By Lunar Park doesn’t seem to be an out-and-out hit, if the Goodreads rating is to be used as a meter, but I quite enjoyed it.
About the Book
Title: Lunar Park
Author: Bret Easton Ellis
Published: 2005
Genre: fiction, literary fiction, thriller, horror
The Premise
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
“Bret Ellis, the narrator of Lunar Park, is a writer whose first novel Less Than Zero catapulted him to international stardom while he was still in college. In the years that followed, he found himself adrift in a world of wealth, drugs, and fame, as well as dealing with the unexpected death of his abusive father. After a decade of decadence, a chance for salvation arrives; the chance to reconnect with an actress he was once involved with, and their son. But almost immediately his new life is threatened by a freak sequence of events and a bizarre series of murders that all seem to connect to Ellis’s past.“
My Thoughts
Lunar Park doesn’t seem to be an out-and-out hit, if the Goodreads rating is to be used as a meter, but I quite enjoyed it. That said, you kind of have to have read most or all of Bret Easton Ellis’s other books to get the most out of it. (See my post: The Proper Order to Read Bret Easton Ellis)
It is this sort of experimental autofiction-but-not. The novel starts out with Bret narrating as himself, recounting what seems to be quite similar to his real life history. Then, it veers into this bizarre kind of fanfiction about himself. The fictional version of Bret, in this novel, marries a celebrity woman and finds himself awkwardly settling into the role of stepfather to her two prior children, Sarah and Robby. It’s a self-deprecating cariacature: fictional-Ellis goes on coke binges in front of his children, drives drunk and cheats on his wife. Then, things start to get weird.
First, creepy occurrences begin to happen, and Bret is incessantly reminded of his late father, on whom Patrick Bateman was somewhat based. A student at the university he teaches at bears a bizarre resemblance to Clay from Less Than Zero. Then, the police department reaches out to him because someone has been committing a string of copycat murders based on the crimes detailed in American Psycho.
Honestly, this was fascinating to read as a meditation on American Psycho and its cultural legacy. The book (and movie) definitely has a reputation that precedes it, and Ellis seems to use Lunar Park to kind of work through his personal feelings and misgivings about the book.
One of the things I’ve always thought about is how one of the worst fates as an artist has got to be your work being misunderstood and co-opted by horrible people. Mostly I think of the band KMFDM, but this also happened, in a way, with American Psycho. There is a perception of the book as misogynistic, and it doesn’t help that there are real-life incels who claim to relate to Patrick Bateman.
In Lunar Park, the fictional Bret must cope with his work leading to real-world harm in the form of copycat Patrick Bateman murders, leading him to wrestle with the morality of his writing.
How far is too far when writing transgressive literature? Does the author bear responsibility? In real life and in the story of Lunar Park, critics accuse Bret of inspiring violence against women with his work. American Psycho is very explicit and very violent (I mean, I definitely remember cringing when I read it and being tempted to skip certain sections) But… it is a horror novel. Can you really blame an artist for probing the darkest depths of the human psyche?
Sure, Bret Easton Ellis writes misogynist characters. I would argue that basically every protagonist he writes is misogynist to some degree—but portrayal is not endorsement.
In Lunar Park, Ellis is also much older than he was when he wrote his most famous (and controversial) books, Less Than Zero and American Psycho. He is nearing middle age, and has found himself with the sudden responsibility of fatherhood. The book is very much about Bret trying to adjust himself to be a more responsible father figure, especially as he deals with the memories of his own rather villainous father.
Speaking of, Ellis apparently mentioned being influenced by Stephen King when writing this book, and I could see the similarities in both writing style and theme—think Jack Torrance from The Shining.
Have you read Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis? If so, what did you think? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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