How It Ended

by Jay McInerney

book data

137 ratings, 3.37 average rating, 38 reviews (more data...)

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5		10%
4		36%
3		37%
2		12%
1		3%

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published

April 7th 2009 by Blackstone Audio, Inc. (first published 2000)

details

Audio CD, 11 pages

isbn

1433271095 (isbn13: 9781433271090)

description

How It Ended Witty, Acerbic and Pellucid, McInerney's writing examines worlds in collision, relationships fragmenting and the dark underbelly of the A…more

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Feb 15, 2009

christa rated it:

(review of isbn 0307268055)

Read in February, 2009

In Jay McInerney's world, men are writers with varying degrees of success. They are married to women who are pregnant, which may or may not stall their philandering. The wife typically knows what's up and either ignores it, aborts the child or asks the man to have his fairly healthy cat put to sleep as contrition. There is typically a back story salted with cocaine residue and lapsed catholicism. His newer stories always reference 9/11 in some capacity.

In Jay McInerney's world, no o...more In Jay McInerney's world, men are writers with varying degrees of success. They are married to women who are pregnant, which may or may not stall their philandering. The wife typically knows what's up and either ignores it, aborts the child or asks the man to have his fairly healthy cat put to sleep as contrition. There is typically a back story salted with cocaine residue and lapsed catholicism. His newer stories always reference 9/11 in some capacity.

In Jay McInerney's world, no one leaves New York City. Maybe a character spent time in China modeling or teaching English, or maybe there was a stint in Los Angeles. But home is Manhattan, and now that McInerney has gotten older, he'll concede to characters with suburban address. But never the main characters.

"How It Ended: New And Collected Stories" reads a bit like a posthumous compilation. It is a mix of snippets of his old stuff -- including pieces from "Bright Lights, Big City," "Brightness Falls," and "Model Behavior." This is fun and feels like reading an old yearbook. It has been years since I've read any of his novels, and it was a nice reminder of whats-so-big-about-McInerney. [Namely, that he writes about a time and place that I'd love to vacation in: New York City. 1980s. Writer cliques.]

Then he attempts to one-up the masterful feat that is "The Good Life" -- in which, 20 years after "Brightness Falls," he revisits the main characters Corrine and Russell -- and has them aged appropriately -- in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. In this compilation, he has a short story where Corrine runs into the character Luke from "The Good Life." Here, in the short story "The March," it seems a forced and pointless exercise. Hopefully the kind of thing that will show McInerney that if he wants another novel about Corrine and Russell, he should wait at least another decade.

McInerney also doubles back to Alison Poole, the star of "The Story Of My Life," who last year was outed as a character based on the woman who would become John Edwards' mistress. Here, in "Penelope on the Pond," Poole is hiding out from the press in an upscale hunting shack, waiting for text messages and phone calls from Tom, her married lover who is involved in politics. In novel form, "The Story Of My Life" McInerney does a bang up job of capturing the voice of an insecure 20 year old with expensive taste, daddy issues and financial problems. The fast-forward has dulled her a bit, although, admittedly, by the time most women hit 40, up-talking and "like" dropping taper off. And this Alison Poole has wizened up a bit, but isn't interesting enough to check in on, ironically enough considering the recent-ish tabloid coverage of her likeness.

Each of the stories seems a touch autobiographical. One finds four brothers, after the death of their mother, beating the shit out of each other at Thanksgiving. One brother is a playwright, whose recent play has the entire family wondering whether their mother had an affair with their father's best friend. Another has a man and his wife sharing their bed with a pet pig. The man only recognizing this as ridiculous when he is removed from it and sharing the story with a therapist. In another, an aged Lothario is about to get married. First he has some unfinished business with four lines of cocaine, cut with his Soho Club card, and an exlover looking for closure.

It should be sad: That McInerney continues to write about men for whom fidelity is a phase that only lasts until the vet's assistant slips the character her phone number. It's a little like watching a middle-aged man navigate the produce department in his high school letter jacket. Saying "Oh, yeah?" to the kid bagging his groceries. "You shoulda seen the model I bagged in '87." But I'm a bit like a former cheerleader from that very same high school, who would see McInerney squeezing tomatoes and become dazed. Then immediately text my best friend: "OMG, just saw j-mac at the GS."(less)

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Jun 01, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine rated it:

(review of isbn 0307268055)

bookshelves: july-aug-2009

Compared by critics to such literary giants as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, J. D. Salinger, and Graham Greene, McInerney has demonstrated impressive depth and range over the last three decades, and most critics valued How It Ended as a record of McInerney's evolution as a writer. Retaining his mordant humor and panache alongside hard-won wisdom and maturity, McInerney dissects the ambitions and excesses of youth as they yield to the limitations and moderation of middle age. He revisits

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Jun 26, 2009

shbaik rated it:

(review of isbn 0747553564)

Read in June, 2009

My verdict on McInerney: great prose, interesting world, but not my thing.

