My first BEE novel, 16 Dec 2008
This is my first book by BEE and only casually picked it up in the bookshop.
Its a well written book, not for the faint hearted as it can be quite graphic indetail and some parts rather disturbing (I cringed heavily when he mentions the animals)
I loved the intricate detail he put into every action and throughout the book I was imagining each detail, I wont go into too much detail as it will spoil the book.
The book is very dark and yet I managed to burst out with laughter in a few parts, Im not quite sure if that makes me crazy...
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to reading another novel by BEE.
Reader will enjoy this book if they are fans of Palanuhiks works also.

The most pointless book I've ever read., 23 Jul 2008
Yep, without doubt.

It's shocking, no doubt, but mainly in its inanity...

The constant references to Labels, restaurants, bars and clubs, the obsession with physical fitness, the racism, the sterotypical 'Wall Street workers', the gratuitous, graphic violence and sex all become deeply tedious VERY quickly...

And... as soon as they do you realise there's no story in this book.

I thought I must have missed some deep meaning in this 'work', but I suspect the point the writer thought he was making is so 80s that it really doesn't have any meaning today anyway.

Other reviewers talk about how it's poking fun at the Yuppies - Duh... if you don't get that in the first 3 pages you're probably on a life support machine.

This book could be subtitled "Irony for Dummies", it's so heavy-handed.

This is one of only two books that I've given up on part way through (and don't bother to say it all comes clear in the last third as it's now recycled into something useful, like toilet roll... Actually I'll admit I skim read the last 100 pages after originally writing this and THEN recycled it - The last 100 pages were rubbish too...)

It read like it was written by a 14 year old trying to upset his parents.

Waste your life, if you wish, but I'll not waste another second on this...

I'll never let a stranger perform oral sex on me, ever!, 15 Jul 2008
I'm a bit confused as to why other readers have said this is a black comedy, I laughed once! Perhpas if i had read this in the early nineties it may have resonated with me more. But it didn't. The only thing that kept me going, was the wanting to know "where is the stuff of the reviews read?"
I'm not a page skipper, but I did indeed skip through a lot of the boring detail over designer labeling. There were no descriptives other than Bill Blass and the rest of the unheard of (to most of us) hoards of designers.
I feel fobbed off when a writer leaves the ending with no ending, I need closure, American Psycho doesn't leave that. I wanted him caught and beaten to a pulp as nasty as the pulps he had beaten his victims to. What does that say about me!! This book will, if it hasn't already stop many people in their tracks when thinking about having some wild or spontaneous sex with someone we really don't know. So it might do for the human race what condoms and AIDs warning couldn't. There may be less STD's around now if it was written a lot sooner. I for one will never ever have oral sex with a stranger or even half stranger again. I will seriously think twice about perhaps three times before I even go in for a cup of coffee. What sort of impression does this book leave with society's young people, the impressionable ones. There's already enough machete weilding tenagers out there now. I wouldn't be suprised if most of them had read this book. The gore and torture only gets worse the deeper into the chapters you go. BUT and thank god at least he stops yabbering on about designer labels and his bloody 100 assorted different face creams, we actually get some good writing in parts, I enjoyed maybe a page until the torture started again. Oh and the chapters on his favourite music, well if I'd wanted a music review I'd have gotten a copy of rolling stone.Its an inconsistent read, for example: as he leaves us at the end of one chapter about to go on a date with (lets say) Evelyn. At the start of the next chapter the girl has a new name a differnet girl! Oh and he gets called by all sorts of names throughout, to the point where i started thinking, has this guy got multiple personalities not just the two, Mr Boring and Mr Psycho. His head is in such a mess that I as a reader was just as confused..I'm sorry to damn it as he's had rave reviews for this peice of work. But its not funny, its sick and I do wonder what goes on in the minds of the reviewers so far that find it an amusing read. Yes it is a banal and superficial world he portrays, but its not done well. Or perhaps i'm just not sick enough.

I love this book, 23 Oct 2007
I only read this book after I seen the film, which is portrayed wonderfully by Christian Bale. The book itself is the blackest of comedies with a hint of sarcasm about it. The violence in American Psycho, which is described down to the closest of details, is only a small part of the book as a whole. The rest of it is about the day-to-day life of an American businessman who is rich, good-looking but rarely happy and those are the most entertaining parts for me.

