sbkeats's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
natbaldino's review against another edition
5.0
Fans of Bret Easton Ellis' nihilistic, morally degenerate works Less Than Zero and American Psycho will find in Lunar Park an older Ellis who has begun to deal with finding something to grasp on to in the emptiness of the not only the world around him, but the world he has created within his interweaving works.
This work is an especially self-aware work, perhaps the best Ellis has ever done. Known for brilliant first-lines, Ellis is the main character of his own work, the book beginning with him being told "you do a really good impression of yourself," and as the novel continues with the same meta, uncanny dissonance, it becomes impossible to distinguish Ellis the character from Ellis the author as his world collapses around him and he is forced to confront his past (“But this was what happened when you didn't want to visit and confront the past: the past starts visiting and confronting you”) and the ghost of his father, an issue that had plagued all of Ellis' previous work (Ellis himself has said that the sociopathic Wall Street murderer Patrick Bateman of American Psycho was based off of his father). As supernatural forces like a Terby doll destroy his house and family, character Ellis works through realizing the consequences of being a writer, particularly of creating a world of nihilism and emptiness in which he himself forgets is fiction.
The story is hilarious, emotional, socially relevant, and even more surprising of Ellis' work, resolved and poignant. This is an Ellis who has realized there is meaning in the typically nihilistic world he sees around him, and this is perhaps Ellis at his best since Less Than Zero. If anything, this is a book I'd recommend for any Ellis fans who want to see a deeper, more self-critical side of him.
This work is an especially self-aware work, perhaps the best Ellis has ever done. Known for brilliant first-lines, Ellis is the main character of his own work, the book beginning with him being told "you do a really good impression of yourself," and as the novel continues with the same meta, uncanny dissonance, it becomes impossible to distinguish Ellis the character from Ellis the author as his world collapses around him and he is forced to confront his past (“But this was what happened when you didn't want to visit and confront the past: the past starts visiting and confronting you”) and the ghost of his father, an issue that had plagued all of Ellis' previous work (Ellis himself has said that the sociopathic Wall Street murderer Patrick Bateman of American Psycho was based off of his father). As supernatural forces like a Terby doll destroy his house and family, character Ellis works through realizing the consequences of being a writer, particularly of creating a world of nihilism and emptiness in which he himself forgets is fiction.
The story is hilarious, emotional, socially relevant, and even more surprising of Ellis' work, resolved and poignant. This is an Ellis who has realized there is meaning in the typically nihilistic world he sees around him, and this is perhaps Ellis at his best since Less Than Zero. If anything, this is a book I'd recommend for any Ellis fans who want to see a deeper, more self-critical side of him.
starlightreading's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
erinequalspeace's review against another edition
1.0
Arduous reading, could hardly get through it. The work of a man with the talent to write but nothing worthwhile to say {to me, at least}. Any humor in the characters or situations is buried beneath heavy layers of bitterness and paranoia.
ca1tlinhall's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
togata's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
jacobrollins's review against another edition
5.0
Unsurprisingly Bret Easton Ellis has wowed me again. Lunar Park, a “mock” memoir, took me through a plethora of emotions: scared by its story to sad by its overall themes, indifference and even dislike for the main character to eventually sympathizing with him. I believe Lunar Park represents Ellis’ final awakening from his drug and alcohol induced career into adulthood, and that the pain and abuse inflicted upon him by his father is what caused him to start spiraling at such a young age in the start of his career. I loved the facets of horror Ellis included in the novel, specifically the indirect (and at one point, plainly direct) nod to The Shining, which also portrays a man who loses his mind following his father’s abuse. Also, Ellis’ overall acknowledgement that he’s a flawed human puts him in a whole new light for me. Powerful story! Well written.
erinbarton's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
a reflection of bret easton ellis’s strained relationship with his late father, wrapped inside a classic haunted house ghost story, with some serial killer, stalker, and child abduction sub plots. packed full of references to ellis’s previous novels in a very meta way. big themes of outrunning your past selves, the lingering effects of childhood, fatherhood, family, guilt, etc with the usual confusion and unreliable narrator of his other works ie american psycho and glamorama. absolutely loved this!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Alcoholism
Moderate: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Murder, Stalking, Sexual content, and Violence
momotz's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely amazing especially if you are a Bret Easton ellis fan. Visually poignant and many of those images still linger in my head.
annm1121's review against another edition
4.0
I'm giving this book a second read after I've read all of Bret's books. The first time I read this was when it first came out and I had only read American Psycho.