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adambwriter's review
4.0
The Informers is like the sick love-child of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio and Nathanael West's Day of the Locust. While this collection of interweaving short stories is not as shocking or subversive as, say, Glamorama, it is equally blunt in it's chastisement of Hollywood glitz & glam phoniness (like Holden Caufiled on crack). Ellis's dystopic vision of Hollywood is a contemporary re-imagining of what West did with Day of the Locust, and of what Bukowski did with Ham on Rye. It's as honest as John Fante's Ask the Dust in it's critique of "west coast envy." What Ellis does truly brilliantly, I think, is presenting believable (most of the time) characters who feel truly blessed and "happy" to be living in L.A., yet the reader gets a look at what's going on under the surface, and it is not pretty. The vampires were a stretch, and the child murder was terrifying, but combined and/or inter-mixed with the rest of the more believable shorts - a father trying to reconnect with his son, a mother lusting over young (young) men, a wannabe rockstar abusing his female fans - sexually and physically, well, you get the point that this is L.A. and that the fantasy is fresh, fun, beautiful, but the reality is dark, disturbing, and dangerous. I'm not sure there's been a more on-the-money satirist since Mark Twain or Jane Austen - if only they had been more free to express themselves!
booksnpunks's review against another edition
4.0
The fourth thing I've read from Bret Easton Ellis, and probably the one I've liked the least. That's not to say it isn't good, but it was genuinely to do with the fact that it was a short story collection and other parts I liked a lot more than others. I'd already previously read a couple of the stories and it was good to revisit them, and the collection I think got a lot stronger near the end. The themes of disconnection, depression and nihilism are so poignant in his work, and this was another text that dealt with the stagnant nature of privileged personalities in LA.
The prose and dialogue was wonderful as always, and I loved the little references to his others works in this. Definitely up and down for me though, but the ones that were up there I liked well enough to push this up to four stars.
The prose and dialogue was wonderful as always, and I loved the little references to his others works in this. Definitely up and down for me though, but the ones that were up there I liked well enough to push this up to four stars.
ruthenator's review against another edition
1.0
Another Bret Easton Ellis story with no redeeming characters.
lipsandpalms's review against another edition
2.0
I'm almost halfway through and I don't care about any of the characters or their motivations. They're all written pretty similarly and there isn't some overarching plot for the story itself.
The vacuous nature of someone like Pat Bateman in American Psycho or the college kids in Rules of Attraction where all they do is go to restaurants and complain about petty shit works. It works because Pat is a rich sociopath who only cares about his own life and the college kids are only concerned with the world of their campus. The characters in Informers are married, grown up, varied in worldview. Or at least they should be. Each character thinks and speaks basically the same, usually at a restaurant, and barely touching their food. It all seems so fruitless. Like the story is giving details with no promise that the information will be important later and I'm guessing most of it won't.
I care so little about the characters I don't think a sudden murder of any of them could get me interested again so I've decided to move on.
The vacuous nature of someone like Pat Bateman in American Psycho or the college kids in Rules of Attraction where all they do is go to restaurants and complain about petty shit works. It works because Pat is a rich sociopath who only cares about his own life and the college kids are only concerned with the world of their campus. The characters in Informers are married, grown up, varied in worldview. Or at least they should be. Each character thinks and speaks basically the same, usually at a restaurant, and barely touching their food. It all seems so fruitless. Like the story is giving details with no promise that the information will be important later and I'm guessing most of it won't.
I care so little about the characters I don't think a sudden murder of any of them could get me interested again so I've decided to move on.
tianabanana's review against another edition
3.0
This book is like Ellis' other books after The Rules of Attraction (just okay) and then suddenly there are vampires. I don't know, man...
alireuter's review against another edition
2.75
after american psycho, i was excited to read more of ellis’ work however this one was quite disappointing for me. it started off intriguing, capturing glimpses of intertwined characters & their lives but it descended into a mess. the group started off as small & easy to understand & i liked figuring out how they were all connected, either through their children or even affairs. however, this group expanded into people who had no connection into the beginning which i found rather jarring & took myself out of it all. each chapter is a short story from a different character’s perspective but it never seems to return to the same one which is disappointing (apparently the film is bad too). i would’ve enjoyed it a lot more if it was limited to a group of characters who were somehow connected but with separate stories but instead i felt discombobulated every chapter trying to decipher who i’m reading about & what’s happening. i liked the first few chapters because i thought it was going to lead to something but it never did. i read a review saying how it’s all “rich people with rich problems”, which can sometimes work, just not here. at parts it is also as graphic as american psycho, but i’m starting to think that it’s just a staple of ellis’ writing, which he does well. go read american psycho.
bookswithlukas's review against another edition
5.0
Less a novel and more a collection of extremely loosely connected short stories set in L.A. The movie based from the book is pretty terrible, but from watching that it makes certain aspects of the connectivity between characters more easy to see and understand, especially in comparison to my first attempt reading it years ago. Glad I gave it the re-read, I've always enjoyed Ellis yet this was the only one of his i felt I didn't really 'get'. Happy to see my understanding has changed.
gloomyboygirl's review against another edition
3.0
Despite the mid rating, I liked this a lot. The final two stories were just so weird and unnecessary that it brought down the whole book for me-- tbh a lot of the 3rd to last did too but it is what it is. A light parody of white upper crust LA in the 80s in all it's immoral, drug-induced, and sex-crazed glory. Everyone sucks so much due to privilege and hedonism combining but everyone is also human in their emotional lives. And when you think about it, isn't privileged white Americana the same as being a vampire? I am sick of heroin usage being shorthand for morally off the rails human being, though.
Probably would be 4 stars without the last two stories and 5 stars without the last three. I apparently love how Ellis writes and criticizes high society and nihilism is a philosophical thread I like to indulge in despite not believing in it. But the intense violence and in your face surrealism of the closing stories flopped for me, unfortunately.
Probably would be 4 stars without the last two stories and 5 stars without the last three. I apparently love how Ellis writes and criticizes high society and nihilism is a philosophical thread I like to indulge in despite not believing in it. But the intense violence and in your face surrealism of the closing stories flopped for me, unfortunately.