Bright lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

A young, unnamed protagonist works as a fact checker for a prestigious Magazine in New York City. However, he finds himself in a failed marriage, bored with his job, uninspired as a writer, and trying to cope with his mothers death. He deals with this tumult of emotions by engaging in the drug and club culture of 1980's New York City with his hedonistic friend Tad Allagash. Consuming copious amounts of cocaine and walking into one dysfunctional situation after another the young protagonist desperately tries to find true meaning and happiness in his life.

This book was written and set in 1980's New York City and is the debut novel from writer Jay McInerney. From the opening sentence to closing paragraph this book defines literary High Art. McInerney's unnamed protagonist suffers from a crisis of conscience. Caught between his dreams of becoming a great writer and the need to find happiness in his life McInerney's protagonist journeys into the heart of the murky yet hedonic 1980's club scene of New York City to find an answer. Lethargic and out of sorts from lack of sleep, cocaine and alcohol use all he finds are egocentric, self serving creatures in a culture that defines apathy and loneliness. McInerney writes with an incredibly artful prose and his deftness at turning a phrase makes this book a phenomenal read.

This novel was first published in 1984 by American writer Jay McInerney. It was also adapted into a movie of the same name in 1988. McInerney is a wine columnist for House and Garden magazine. Other books he has written are "Ransom", "Story of my life", "Brightness Falls", "The Last of the Savages", "Model Behavior", "How it Ended", and, "The Good Life".