If you’ve ever read a Bret Easton Ellis novel, you are well-aware that his novels don’t tend to end quite as neatly as the novels of most other writers. In fact, a few of his novels, including Glamourama, get so convoluted and strange that they become hard to follow. It’s almost as if Bret Easton Ellis starts writing his novels while totally sober, and then ends writing them under the influence of at least one too many narcotics.

Although the ending ofLunar Park is quite a bit clearer than many of Bret Easton Ellis’ novels, it’s still a fairly weird book which can best be a semi-autobiographical pseudo-memoir novel.  Lunar Park ends with a demon doll and a Patrick Bateman impersonator who goes on a murder spree, but is otherwise a is a totally normal book with a typical plot.

 Lunar Park delves into the relationship that Bret Easton Ellis had with his real father; however the novel centers around the fictitious relationship of Bret Easton Ellis to Jayne Dennis, an actress who he re-connects with later in life when they decide to raise their “love child” together. All goes well for the celebrity couple until Bret Easton Ellis begins to party again—this time in the ‘burbs—with his celebrity writer friends at a Halloween party.

Jayne Dennis is an entirely fictitious character, as are most in the novel, but several celebrities make appearances in the novel either to hang out, advise, or party with Bret Easton Ellis, who is himself in the book. Jayne Dennis has proven to be such a popular character that there are several mock fan-sites for the fictitious actress.

It seems as if Bret Easton Ellis is trying to be edgy in Lunar Park, but he truthfully doesn’t reach that aim in the novel. It’s the new millennium now and it’s more difficult to be shocked by Bret Easton Ellis’ drug use, his sex life, or his need to infuse his prose with the paranoid delusions of heavy drug-users. The last quarter of the book is more like a ghost/detective/horror story than a memoir, but again, his writing doesn’t quite reach the level of Stephen King. (I know because I was able to go to sleep without having any nightmares about either demon dolls or serial killers even though Lunar Park contained both.)

I’d say that Lunar Park is worth reading if you have happen to have your hands on it already, but I wouldn’t suggest going out of your way to get your hands on a copy.