You may find it heavy going having to read the over-described details on everything from fashion to electrical products, but trust me, it gets easier. As I write this I struggle to pinpoint exactly why this book is entertaining, it just is. It's funny, quirky, sarcastic and plain sick all at once and it can play tricks with your mind. The interaction between characters is comical, as everyone is so self absorbed that half the time they don't know who one another are. But that doesn't really matter: having the right suit, business card and restaurant reservations are important. It's the 80's and image is everything to yuppies living in New York city.

one of my favourite books, 22 Sep 2007
bret easton ellis writes beautifully crafted sentences - of that there is no doubt. even in the more unsavoury parts of this novel (e.g. when the character of patrick bateman is being sarcastic, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, as he kills and tortures, during his innermost thought, and even in his detailed descriptions of situations and objects, the words used by bret easton ellis are chosen just right).

a highly entertaining gluttony of wholesale slaughter, unbridled paranoia, complete and utter self-loving and self-loathing and vacuousness. read it for yourself.

My first BEE novel, 16 Dec 2008
This is my first book by BEE and only casually picked it up in the bookshop.
Its a well written book, not for the faint hearted as it can be quite graphic indetail and some parts rather disturbing (I cringed heavily when he mentions the animals)
I loved the intricate detail he put into every action and throughout the book I was imagining each detail, I wont go into too much detail as it will spoil the book.
The book is very dark and yet I managed to burst out with laughter in a few parts, Im not quite sure if that makes me crazy...
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to reading another novel by BEE.
Reader will enjoy this book if they are fans of Palanuhiks works also.

The most pointless book I've ever read., 23 Jul 2008
Yep, without doubt.

It's shocking, no doubt, but mainly in its inanity...

The constant references to Labels, restaurants, bars and clubs, the obsession with physical fitness, the racism, the sterotypical 'Wall Street workers', the gratuitous, graphic violence and sex all become deeply tedious VERY quickly...

And... as soon as they do you realise there's no story in this book.

I thought I must have missed some deep meaning in this 'work', but I suspect the point the writer thought he was making is so 80s that it really doesn't have any meaning today anyway.

Other reviewers talk about how it's poking fun at the Yuppies - Duh... if you don't get that in the first 3 pages you're probably on a life support machine.

This book could be subtitled "Irony for Dummies", it's so heavy-handed.

This is one of only two books that I've given up on part way through (and don't bother to say it all comes clear in the last third as it's now recycled into something useful, like toilet roll... Actually I'll admit I skim read the last 100 pages after originally writing this and THEN recycled it - The last 100 pages were rubbish too...)

It read like it was written by a 14 year old trying to upset his parents.

Waste your life, if you wish, but I'll not waste another second on this...

I'll never let a stranger perform oral sex on me, ever!, 15 Jul 2008
I'm a bit confused as to why other readers have said this is a black comedy, I laughed once! Perhpas if i had read this in the early nineties it may have resonated with me more. But it didn't. The only thing that kept me going, was the wanting to know "where is the stuff of the reviews read?"
I'm not a page skipper, but I did indeed skip through a lot of the boring detail over designer labeling. There were no descriptives other than Bill Blass and the rest of the unheard of (to most of us) hoards of designers.
I feel fobbed off when a writer leaves the ending with no ending, I need closure, American Psycho doesn't leave that. I wanted him caught and beaten to a pulp as nasty as the pulps he had beaten his victims to. What does that say about me!! This book will, if it hasn't already stop many people in their tracks when thinking about having some wild or spontaneous sex with someone we really don't know. So it might do for the human race what condoms and AIDs warning couldn't. There may be less STD's around now if it was written a lot sooner. I for one will never ever have oral sex with a stranger or even half stranger again. I will seriously think twice about perhaps three times before I even go in for a cup of coffee. What sort of impression does this book leave with society's young people, the impressionable ones. There's already enough machete weilding tenagers out there now. I wouldn't be suprised if most of them had read this book. The gore and torture only gets worse the deeper into the chapters you go. BUT and thank god at least he stops yabbering on about designer labels and his bloody 100 assorted different face creams, we actually get some good writing in parts, I enjoyed maybe a page until the torture started again. Oh and the chapters on his favourite music, well if I'd wanted a music review I'd have gotten a copy of rolling stone.Its an inconsistent read, for example: as he leaves us at the end of one chapter about to go on a date with (lets say) Evelyn. At the start of the next chapter the girl has a new name a differnet girl! Oh and he gets called by all sorts of names throughout, to the point where i started thinking, has this guy got multiple personalities not just the two, Mr Boring and Mr Psycho. His head is in such a mess that I as a reader was just as confused..I'm sorry to damn it as he's had rave reviews for this peice of work. But its not funny, its sick and I do wonder what goes on in the minds of the reviewers so far that find it an amusing read. Yes it is a banal and superficial world he portrays, but its not done well. Or perhaps i'm just not sick enough.

