Lunar Park

By: Bret Easton Ellis

Narrated by: James Van Der Beek

Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the New York Times bestselling author of American Psycho and Less Than Zero comes a chilling tale that combines reality, memoir, and fantasy to create a fascinating portrait of this most controversial writer but also a deeply moving novel about love and loss, parents and children, and ultimately forgiveness.

“John Cheever writes The Shining.” —Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly

Bret Ellis, the narrator of Lunar Park, is the bestselling 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. His attempts to save his new world from his own demons makes Lunar Park Ellis’s most suspenseful novel.

Look for Bret Easton Ellis’s new novel, The Shards!

Listen to a conversation with Bret Easton Ellis.

©2005 Bret Easton Ellis (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[Ellis's] most enjoyable novel . . . The story of a doomed marriage blends with a satirical take on upscale suburban angst, a campy horror story about a haunted house, a Frankenstein-like case of a monster unchained and a serious rumination on the damage fathers can do to sons. Ellis stirs these elements into a steamy witches' brew and works his way through to a marvelously elegiac ending, displaying real artistic discipline . . . Even his harshest critics may now have to acknowledge that this versatile, resourceful writer has formidable skills." --Kirkus, starred review

Loved the narration

This has a lot of wonderful prose and inner commentary but about halfway through was hard to keep up with and for a bit slow and unspooled. Loved the narration though and if you’re a BEE fan I still recommend!

More Than Creepy

I couldn't stop listening. The author twists elements of his own life and experience into a bizarre and disturbing phycological horror story. Through most of the book, one is not sure if the "monsters" are real or just in the mind of a very messed up character. In fact, at times I wanted them to be real just to ease the creepiness that comes from empathizing with a character who is so lost.

I don't know how well this narrator would do with another genre, but for this book, he was perfect!

I hope Audible can snag a few others by Ellis. I'd love to listen to Less Than Zero and American Psycho.

Boy, does this guy have demons or what?

Interesting blend of genres (autobiography, horror, satire, suspense) works well in my opinion. This was a lot of fun and kept me on the edge of my seat. Very well read, which always helps. Yes, the protaganist/author is very unlikable; but, so what? It makes me glad I'm not him! I appreciate books/movies that push the limits and this surely qualifies. Listen and enjoy!

James van der Beek needs to narrate every book

Terrific semi-autobiographical beginning, artful orchestrations, poetic ending, van der Beek should read all his books.

frustrating

The first 8 hours of this book annoyed me. I was really ticked about wasting a credit n this book that supposedly would "blow my mind, for more than 8 hours". The first 8 hours is nothing but the guy snorting his fortune up his nose, drinking too much, and screwing up any chance of making his family happy.
The last three and a half hours were great. Absolutely phenominal. I even learned to ignore all of the cocaine and heroin he was doing. It was an intense thriller that I didn't want to stop listening to. The problem was that I had to wait so long for the story to pick up, that it killed the whole experience. This book would make a great movie, but don't waste your download. It is a tedious listen and the good parts don't make up for the bad.

Lunar Park

Highly recommend. An excellent and entertaining story that is easily accessible to any fans of Ellis and his previous works. Props to the Dawson who does a great job narrating as well...

Not what I thought it was going to be.

I am a big fan of Bret Ellis and was hoping that this would be more about his real life, however it's not. Great story in its own way. Very different in a good way.

Overall failure

Starts extremely strong and I loved the first 60-70%. Then it just goes into lazy junk.

A glimpse into a brilliant writers life.

I have one thing to say: "Get trashed less and write more." This book is awesome and gripping and Van Der Beek makes it hum! I didn't want to miss a word. I would like audible.com to put the other books by Ellis in an audio format with Van Der Beek as the reader. I am emailing a thumbs up to all of my audiphile addicts.

Very Engaging

This was my first BEE book, and I found it by turns fascinating and frightening. It's a great story that is moving, scary, and involving. The narration is very strong as well. Very "Stephen King" esque, and an interesting act of meta-fiction (writing about himself fictionally).