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3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.
Glamorama is about Victor Ward, a male model who is so vapid and narcissistic and absorbed with self-image that it's a miracle he is alive, who gets caught up in a celebrity-member terrorist organization and its plots.
What the fuck. No, seriously: WHAT THE FUCK.
I knew going into this that it would probably be all kinds of fucked up because this is Bret Easton Ellis we're talking about and I've read [b:American Psycho|28676|American Psycho|Bret Easton Ellis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1436934349s/28676.jpg|2270060] and [b:Less Than Zero|9915|Less Than Zero|Bret Easton Ellis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1443060100s/9915.jpg|1146200], so to say I was prepared isn't a lie. But, wow, I still can't believe somebody lets Ellis publish -- and I mean that in a good way. I have a pretty good stomach, but even some of this stuff I was roiling at. If you are a tad (or more) sensitive to gore, body horror, extreme violence, then 100% stay away from this book.
I didn't quite like Glamorama as much as his previous novels. The length of the book is a mark against it, I think, because the plot doesn't really get going until well into the second, maybe third, section of the book (I can't quite remember). The first half is very slow, if not outright unnecessary, and the constant name-dropping, product mentions, song titles are grating and make the book drag even more. I understand why Ellis kept all of it in: it frames the fame-obsession every celebrity in the novel seems to have well. There are some bits in it that work well in building up the terrorism plot as well. Overall, though, it was a slog to get through.
Victor as a character does a great 180˚ from beginning to end. He starts off incredibly unlikeable and quickly turns into a character that you don't necessarily want to root for, but you certainly don't want anything bad to happen to him. Certain minor characters don't stick out enough to be able to separate them personality-wise, so that's a problem that doesn't feel like a problem. Then again, the flat minor characters works well with what Ellis does...
What I really liked about the novel was that it did a fantastic job of making you disbelieve everything. It was so hard to understand what was actually happening and what was Victor imagining once the story gets going with the exception of the terrorist attacks -- those are clear from the book's premise . Everything gets so confusing, especially when trying to trace back through the lines who did what and why and who's in charge really. I don't know if there is a person in charge or if all the explanations are simply illogical, but I certainly was left feeling bereft of a proper answer -- but I think we're meant to. Shit happens and sometimes there's nobody to really, truly blame (except in this case, I blame everybody: Bobby, Jamie, Bentley, Bruce, Palakon, Lauren, Bertrand).
I was thoroughly freaked out once we get to the terrorism plot, too. Ellis is so blasé with his prose in order to effect his satire (which I think works well) that it makes the events more terrifying and horrific than it would have been otherwise.
Throughout the book, the style in which it's written evokes a cinematic feel, which I've read is intentional. I remember thinking that it would work so well as a film as I was reading. The images and narrative style just work so well in making you feel like you're watching a movie that I think the events become even more emotional. This whole feeling-like-a-film thing also probably helped in grossing me out: it honestly feels like (what I imagine it feels like) watching a snuff film. That makes it sound like Ellis is gratuitously appreciating desecrating human bodies; he's not. He actually writes quite starkly and straight-forward, despite the run-arounds in Victor's narration. It's the diction he uses and the cinematic style of the novel that makes it feel like a snuff film at times. Again, sensitive stomachs beware. There's no proper ending where you can feel safe or at least not on edge, which is another reason this book doesn't sit right after reading it.
If you like Ellis's other work, I would say give this one a go. It's certainly not as good as his earlier works, but that's mostly due to the slow first half and the never-ending name drops. If you've never read Ellis and think you want to pick this one up to try out (sensitive or non-sensitive stomachs, be damned): dear god no, don't do it!
Glamorama is about Victor Ward, a male model who is so vapid and narcissistic and absorbed with self-image that it's a miracle he is alive, who gets caught up in a celebrity-member terrorist organization and its plots.
What the fuck. No, seriously: WHAT THE FUCK.
I knew going into this that it would probably be all kinds of fucked up because this is Bret Easton Ellis we're talking about and I've read [b:American Psycho|28676|American Psycho|Bret Easton Ellis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1436934349s/28676.jpg|2270060] and [b:Less Than Zero|9915|Less Than Zero|Bret Easton Ellis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1443060100s/9915.jpg|1146200], so to say I was prepared isn't a lie. But, wow, I still can't believe somebody lets Ellis publish -- and I mean that in a good way. I have a pretty good stomach, but even some of this stuff I was roiling at. If you are a tad (or more) sensitive to gore, body horror, extreme violence, then 100% stay away from this book.
I didn't quite like Glamorama as much as his previous novels. The length of the book is a mark against it, I think, because the plot doesn't really get going until well into the second, maybe third, section of the book (I can't quite remember). The first half is very slow, if not outright unnecessary, and the constant name-dropping, product mentions, song titles are grating and make the book drag even more. I understand why Ellis kept all of it in: it frames the fame-obsession every celebrity in the novel seems to have well. There are some bits in it that work well in building up the terrorism plot as well. Overall, though, it was a slog to get through.
Victor as a character does a great 180˚ from beginning to end. He starts off incredibly unlikeable and quickly turns into a character that you don't necessarily want to root for, but you certainly don't want anything bad to happen to him. Certain minor characters don't stick out enough to be able to separate them personality-wise, so that's a problem that doesn't feel like a problem. Then again, the flat minor characters works well with what Ellis does...
What I really liked about the novel was that it did a fantastic job of making you disbelieve everything. It was so hard to understand what was actually happening and what was Victor imagining once the story gets going
I was thoroughly freaked out once we get to the terrorism plot, too. Ellis is so blasé with his prose in order to effect his satire (which I think works well) that it makes the events more terrifying and horrific than it would have been otherwise.
Throughout the book, the style in which it's written evokes a cinematic feel, which I've read is intentional. I remember thinking that it would work so well as a film as I was reading. The images and narrative style just work so well in making you feel like you're watching a movie that I think the events become even more emotional. This whole feeling-like-a-film thing also probably helped in grossing me out: it honestly feels like (what I imagine it feels like) watching a snuff film. That makes it sound like Ellis is gratuitously appreciating desecrating human bodies; he's not. He actually writes quite starkly and straight-forward, despite the run-arounds in Victor's narration. It's the diction he uses and the cinematic style of the novel that makes it feel like a snuff film at times. Again, sensitive stomachs beware. There's no proper ending where you can feel safe or at least not on edge, which is another reason this book doesn't sit right after reading it.
If you like Ellis's other work, I would say give this one a go. It's certainly not as good as his earlier works, but that's mostly due to the slow first half and the never-ending name drops. If you've never read Ellis and think you want to pick this one up to try out (sensitive or non-sensitive stomachs, be damned): dear god no, don't do it!