I love this book, 23 Oct 2007
I only read this book after I seen the film, which is portrayed wonderfully by Christian Bale. The book itself is the blackest of comedies with a hint of sarcasm about it. The violence in American Psycho, which is described down to the closest of details, is only a small part of the book as a whole. The rest of it is about the day-to-day life of an American businessman who is rich, good-looking but rarely happy and those are the most entertaining parts for me.

You may find it heavy going having to read the over-described details on everything from fashion to electrical products, but trust me, it gets easier. As I write this I struggle to pinpoint exactly why this book is entertaining, it just is. It's funny, quirky, sarcastic and plain sick all at once and it can play tricks with your mind. The interaction between characters is comical, as everyone is so self absorbed that half the time they don't know who one another are. But that doesn't really matter: having the right suit, business card and restaurant reservations are important. It's the 80's and image is everything to yuppies living in New York city.

one of my favourite books, 22 Sep 2007
bret easton ellis writes beautifully crafted sentences - of that there is no doubt. even in the more unsavoury parts of this novel (e.g. when the character of patrick bateman is being sarcastic, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, as he kills and tortures, during his innermost thought, and even in his detailed descriptions of situations and objects, the words used by bret easton ellis are chosen just right).

a highly entertaining gluttony of wholesale slaughter, unbridled paranoia, complete and utter self-loving and self-loathing and vacuousness. read it for yourself.

What makes this book so good?, 03 Nov 2008
Bret Easton Ellis documents the life of Clay, eighteen years old, back home in LA for the holidays from his New England college. Clay does little. He moves in a daze, from bedroom to pool to parties and tense family dinners, watching the lives of his family and friends - mostly fellow teens with no direction, too much money and too much freedom - their parents all divorced and mostly absent.

The style is choppy- deliberately so - as Clay's thoughts and feelings grasshopper through observations and feelings. Emotionally detached, he watches his world with the blinds drawn, numbed by a haze of sex, drugs and alcohol, witness to the slow-motion death-dives of the lives around him as his friends compete in an endless, no-holds-barred search for ever bigger and more contemptible thrills to alleviate the ennui of their hopeless lives.

Darkly pessimistic, Less than Zero confused me; why did I keep reading? Nothing really happens. There is virtually no plot and the only character development is that of Clay himself and his slow realisation that he's living in Hell.

Clay's final vow to leave LA and never return is the final word in a book that goes nowhere but is, nevertheless, always disturbing, fascinating and compelling.


Disappear Here, 31 Jul 2008
I for one thoroughly enjoyed this book. Bret Easton Ellis sets the tone of his writing style with his first novel here. It doesn't disappoint and is still an enjoyable read twenty years later. Like in the style of Ellis's other novels, Less Than Zero is no different: this book is about a group of seemingly bored, rich and attractive individuals who appear to have everything but happiness. It's basically written in the style of a diary, narrated by the main character Clay, and is entertaining, believable and sad.

Depressingly brilliant, 03 Nov 2007
I think the most astonishing thing about Bret Easton Ellis's first book is how well constructed it is, how it permanently keeps you on edge, and how effectively it conveys an atmosphere of increasing dread out of what starts out to be just an impressive amount of shallowness. American Psycho notwithstanding, Less than Zero might just be his most powerful book, and if you are new to Ellis, then you are in for a real treat. For those in the know, all the familiar Ellis themes are already firmly in place: the emptiness, the alienation, the complete boredom of a spoiled generation - abandoned and eaten by their parents - who only get their kicks in the most perverse and obscene ways. These LA scenesters are utterly dead, or better yet, they are undead, and, like proper vampires, need to sustain themselves on a steady diet of human sacrifice. The deaths, OD's, car-crashes and snuff films are the only things that raise a flicker of genuine interest in them. All the rest (the parties, the drugs, the sex) is just business as usual.
What is not business as usual is the way Ellis carefully builds on this, introducing and exposing the reader to all the superficial drug abuse and mindless sex before building up to the real decadence underneath - the only one that seems to elicit a flicker of interest (if not true excitement) from these walking dead. And in Clay, Ellis has one of his best characters: as dead as the rest of them, he expertly guides the reader through this emotionally barren landscape, showing just the tiniest bit of troubled humanity needed to sustain the reader, towards the final scenes, before returning to his emotionally flat-lined natural state. In any novel, this type of pacing would be great, but for a first novel written in his mid-twenties, it is absolutely ace. Read it and be depressed by Ellis's brilliance.

