The Almost Very Good Life

After reading Jay McInerney's post 9/11 novel "The Good Life," I'd like to give him a good spanking. The first three-quarters of your book was brilliant. And then you stumbled, and then you fell. You captured oh-so well the moneyed echelon of the Upper East Side and Tribeca. You recreated picture perfectly the shock and despair during the days following 9/11. I applaud your choice not to depict the actual traumatic event. You created characters who lost their sense of self, confused and desperate. And then you decided to move the story to Tennessee, and you started writing about horses and open fields and romances of minor characters named "Duck" and "Nora." Oh, Jay, it was so good up until that point. You spoiled such a good book.