Too much drug abuse amongst his characters for me to care. 80s decadence makes me barf. yes, generation x, you are all effed up to a degree.

His sexual politics are definitely from a man's pov. And I didn't like his characterizations of minorities. I suppose it's fair that minorities don't feature in his stories as much, because he is writing about the privileged in NYC, mainly the jetsetting pack in...more

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Jun 22, 2009

Abby rated it:

(review of isbn 0307268055)

bookshelves: books-read-in-2009

Read in June, 2009

This is a strange collection of short stories, with sloppy generalizations and stereotypical characters. Two of his most annoying idiosyncrasies include the profuse use of the expression "in the cups" to denote being depressed, I guess, and the repeated insinuation that black men smoke Newport cigarettes and are socioeconomically and sexually threatening.

Women also get short shrift in McInerney's fiction. They are idealized as unattainable angels (and dead mothers) or portr...more

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Jul 22, 2009

Mike Lindgren rated it:

(review of isbn 0747553564)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in June, 2009

For a quarter-century now, Jay McInerney has been telling fundamentally the same story: Innocent newcomer to the neon jungle gains the world -- or at least a book contract, a bespoke suit and a gorgeous girlfriend -- only to lose his soul. "How It Ended" presents a dozen amusing but ultimately self-indulgent variations on that theme. The short story is perhaps not the best display case for McInerney's gifts. His characters need narrative time for their world-weary carapaces to crack, r...more

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Jun 09, 2009

Frank Dahai rated it:

(review of isbn 0747553564)

Read in July, 2009

First thing I've read by Jay McInerney. I was hoping for something punchy, fast and sharp. Disappointing in how conventional it is. I keep wanting to score through exposition. Line after line laying it on thick - telling what was shown - spelling it out for the reader. That kind of stuff gets in the way.

But what he does so well is create a living world. The old Bret Easton Ellis thing of jaded rich druggies is tired, but McInerney makes it seem vital and bright. So the stories work t...more

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May 12, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

(review of isbn 0307268055)

Good batch of short stories if you're looking for something as light and mood enhancing as the booze, drugs, and one night-cum-month long stands described in these stories. I'm not sure why the New York Times is so gushing in its praise of this book--it's good, but it's only slightly more interesting than the '80s coke tales he told back in the day (I was a big fan of those books--now, now as much). Compared to Brett Easton Ellis, McInerney offers far less sarcasm (and exploitation) in print, bu...more

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Feb 01, 2010

Sun rated it:

(review of isbn 0747553564)

bookshelves: bookaweek2010

Read in February, 2010

Jay McInerney is one of my favourite authors because of two books: Bright Lights Big City and Story of My Life, both of which just blew me away. The novels Ransom and Last of the Savages I liked but they just didn't resonate the same way as the first two. McInerney paints a very isolating and bleak picture of life, one that's filled with drugs, sex, and failed relationships. There's nothing wrong with this picture per se but it's tedious when extrapolated to 400 or so pages, as the case with the...more

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Jun 24, 2009

Jim Cherry rated it:

(review of isbn 0747553564)

Read in July, 2009

In the 80’s Jay McInerney and Brett Easton Ellis were being touted as the Hemingway and Fitzgerald of a new generation. I don’t know if anybody had in mind which was supposed to be Hemingway and which Fitzgerald, but in, How It Ended, McInerney’s book of new and collected short stories, I think McInerney makes a bid for Fitzgerald’s mantle.

The most obvious similarity is he treads the same ground stories with husbands and wives talking. True, Hemingway also used husbands and w...more In the 80’s Jay McInerney and Brett Easton Ellis were being touted as the Hemingway and Fitzgerald of a new generation. I don’t know if anybody had in mind which was supposed to be Hemingway and which Fitzgerald, but in, How It Ended, McInerney’s book of new and collected short stories, I think McInerney makes a bid for Fitzgerald’s mantle.

The most obvious similarity is he treads the same ground stories with husbands and wives talking. True, Hemingway also used husbands and wives as subject matter (as well as couples that aren’t officially united,) but McInerney stories seem to have been influenced by Fitzgerald, you can feel that influence in stories such as “Putting Daisy Down,” “Sleeping With Pigs,” “Summary Judgment.”

McInerney’s stories aren’t all what they seem to be, for example in “I Love You, Honey” there’s a lot of subtext going on, and what the characters are telling each other isn’t as important as what they aren‘t telling each other. The subtext in the stories may be redemption, even when the characters aren’t aware of it or even asking for it. I noticed this while reading “Con Dr.” about a doctor with a drug problem who does redeem his career and his life but with unexpected consequences.

Other sources for the stories are writers and the writers life. McInerney shows all aspects of writers from gilded college boys wanting to be writers in “The Waiter,” or to the drugged out rock band lyricist, now more a drug dealer than a word purveyor in “The Queen and I.”

