Crusader

Issue date: 10/7/05 Section: Features

In fact, that comment pretty much sums up this entire book; it is not effective. The fact that Ellis chose to write himself and parts of his life into the book suggest that it is intended, at least in part, as a sort of authorial penance and way of straightening himself out. And he does try to touch on several Big Issues: the relationship between fathers and sons, the responsibility of the artist for his creation, and the process of becoming an adult. But, in an odd way, even as Mr. Ellis attempts to connect to the reader through this novel, and to explain things that he feels need explaining, this is a very solipsistic book. I'm not a fan of Mr. Ellis' other novels; I have no particular interest in his life, and Lunar Park did not convince me that I should feel otherwise. This book is too much about its author, and not enough about its audience. In an age where we can watch several hours of celebrity reality on television a day, another "confessional" is not really needed, especially when it doesn't confess much of substance at all, but, like the average episode with Nick and Jessica, or the soothing rows of zeroes in the Public Safety crime report, tells us more about how we want to appear than who we really are.

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