff in New York in the early 90s. In keeping with the focus of his interest, it's sprawling, ambitious and sometimes messy. I loved it.
Love this genre and this title was very satisfying. McInerney is a sharp writer, weaving narrative (his style so influenced by Rand) and creating interesting characters in interesting (shallow) times (although one might find McInerney like many of his fellow bratpackers lost in a generation). His only shortcomings is a lack of purpose, premise originality (Ellis as well as himself covered this ground ad nauseum) and and an often cringing dysfunction for writing female characters.
I'm struggling here . . . the writing is good but I can't stand the characters. May not be able to finish this thing. Some days later: Okay, finished the thing, do I get an award? Seriously, it was well written but the first half was everybody trying to be Oscar Wilde witty with a touch of greedy yuck, but the second half showed the characters in a much better, if pathetic, light. Might try Bright Lights, Big City, but probably not soon.
I read this book twice – something I rarely do. It’s a super sized, roller coaster- of-a- ride of a novel about that most American of themes – the loss of innocence (and the concomitant little accommodations and bargains made along the way) and the moment when all the touchstones and precepts that have guided life come crashing (actually the nickname of the main character) down. McInerney’s visceral, witty style - full of snappy metaphors and clever puns - keeps this narrative humming and buzzin...more
Though the story may be dated, mired as it is in the M&A craze of the late '80s, this is one of the few books I've desired to go back to and re-read. I remember getting to a critical part on an airplane and not realizing I was sobbing until the elderly lady next to me offered a tissue. Truly a moving story about characters you hate, but still care about.
This is an astonishingly good book. I'd even venture to say "criminally underrated." An immersive exploration of NYC life in the late 80s - funny, heartbreaking, incisive all at the same time. I'm sort of amazed that people pay more attention to Bright Lights, Big City than this. The former is certainly a good novel, and its experimental form is definitely interesting, but McInerney absolutely hits his stride on Brightness Falls.
Clever expose of the 1980s New York business world seen through the eyes of publisher Russell and broker Corrine. All seems unassailable - profits, privilege, protected positions. But the pendulum swings, as ever in life. Insightful with well-drawn characters but overall a fairly lightweight read.
I came across this one at the library the other day and "Brightness falls from hair" immediately popped into my mind. What impressed me about that is that I read the book 19 years ago in 1992 and still remember where the title came from, and what Corrine looked like. It obviously made a big impression.
I read this book because I had read the sequel, The Good Life, and become engaged with the protagonists of this novel Corrine and Russell. McInerney does a good job of getting inside their heads; although superficially a yuppie couple in NYC, there is actually more to them, and he elicits it nicely.
Ogni tanto, quando finisco le scorte di libri, nell'attesa di nuovi rifornimenti frugo nelle seconde file della libreria rileggendo quello che vi ho esiliato per vari motivi.
Raramente mi capita di rivalutare qualche libro mal giudicato, magari letto nel momento sbagliato e di promuoverlo tra le prime file...più spesso confermo il mio giudizio e li torno a seppellire lontan dagli occhi e lontan dal cuore
In questo caso ho confermato il mio giudizio iniziale: un libro mediocre e tuttavia non mal sc...more
Raramente mi capita di rivalutare qualche libro mal giudicato, magari letto nel momento sbagliato e di promuoverlo tra le prime file...più spesso confermo il mio giudizio e li torno a seppellire lontan dagli occhi e lontan dal cuore
In questo caso ho confermato il mio giudizio iniziale: un libro mediocre e tuttavia non mal sc...more
My feelings about this book see-sawed from annoyance to affection. It is set in 1987, which at first annoyed the heck out of me with the Wall Street/Bright Lights, Bic City/St. Elmo's Fire-ishness of it all...Gradually, the story drew me in and the characters really won me over.
Classic white man's burden shenanigans from McInerney, this time focusing on an early-30s publishing bright light who is deep in debt thanks to his bright lights, big city lifestyle (hmm....) and looks for a way out by playing with the big money boy$. (The Good Life, the sequel which follows these same characters through 9/11, is waiting for me come 2011.) McInerney is actually a phenomenal writer and a master of character and insight; I just have to suppress my douchelord gag reflex about him b...more
I would probably give this 2 and a half stars. I liked it better than Bright Lights Big City. But that's about all I remember about it.
I could read this book a hundred times. I may already have; I don't know why, maybe child of the 80s mentality. I just love it.
A satire that does falter but at times seems quite an accurate depiction of New York in the 80s (not that I was there...)
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John Barrett McInerney Jr. is an American writer. His novels include Bright Lights, Big City, Ransom, Story of My Life, Brightness Falls, and The Last of the Savages. He edited The Penguin Book of New American Voices, wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film adaptation of Bright Lights, Big City, and co-wrote the screenplay for the television film Gia, which starred Angelina Jolie. He is the wine co...more
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“He looks out the window at the falling snow, then turns and takes his wife in his arms, feeling grateful to be here even as he wonders what he is going to do with his life in strictly practical terms. For years he had trained himself to do one thing, and he did it well, but he doesn't know whether he wants to keep doing it for the rest of his life, for that matter, whether anyone will let him. He is still worrying when they go to bed.
Feeling his wife's head nesting in the pillow below his shoulder, he is almost certain that they will find ways to manage. They've been learning to get by with less, and they'll keep learning. It seems to him as if they're taking a course in loss lately. And as he feels himself falling asleep he has an insight he believes is important, which he hopes he will remember in the morning, although it is one of those thoughts that seldom survive translation to the language of daylight hours: knowing that whatever plenty befalls them together or separately in the future, they will become more and more intimate with loss as the years accumulate, friends dying or slipping away undramatically into the crowded past, memory itself finally flickering and growing treacherous toward the end; knowing that even the children who may be in their future will eventually school them in the pain of growth and separation, as their own parents and mentors die off and leave them alone in the world, shivering at the dark threshold.”
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Feeling his wife's head nesting in the pillow below his shoulder, he is almost certain that they will find ways to manage. They've been learning to get by with less, and they'll keep learning. It seems to him as if they're taking a course in loss lately. And as he feels himself falling asleep he has an insight he believes is important, which he hopes he will remember in the morning, although it is one of those thoughts that seldom survive translation to the language of daylight hours: knowing that whatever plenty befalls them together or separately in the future, they will become more and more intimate with loss as the years accumulate, friends dying or slipping away undramatically into the crowded past, memory itself finally flickering and growing treacherous toward the end; knowing that even the children who may be in their future will eventually school them in the pain of growth and separation, as their own parents and mentors die off and leave them alone in the world, shivering at the dark threshold.”
Mar 28, 2009 10:56pm