McInerney isn’t a pyrotechnical writer, he doesn’t use gimmicks to pull you into his stories with flashy wordplay or bizarre scenarios, most of his starting points are a world we know well, or aren’t unfamiliar with. McInerney is a mature writer who has the confidence of his craft and talent and lets his stories unfold in front of the reader. He has the ability to take what at first seems a random comment or observation and make it deftly reflect the unspoken truths behind the situation the characters find themselves in. A lot of the stories are from a male point of view but a standout story that I found amazing was “The Story of My Life” which is told from the point of view of a girl in her 20’s and her concerns. At first she seems a vague and vapid person but as the McInerney unravels the story through her phone calls to lovers, friends, and family, you see there is so much more, so much so that you think of her as a person and not a character in a story.

I don’t keep bringing up Hemingway or Fitzgerald as a direct story to story comparison of the legendary authors to McInerney, but to illustrate that the quality of work demonstrated in How It Ended is on the level of those legendary authors. If he is the new Fitzgerald or Hemingway or just Jay McInerney, it makes me wish I’d paid a little more attention to McInerney’s writing in the past few years.(less)

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Dec 31, 2009

Nancy rated it:

(review of isbn 0307268055)

Read in December, 2009

I forgot how much I liked Jay McInerney until I read this collection of his short stories. I loved Bright Lights Big City when I read it in college. At the time I probably thought it was just really cool, since it took place in New York and the main characters drank a lot. Reading this collection reminds me that he is a great writer who happens to write about wealthy, unhappy people who drink a lot.

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Apr 21, 2009

Cherie rated it:

(review of other edition)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in April, 2009

A-/B+ Good stories of McInerney's; a few I didn't thrill over, but most I immensely enjoyed. You get to see some of McInerney's beloved characters (like Alison Poole of "Story of My Life" and Corrine and Russell of "Brightness Falls" and "The Good Life"); by the end, you may tire of the cocaine-addled rich investment bankers, but still, McInerney has a lot of talent.

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Jan 19, 2010

Ricky rated it:

(review of isbn 0747553564)

Read in February, 2010

Where 'The Good Life' left off, McInerney brings it back together with his collection of short stories he's written since the early 80's. I put 'How It Ended' right up there with 'Girls' by Nic Kellman and 'Drown' by Junot Diaz as the best collection of short stories under one cover. With each story being 8-12 pages in length, McInerney does an impressive job of tieing together his normal themes of Bright Light Big City and The Good Life ala his stint as the 80's literary prat pack w/ Bret Easto...more

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Mar 16, 2010

Sonia rated it:

(review of isbn 0747553564)

Read in March, 2010

Ugh. I am officially OVER the stories of boring (and bored) white middle class men in the midst of 80's/90's hedonism. And though he was taught by Tobias Wolff, he can't quite pull of the non-self-reflexive writing of people of color into the white middle class consciousness. No more!

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Dec 03, 2009

Kate Cares rated it:

(review of isbn 0747553564)

Read in March, 2010

You can tell McInerney studied with Raymond Carver. This collection of short stories is full of imperfect characters struggling with drugs, alcohol, infidelity and delicate nostalgic yearning. Regardless of whether one can relate to the actions or relationships, the presence of life passing, things lost and lessons learned seems universal on a visceral level. What McInerney does a little more successfully then Carver (in my opinion) is the individuality he gives to his character's voices. Fo...more

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Apr 26, 2009

Mark rated it:

(review of other edition)

Read in May, 2009

Interesting collection of previous short stories.

I really liked the authors previous book Bright Lights Big City and had not had the chance to read many of the authors other short stories that had appeared in the New Yorker as well as other literary publications.

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Apr 23, 2009

Libby rated it:

(review of isbn 0747553564)

Read in January, 2009

just read the newly released version of this...very satisfying and nostalgic...although I'm slightly bothered by the fact that he only has fans on goodreads, not friends....

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Jul 11, 2009

Valerie rated it:

(review of isbn 0307268055)

Read in June, 2009

Glossy stories about rich people, drugs, and sex--but boy can McInerney write! I liked the roman a clef about John Edwards's lover Rielle Hunter.

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Apr 16, 2009

Stefanie rated it:

(review of isbn 0307268055)

Owns a copy — Read in April, 2009

contemporary characters in well-nuanced, believable settings. the newer stories reveal a grace and mastery of the genre.

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Jan 26, 2010

Billy Maise rated it:

(review of isbn 0307268055)

Read in February, 2010

Strange, but decent.
Strange, in that almost every story featured some crack addict who cheated on his/her partner, and decent in that it was well-written. But not great.

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Nov 07, 2009

Koz rated it:

(review of isbn 0747553564)

Read in November, 2009

I think I counted one short story that didn't include explicit sex or hardcore drug use. And if you know me, you know that neither of those things (in and of themselves) bother me. But it seemed like a crutch for him. Very tiring. But the stories are generally well written.

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