From School Library Journal
If the stories in this new collection from McInerney (_Bright Lights, Big City_) have a common ground, it's cocaine and parties. Some of these stories are about characters at opposite ends of the universe. Others feel like Noah Baumbach films, concerned with selfish, chemically imbalanced rich families, making it nearly impossible to identify with them despite what are supposed to be universal problems. The writing here is clearly good and the narration calm, understated, and nicely controlledβa trait McInerney probably picked up while studying under Raymond Carver, though these stories don't feel necessary, as Carver's do. In fact, these bite-sized stories are so smooth, each encapsulating a snippet of its characters' lives, that they can be read in just a few minutes. Some do get to universal truths on heartbreaking relationships, but only in the last few lines; mostly, they're like sitcoms. Not recommended, though libraries where McInerney is popular should consider. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/08.]βStephen Morrow, Athens, OH
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From
Compared by critics to such literary giants as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, J. D. Salinger, and Graham Greene, McInerney has demonstrated impressive depth and range over the last three decades, and most critics valued How It Ended as a record of McInerneyβs evolution as a writer. Retaining his mordant humor and panache alongside hard-won wisdom and maturity, McInerney dissects the ambitions and excesses of youth as they yield to the limitations and moderation of middle age. He revisits his signature themesβdrugs, infidelity, and social climbingβand creates likeable, if self-absorbed, characters. Though the San Francisco Chronicle claimed that the newer stories felt rushed and other reviewers were annoyed by McInerneyβs fascination with name brands and labels, How It Ended should please fans and newcomers alike.
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