3.5 stars. If you went into this book looking for more of the American Psycho type theme or style you'll be sorely disappointed. This is not American Psycho and it's not Less Than Zero, though both novels are alluded to frequently and central to the plot. It felt as if this were B.E.E.'s breakup with those books, with that jaded and bleak worldview, and even (kind of sadly for me) that style of repetitive imagery as metaphor.

This is a story about family and ghosts – real and metaphorical, and about fighting to hold on to and let go of them both.

I think if you get out of your head that this is another in a line of Ellis' books depicting nihilism via over the top sex and/or violence you stand a much better chance of enjoying, the book for what it is, not what you want it to be.

"Lunar Park" isn't your average read.

As with any book by Brett Easton Ellis this was a wild ride!

I wasn't sure about this book at first because I was expecting a horror story yet the first few chapters were more of a memoir about his life. I was so confused that I actually went back to start from the beginning again. That made it all make a little more sense.

Once we get to the heart of the horror story I was expecting I was not disappointed. Between Ellis' self-deprecating humor and a possessed Terby (Think Furby

it's memoir and then it's suburban horror and it's cinematic but it's doing things you could ONLY do in a novel and it's ambitious but i think he pulled it off because it took me almost an hr to figure how to review this.....

Brett Easton Ellis’ Lunar Park is his attempt at writing a meta horror novel. Like the novel that followed LP , The Shards, Ellis makes himself the main protagonist and is semi autobiographical.

This time Eloïse has remarried his wife and is trying to settle into domestic normality but after a rather drug fueled bender of a party, he discovers that his house is haunted by some sort of malevolent spirit which is bringing up the worst aspects of his youth.

This is the crux of Lunar Park, this is a novel about father/son relationships. Throughout the book Ellis worries about his childhood and whether he is a good dad to his son. Needles to say that the book ends in a way that Bret Easton Ellis can only pull off.

Writing is gorgeous, the horror moments are genuinely frightening and when the story goes crazy, it does. Another great one!

After getting my fill of Ellis' banality, narcissism and misogyny upon reading "American Psycho" (along with "Less Than Zero" and "Rules of Engagement") I vowed never to read another of his books. The author once touted as the Voice of my generation (Gen X) never qualified as such for me. The only reason I decided to read this one was a glowing review on the back of the book by none other than the arbiter of pop culture (gasp!) Stephen King. I at least had to see what made Uncle Stevie gush. The first forty pages of "Lunar Park" didn't exactly bode well; predictably (narcissistically), Ellis talks about his personal life and his experiences in writing his first four novels. Big shocker: Bret lives the life of his protagonists in "Less Than Zero"...yay! (read: BOORRRING). And then he throws a curveball in there...the "autobiography" starts turning into a mea culpa of sorts, admitting how horribly banal and stupid "American Psycho" was, and where he was coming from as a writer when he wrote it, and then recounts 14 days of his (fictional) life when he is haunted by demons and Patrick Bateman-wannabes and...wow...I was at times blown away by his eerie prose (out-"Kinging" Stephen King even) while grasping at love and family. If you are like me and thought you'd never pick up a B.E.E. book again after being disgusted by "American Psycho", trust me, give "Lunar Park" a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Bret honey what is this

EDIT: nah what was I doing giving this 4 stars I can’t stop thinking about it and I keep getting emails from the Bank of America in Sherman Oaks.

‘The quote I ultimately devised was glib and evasive, a string of words so nonspecific that they could have applied to just about anything: “I don’t think I’ve probably come upon a work so resolutely about itself in years.”’
p 67

„Лунен парк“, Colibri 2007, закупена от мен миналия октомври без конкретни очаквания, просто като плънка, оправдаваща транспортните разходи на поредната „кошница“ в „Книжен пазар“, се превърна в една от книгите ми за 2023. Елис просто е шутирал здраво всички етикети и жанрови ограничения, за да избълва задъхан микс от автобиографична фикция, хорър, алтернативна история, социална сатира и изобщо – всичко каквото се сетите. ГОЛЯМ, ама наистина ГОЛЯМ РОМАН!

