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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
This is a book that makes you feel, from every of its short, fragmented chapter; every sparse, understated dialogue; like you're addicted to coke and no matter how often you snorted it, you simply don't feel good anymore.
Clay, the protagonist, is a rich boy home from college. He and his friends are utter brats that do nothing but burn their parents' cash and waste their youth partying, having wild sex, taking drugs, driving pointlessly anywhere because they don't want to go home, and waking up in the afternoon with a throbbing headache and they don't know why. Plenty of books and music have been written about this, but this is one that makes you truly feel it. Like you're drifting aimlessly with Clay yourself.
The detached tone stands in stark contrast with the increasingly disturbing content of what Clay expriences. Shock value has its appeal, I guess, especially considering how unbothered the kids in the book are about it. There are events towards the final fifth of the book that I find so disturbing that I want to throw up and yet Clay's narrative somehow numbs me as well. Made me desensitised like he was.
One more great thing this novel boasts is that the characters are so obsessesed with brand names, specific popular songs of the time, hotspots in Los Angeles for privileged kids, and it shows a stark sense of superficiality. It shows you why these kids are unhappy - it's all surface level and no substance. They do not have meaningful connections with each other and with family, they do not have real fun, they do not do meaningful work. And they are sent in downward spirals, with one of the characters getting the worst of it.
For a book about 200 pages long, it has like 200 characters and it's hard to keep track who's who, and who's done what. But if you think about it, it only serves to show how despite being surrounded by people, Clay is really alone. He cannot connect with anyone, nor can any of those affluent youths connect with each other. They pursue similarly excessive lifestyles, are subject to a similar ennui, and together they form the social peer group that brings immense peer pressure on kids like themselves.
This is one of the novels that I think I wouldn't have enjoyed very much upon its release but am really grateful it exists because it takes me to another time and place. I don't know much about 80s Los Angeles and thanks to it I have a vivid picture in my mind now. Not necessarily a nice one, but a vivid one nonetheless.
The book has a lot of important themes and the writing is quite well paced and unique, but four stars rather than five because the detachment sometimes feel too much and I would have preferred for Clay to get personal at least once in a while. Also some part of the writing feels rather juvenile and I have this nagging feeling that Ellis is trying use shock value to his advantage. Which, frankly, worked for me, but I don't like that I'm being manipulated. :')
Clay, the protagonist, is a rich boy home from college. He and his friends are utter brats that do nothing but burn their parents' cash and waste their youth partying, having wild sex, taking drugs, driving pointlessly anywhere because they don't want to go home, and waking up in the afternoon with a throbbing headache and they don't know why. Plenty of books and music have been written about this, but this is one that makes you truly feel it. Like you're drifting aimlessly with Clay yourself.
The detached tone stands in stark contrast with the increasingly disturbing content of what Clay expriences. Shock value has its appeal, I guess, especially considering how unbothered the kids in the book are about it. There are events towards the final fifth of the book that I find so disturbing that I want to throw up and yet Clay's narrative somehow numbs me as well. Made me desensitised like he was.
One more great thing this novel boasts is that the characters are so obsessesed with brand names, specific popular songs of the time, hotspots in Los Angeles for privileged kids, and it shows a stark sense of superficiality. It shows you why these kids are unhappy - it's all surface level and no substance. They do not have meaningful connections with each other and with family, they do not have real fun, they do not do meaningful work. And they are sent in downward spirals, with one of the characters getting the worst of it.
For a book about 200 pages long, it has like 200 characters and it's hard to keep track who's who, and who's done what. But if you think about it, it only serves to show how despite being surrounded by people, Clay is really alone. He cannot connect with anyone, nor can any of those affluent youths connect with each other. They pursue similarly excessive lifestyles, are subject to a similar ennui, and together they form the social peer group that brings immense peer pressure on kids like themselves.
This is one of the novels that I think I wouldn't have enjoyed very much upon its release but am really grateful it exists because it takes me to another time and place. I don't know much about 80s Los Angeles and thanks to it I have a vivid picture in my mind now. Not necessarily a nice one, but a vivid one nonetheless.
The book has a lot of important themes and the writing is quite well paced and unique, but four stars rather than five because the detachment sometimes feel too much and I would have preferred for Clay to get personal at least once in a while. Also some part of the writing feels rather juvenile and I have this nagging feeling that Ellis is trying use shock value to his advantage. Which, frankly, worked for me, but I don't like that I'm being manipulated. :')
This book make me miss Mtv and my capacity for detachment from reality.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sex, drugs, money, and an all consuming apathy–this and more at the ripe age of . . . nineteen. This is the world of Clay, the protagonist of Bret Easton Ellis’s 1985 novel Less Than Zero which follows him for the four-week winter vacation when Clay returns home to Los Angeles from his East Coast college. While there, Clay quickly falls into the aimless rhythms of the people and places of “home” and spirals down into a darkness that more closely resembles hell. Clay and his friends go to a different party every other night, visit the same clubs and arcades, take drugs, sleep with whomever is willing (and sometimes not), and drive around aimlessly. Each action is as meaningless as the last, the only goal being to numbingly pass the time in an endless loop of consumption. The characters themselves feel interchangeable at times because they’re only slightly different variations of one another, all white, tanned blondes wearing sunglasses and strung out on one vice or another. Clay is almost always a bystander. He may not be committing any of the foul acts he frequently witnesses, but he doesn’t do anything to stop them either. It’s unclear if he doesn’t act because he doesn’t care, or if he’s lost his ability to care because he feels like he has no power to change the world around him. Though the novel speaks to a specific time and place, much of the heart (or lack thereof) of the story is still valid. We’ve become even more desensitized to suffering in part because we’ve become more exposed to it. We still fail to act because we feel powerless. I don’t know if this book has become more accurate or less. I’m sure it depends whom you ask.
dark
funny
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An unsettling and absorbing intro to Ellis. Will definitely check out his other work, although I don’t think I have the stomach for American Psycho.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
2.5 Stars. Suffers in Comparison
This book might have been a two star, were it not for the fact that I have read American Psycho several times and can see that this book is a necessary prerequisite. On its own, however, it falls flat. What may have been risque in the 80s is just hopelessly dated now, and the one-dimensional characters seem like nothing more than today's reality stars. Skip this book. DO NOT skip American Psycho.
This book might have been a two star, were it not for the fact that I have read American Psycho several times and can see that this book is a necessary prerequisite. On its own, however, it falls flat. What may have been risque in the 80s is just hopelessly dated now, and the one-dimensional characters seem like nothing more than today's reality stars. Skip this book. DO NOT skip American Psycho.