The dysfunctional author writes about himself (mostly) and moves to the suburbs. The first 20 pages are pretty good, the vintage Ellis stuff, fast and all debauchery. I dig the very manageable short (save the first few) chapters, with titles proper and all. Haven't had that in my recent books

The intrigue: Ellis is slowly losing his sanity in this sterile foreign environment (he's a city boy)

Because the book is half fiction haf reality, we get intriguing passages like here with a detective probing Ellis about a copycat killer who's modeling Patrick Bateman from American Psycho

"Well, the author of the book isn't in the book," Kimball said, offering a pointlessly reassuring smile that failed utterly. "I mean Bret Ellis is not a character in the book, and so far the assailant is only interested in finding people with similar identities or names of fictional characters." Pause. "You're not a fictinoal character, are you, Mr. Ellis?"

I found the idea that Ellis sat down and wrote this line of questioning to his fictional self about a fictional Ellis character simply delightful (page 125)

Elsinore Lane could be rearranged as a bungled anagram for Ellis Snore, a place where his fantasies take flight (in fact Elsinore Lane could almost be be spelled out from letters of the author's name).. the house number 307 would also yield a significance

Robby and Jayne seem really fake, one for its abbreviation, the other for its spelling. Another name Terby (the bird doll) is not really plausible for a toy name.. we are revealed later on that it is a name made up by Bret himself, it spells backward YBRET, why Bret?

I really liked the parent/teacher meeting chapter, Ellis is able to convince himself (brainwash) that something didn't happen, rewrite history

I find myself really enjoying ominous statements, usually at end of chapters like "This would be the last dinner I ever had with Jayne"

Things are happening in Ellis' head but they also bleed on to his surroundings, his environment. Of course the author is going crazy so who knows

It took me until chapter 28 to notice chapters had dates anotated to keep the timeline established in the first chapter

There is an interesting duality with the person and the writer (they talk to each other)

The way Ellis handles conflict resolution is impressive, expecially in his beliefs of the writer's power (Ellis literally writes off Bateman in a short story to get rid of him, he shows us how he exorcises his demons through his writing)

Everything kinda falls apart for me, the story and the reading experience with the Darkness chapter, things turn to the fantastic/horror, something I imagine Stephen King or Dean Koontz fans would really appreciate (though I've yet to read either, I'm not too interested). The tragedy for Ellis is that he never wanted to be a father and he's now in a situation where he's almost ready for it but his son and wife reject him. Of course the whole father/son relationship is a big theme of the book, a way for Ellis himself to deal with his estranged father


Quotes
"Ultimately everthing was an act. We were on a stage"
"[...] this is what a writer does: his life is a maelstrom of lying. Embellishment is his focal point"

Random House has a cool site that plays on the duality of both fictional and real Ellis profiles


This is another novel that has a note about the font, here it is set in Electra, I can only assume the interior design is by Iris Weinstein since the famous Chip Kidd is credited for the cover (the work on the lettering is actually good, the photography is ehh)

The binding is the same as my Rothko book, a sturdy thicker stock paper that does not lend itself to creasing (a pet peeve of mine)

Reference
- Bright Lights, Big City by Jay Mcinerney
- Jayne Dennis, very fake site
- Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966), a real movie