THE GOOD LIFE by Jay McInerney [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Random House (August 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307278395
• ISBN-13: 978-0307278395
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.2 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,959,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not his best, January 29, 2008

By 

J. G. Gimbel (fairbanks, ak USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: THE GOOD LIFE by Jay McInerney (Mass Market Paperback)

This book doesn't have the spark and zest that some of McInerney's other works shine with. In fact, at times, I swear he downloaded dialog from his favorite afternoon soaps. E.g.:

"Just stay for a minute. I want to feel you on top of me a little longer."
"All right, I'd like that too."
"You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"
"No. I just, as a man, I don't know. You feel the need to perform."

Come on, if I want great literature like this I'll just reach for a script from Days of our Lives.

5.0 out of 5 stars J. McInerney's brilliant command of the English Language Lost on Book Sent With Pages Scrambled, October 4, 2010

By 

Fashioncat - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: THE GOOD LIFE by Jay McInerney (Mass Market Paperback)

I had already heard the Audio book and loved it, which is why I ordered it for my best friend for her birthday. However,after my friend reached page 82 in the paper back, all THE PAGES WERE SCRAMBLED!! AFTER PAGE 82, THERE WAS PAGE 129, ETC ETC. I suppose that I will have to go to the trouble of repackaging this book up and returning it to Amazon. Too bad, that THE BOOK WAS NOT CHECKED BEFORE IT WAS SENT TO MY FRIEND AS A GIFT FROM ME. The excellent writings of J. McInerney were lost on her because of this oversight on the part of the seller.

5.0 out of 5 stars All the sad yup men, October 9, 2009

By 

Yaakov (James) Mosher (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: THE GOOD LIFE by Jay McInerney (Mass Market Paperback)

After two clunkers for cash novels, Jay McInerney comes roaring back. "The Good Life," the author's 9/11 novel, takes its place alongside "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Brightness Falls" as McInerney's best work.
Norman Mailer told McInerney to wait 10 years before writing about Sept. 11. Like his decision to ignore advice to drop the second-person narration of "Bright Lights, Big City," we should be glad McInerney stayed the course.
Russell and Corinne Calloway of "Brightness Falls" share center stage in "The Good Life" with Luke and Sasha McGavock. Russell is a metaphysical composite of McInerney and Nick Carraway, narrator of "The Great Gatsby" (The Great American Novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who tripped the New York life fantastic six decades before McInerney). But Russell is the least utilized in "The Good Life." Luke and Corrine get most of the good lines.
The book hums with subtle religious, philosophical, and literary references. Luke's departure from the wreckage of the Twin Towers reminds one of Lot's flight from Sodom and Gomorrah (Jewish tradition teaches that Sodom and Gomorrah were actually five cities...Ahem, remind you of any place?). Like Corrine, most readers will dismiss the notion that the abortion capital of the universe was being paid back for its wickedness.
Like Lot, Luke ends up in the arms of a forbidden woman. McInerney reckons that people search the Earth for their lost other half/self. Had the author realized this original separation is what occurred when G-d created Eve from Adam (no, it wasn't a "rib") it could have added more to the novel. Guess I shouldn't fault a non-Jew for not knowing the Oral Torah.
Luke's story had me thinking of the Talking Heads CD "Remain in Light" especially the song "Once in a Lifetime." If "The Good Life" is ever made into a movie McInerney has his soundtrack already made. Throw in David Bowie's "Space Oddity" for added nuance.
Luke does the Oedipus (see Greek mythology) thing with a pleasant twist. He walks the footsteps of another man so as to be closer to his own (Luke's) mother. As Joseph showed us in winning over the Egyptians in the Book of Genesis, the key word is "banks."
Luke's life's is what bubbles up when a man can't or won't be as religious as his forebears. His personal calamity stems from the fact that he followed his eyes (after Sasha). This eye disease is characteristic of Esau of the Bible, the spiritual father of the sad wreckage known today variously as Christendom or The West. The elect/minority way of brother Jacob is different. As Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT"L once taught me - Esau follows his eyes but Jacob follows his teachers.
McInerney is right to remind us that goodness isn't measured by church attendance. The agnostic Nora is heroic in a Rick/Victor (see movie "Casablanca") kind of way. Her declaration about renunciation on p. 316-317 (2006 hardcover edition) is the book's great wisdom and spells out what the good life means in practice.
Our author is being ironic again in naming the character Nora if we recall the Nora in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House," who sought self-fulfillment away from her husband and family. It appears McInerney sees something amiss in the worldview of Virginia Woolf ("Mrs. Dalloway") and "The Hours." Maybe his next book will be called "Mrs. Calloway."
To the alpha males and monied feminists of his and future generations, McInerney is feeding the medicine of his final words in "Bright Lights, Big City" - You must learn to do everything over again.