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Bright Lights, Big City
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Plot Summary of Bright Lights, Big City
"A week in the degenerating life of an early 80's Manhattan yuppie who can't face the facts--being abandoned by his model wife and the death of his mother. The main character fills the empty holes holes with booze and cocaine. Written in the second person, this novel is clever,hillarious, and touching."
Brendan Xavier Darcy, Resident Scholar

"A young writer (never named, but presumably called Jay after the writer) copes with life in new York at a prestigious magazine and a vibrant nightlife.

According to the rather skewed timeline of this novel, the main character has just broken up with his wife, who is in Europe somewhere modeling for something and someone.

And as if this wasn't enough to handle, a few months earlier than that his mother died. So what does our poor protagonist do? Go on a campaign of late night parties, cocaine, and early morning headaches with his shallow buddy Ted, who is determined to have more fun than anybody else in New York."

Nico Self, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Bright Lights, Big City
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - humorous
Time/era of story - 1980's-1999
Life of a profession: - writer
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over - vague finding self/purpose in life (i.e. no plot to book)
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Coping with loss of loved one(s) Yes
Loss of... - mother
Job/Profession/Status story Yes
Druggie/Wino problems? - drugs

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - writer
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental Yes
Eccentric: - emotionally unstable
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - none
Profession/status: - writer

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 ()
City? Yes
City: - New York

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
Sex in book? Yes
Unusual Style: - a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Bright Lights, Big City
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Jay McInerney Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Nico Self  

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