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SOCIAI DRAMA
JAY MCINERNEY The Good Life rBloomslnrnl 0..
Jay Mclnerney has long been the Samuel Pepys of Manhattan, documenting the zeitgeist of a successful New York set who spend long summers in out- of-town second homes and dine at the best restaurants. But as Mclnerney has advanced in years and become a parent, so too have many of his readers. People who once prickled with excitement at his tales of drug- fuelled sexual deviance in Story of My Life, have grown tired of hedonistic bright young things. And in many ways, Mclnerney caters for them just as much now as he did then. The Good Life is a candid look at modern-day marriage, infidelity and the guiltfest known as parenthood.
So, we rediscover Russell and Corrine Calloway, two characters from his hugely successful 1993 novel Brightness Falls, a couple who watch the Twin Towers fall from their apartment window, then find their marriage also lying in ruins. As always, Mclnerney peppers his prose with dropped names (Salman Rushdie is a dinner guest) and references to fashion gurus, interior design trends and Manhattan eateries. But it’s a slightly tired formula which denies most of his readership empathy, particularly when Corrine bemoans trying to ‘subsist on less than two hundred and fifty grand a year.’
At the heart of The Good Life lies a tender love story, which rises from the ashes of adversity in a Ground Zero soup kitchen: a volunteer job Mclnerney himself took during the 9/11 aftermath. That may have made this novel cathartic therapy for the author, but is little more than mild diversion for its readers. (Kelly Apter)
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/?f:'.l ’: 'fttE DAVID NOBBS Pratt a Manger
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Naomr Alderrrrar‘ er‘roloys a neat narrative deuce to ease the reader into this
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ALSO PUBLISHED
Oiu Xiaolong The Death of a Red Herorne A Post irananrnen Square murder my stery featuring the poetry r()‘.’lllt] Chief lnspectw Chen Sceptre Gregory Maguire Wrclxed lhe fantasy novel which inspired a Broadway musical looks at a pre Dorothy 0/ where .r girl rs horn vrrth emerald skin lr’ewew. Billy Kay Scots llre Mrfner Tongue A history of language and an analysis of Scotland's linguistic future. Marnsfruirn Anthony Thornton and Roger Sargent 7er l. rher t/nes Hound IOget/rer' Subtitled: 'The Story of Pete Doherty and (Iarl Baraf and how they changed British culture.’ l'rrne Warner. Robert Ferrigno Prayers for the Assess/n lrnagrnrnq an America of the future as a moderate Islarnrc state lll which a dark secret rs set to explode the new order wrrle open, Hutch/risen.
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'r’. ‘.‘.a’ 23’1", THE LIST 27