Jay McInerney’s ‘Calloway’ tetralogy started 36 years ago with Brightness Falls, in which Russell and Corrine Calloway become a couple. The Good Life was set against 9/11, Bright, Precious Days has the 2008 financial crash as its backdrop, and final instalment See You On The Other Side kicks off in 2020 at the dawn of the pandemic.
Russell and Corrine, respectively a publisher and a charity manager, are now in their early sixties, having moved from Harlem back to Manhattan and, finally, Greenwich Village. As Corrine grieves the death of her mother, Russell embarks on an affair with a young female writer half his age, and as the city enters lockdown, their daughter Storey is about to open her first restaurant in Brooklyn. Past dalliances resurface as the couple consolidate their past, present and future in a panic-stricken city.
From his debut Bright Lights Big City, McInerney has always managed to capture New York life: cultural and culinary aspects, changing politics and social attitudes. Here, speaking to that last facet, Black Lives Matter and the MeToo movement make their presence felt. Reading See You On The Other Side feels like visiting Balthazar brasserie or the East Village’s KGB bar and walked from block to block on the Manhattan streets. Sharp, witty and devastating, this is McInerney on top literary form for an unforgettable grand finale.