Както сподели Нинко Кирилов в дискусията под мой пост в група „Какво четеш“, когато преди година се похвалих с новите си книжни придобивки и нямах никаква идея за що иде на реч:

… започва привидно лековато, но после мачка здраво. Изключителна книга… Има лек поклон пред Кинг, но като цяло има и лек ироничен автобиографичен мотив плюс убийствен финал.

И, факт, авторът си причини неща, подобни на ония, които Стивън Кинг стори със себе си в поредицата "Тъмната кула" - постави се в центъра на зловещи събития, оплитайки майсторски хитроумно и сладкодумно фактите от реалния живот и писателската си кариера с откровени измишльотини; имаше моменти, в които пиенето и друсането бяха съпоставими с творбите на Ървин Уелш; разказът, воден от първо лице от самия Брет Ийстън Елис (както винаги) ми се понрави – много любим похват; имаше и доста препратки към "Американски психар", а началото беше поставено на парти за Хелоуин, та една ли можеше да се случи по-подходящ месец от октомври за четенето на тая прелест.

В заключение, ще оставя самия писател да каже няколко думи, според мен улавящи цялостния дух на романа:

Какво да се прави, такава е работата на писателя; животът му представлява водовъртеж от лъжи. Неговата цел е да разкраси фактите. Правим го, за да доставим удоволствие на останалите. Правим го, за да освободим душите си. Физическият живот на писателя е в основата си живот на застоя и той трябва да си построи противоположен свят, всеки божи ден да създава едно друго аз, за да се спаси от рамките на ограничеността.

I'll admit, Ellis, I wasn't expecting this. I don't know, a bit of me wants to give you 4 stars for this, it got very weird and very Stephen King, but I loved the normal bits. And the beginning about you. I found it interesting reading a novel where Ellis is the narrator, too. An interesting book and one I've wanted to read for a long time.

I'm going to say 4.5, but 5 here on Goodreads as I read it in 2 days despite the length.

I read several reviews of this book before reading, most of which denounced it as being awful and I have to say, I'm surprised.

I tore through it in 3 days. I saw it as a near brilliant bit of mind f*ckery, so many psychological themes and commentary on modern life for me to gleefully go searching on Google to tear up and figure out. All that and horror, too! (I read somewhere that he was influenced by Steven King, in writing this one. Indeed. I have to say, I like the Ellis version of King even better.)

I don't necessarily agree with those that say Ellis clearly hates himself. He might. Or he might also just have had an idea for a book like this and is a brilliant writer with a ... very "interesting", shall we say, mind.

But I go back to the commentary on modern life. Having recently become a member of the suburban parent crowd, I had a great time reading his descriptions of the very sort of parents & parenting style I'm avoiding. There was one quote, in particular, that I loved: "What happened to just wanting your kids to be content and cool?... These parents were scientists and were no longer raising their kids instinctually - everyone had read a book or watched a video or skimmed the Net to figure out what to do."

I also found it incredibly clever to write a novel based on, or rather heavily referencing, your previous novels, in this way. I'm one of those people who, after watching movies (sometimes before), likes to tear the plot apart and understanding the meaning, where it all came from. In some ways, this felt like a very trippy readers guide to American Psycho. It's Cliff Notes on steroids. American Psycho just became that much more interesting to me and I plan on going back to not only read it again but watch the movie again, as well, given this new insight.

Yes, I'm a little confused and unsure of some parts - I've come to expect that from Ellis. But I like a book (or movie) that has me researching and discussing with other readers, trying to figure it all out. To me, the books that deserve bad reviews are those that I've forgotten the moment I close the cover and put it down.

I can see how this is definitely not a book for everyone. For me, there were many of my favorite elements. There were several passages that had me thinking, "I really wish they'd make a movie out of this," just for the visuals. (I'm a big fan of psychological horror with lots of blood and gore. Dare I say this almost falls in line with the J-Horror genre?)

Dare I say I see the skeleton of The Shards in this.