Book: Bright Precious Days
Author: Jay McInerney
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 397
Price: 499
Another chapter into the trilogy as Jay Mcinerney brings to you the story of Russell and Corrine with a little added touch of the uber Manhattan life. The book begins and ends at comparatively slow pace and has the same old clichéd story of people two individuals trying to find a median through their troubled marriage and overcome the effects of a past love triangle. The earlier two versions of this book revolved around the their enigmatic university affair and the wedding thereafter, while in this version as they have gradually moved into their fifties there are some highs and lows in their relationship not to forget the counterfeit high society shell they have created around themselves.
Talking about characters this book does not add a new lease of life to its characters but just otherwise drags it over with the same clichéd story line and predictable plot twists. It provides you a faint idea as to what is going to happen next thereby breaking the sharpness of the book. Introduction of characters, how their lives are entwined and where is the story headed are a few story angles which were amazingly explained in the earlier versions.
If you are too much of a emotional melodramatic serial watcher then this book is just the thing you need. The plot of the story is somewhat similar to a soap opera and reintroduces the characters with redundant influx. The story begins with Russell being and autarchical book published who is clinging onto that little thread of hope of saving himself before being doomed in his business. On the other side of the story is Corrine who has given a high-flying job to be a dedicated mother to her twins mentally upset about her current societal status and making dreams of entering into a better world for herself and her family.
What acts as the crux breaker to this story is the regular ghost from the past with the entry of Corrine’s wealthy ex-lover coming with an agenda of bringing back the love of his life while the kids are on a totally different tangent. The deeper you get into the story you might want to skip some pages just to get to the end of the story. The first few chapters give you wholesome insights into what is going to happen further and how that will affect the characters. The story works more like a daily soap than a romantic novel.
Despite being a regular potboiler Mcinerney amazes you with his vision and takes you on a visual tour of the Manhattan socialite circle, its standard of living, the characters getting entangled in the fictitious circle, its effect on their personal and professional life, the emotional turmoil and their attempts at saving this relationship. Read this book for the subtle narration of the story and the overall brogue construction. Definitely recommended for the one who loves taking things slow, is addicted to romance and is ok having prior knowledge of what is going to happen next. Ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 would surely rate this book with 3 stars.
