SOURCE: "Zonked Again," in The New York Times Book Review, September 25, 1988, p. 12.

In the following review, Gaiser offers an unfavorable assessment of Story of My Life.

Nelson Algren once observed in conversation that "no matter how many novels you write, it sure as hell doesn't get any easier. Each new book is a whole new ball game." That familiar metaphor takes on fresh meaning here, aptly conveying the sheer chanciness of an artistic enterprise in which even a writer as gifted as Jay McInerney may produce a disappointing novel. A very disappointing one.

Story of My Life is Mr. McInerney's third work of fiction. In 1985, he won critical acclaim for his first novel, Bright Lights, Big City, a fast-paced, witty, yet oddly moving book about an aspiring young writer adrift in Manhattan—deserted by his wife, high on cocaine and headed for a breakdown.

With this funny valentine...