Out of this world!

[I tried to think of the cheesiest title possible for this post, the one that would make Ellis cringe the most, and I believe I picked a winner]

I finished Lunar Park, by Bret Easton Ellis, and I was impressed. This is the first Ellis book I have read, and based on the publicity I have heard about him, the mix of praise and disgust, I am not sure what I expected, but "tender" was not high on the list.

On the surface, this is a horror story, a pseudo-autobiographical account of events that the author claims happened in his life. If you choose to believe that these events actually happened, I am guessing you also loved that horrible Johnny Depp movie. If, like me, you choose to see the "events" of this book more as either drug/alcohol induced nightmares, and/or simple theatrical devices used by the author to show us his own inner deterioration as the rift between himself and his estranged father eats at him over the years, then I think this is an easier book to digest (pun somewhat intended), and is much more interesting.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. There were stretches where I thought it could have been tighter (the first chapter was useful to me, but I can understand how critics would see it as self-indulgent), but overall, I was impressed that the author used the underlying horror story as a lesson about connecting with his own son in a way that he did not connect with his father. The final chapter is touching, and there is a genuine sadness there, even if it is hidden behind fictional characters and blood-soaked monsters. I want to read American Psycho so I understand some of the portions of this book that refer to the earlier work, and based on the author's writing style, I think I will enjoy reading it. I'll give this book a solid B.