The dumbest generation yet, 22 Oct 2007
Very much a practise run for American Psycho, this nihilistic tale of alienation and ennui among 1980s Los Angeles youth leaves the reader with a feeling of emptiness and despair. This is not alienation through poverty but through excess, the triumph of consumerism over imagination, catalysed by a second-rate culture and education system, and poor quality parenting. Narrated by Clay, on holiday in Los Angeles for Christmas, a clique of decadent and aimless young Californians subsists on a soulless diet of MTV cable, porn films, cocaine, crystal meth and loveless sex; what Philip Roth has called `the dumbest generation yet.' In this moral vacuum they drift from one ruinous party to another, indifferent to the often tragic consequences of their actions (ODs, abortions), balancing precariously between a meaningless life and a meaningless death. The novel is powerful, effective and accomplished in a horrible sort of way, with an undertone of menace, but in the end you can't help feeling that it is as pointless as the lives of the cartoon-ish characters within. A book to sink the spirits.

The No Future Generation, 19 Oct 2007
"Less Than Zero" is the first novel by the American writer Bret Easton Ellis. The main characters name is Clay, a New Hampshire college student, who returns home to Los Angeles for Christmas vacation. Clay and his friends are travelling from party to party, taking drugs and having sex with one another. It's the normal life of American upper class teenagers, but then the parties are getting wilder and wilder, Clay notices that his best friend is a junky and other friends of his are watching hardcore snuff pornos. And once Clay asks a friend: "Why are you doing this? You have everything," and he answers: "No I don't. I don't have anything to lose."
And that's exactly what the book is about - the description of the "no future generation". It's the generation which has nothing to do, because they have everything. So they are destroying themselves, and B. E. Ellis describes this mercilessly.
"Less Than Zero" is a harsh and violent book, which shows the problems of our society: boredom, egoism, over-stimulation... "Less Than Zero" was written in the 80's, but the problems are as relevant today as they were then.

My first BEE novel, 16 Dec 2008
This is my first book by BEE and only casually picked it up in the bookshop.
Its a well written book, not for the faint hearted as it can be quite graphic indetail and some parts rather disturbing (I cringed heavily when he mentions the animals)
I loved the intricate detail he put into every action and throughout the book I was imagining each detail, I wont go into too much detail as it will spoil the book.
The book is very dark and yet I managed to burst out with laughter in a few parts, Im not quite sure if that makes me crazy...
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to reading another novel by BEE.
Reader will enjoy this book if they are fans of Palanuhiks works also.

The most pointless book I've ever read., 23 Jul 2008
Yep, without doubt.

It's shocking, no doubt, but mainly in its inanity...

The constant references to Labels, restaurants, bars and clubs, the obsession with physical fitness, the racism, the sterotypical 'Wall Street workers', the gratuitous, graphic violence and sex all become deeply tedious VERY quickly...

And... as soon as they do you realise there's no story in this book.

I thought I must have missed some deep meaning in this 'work', but I suspect the point the writer thought he was making is so 80s that it really doesn't have any meaning today anyway.

Other reviewers talk about how it's poking fun at the Yuppies - Duh... if you don't get that in the first 3 pages you're probably on a life support machine.

This book could be subtitled "Irony for Dummies", it's so heavy-handed.

This is one of only two books that I've given up on part way through (and don't bother to say it all comes clear in the last third as it's now recycled into something useful, like toilet roll... Actually I'll admit I skim read the last 100 pages after originally writing this and THEN recycled it - The last 100 pages were rubbish too...)

It read like it was written by a 14 year old trying to upset his parents.

Waste your life, if you wish, but I'll not waste another second on this...

I'll never let a stranger perform oral sex on me, ever!, 15 Jul 2008
I'm a bit confused as to why other readers have said this is a black comedy, I laughed once! Perhpas if i had read this in the early nineties it may have resonated with me more. But it didn't. The only thing that kept me going, was the wanting to know "where is the stuff of the reviews read?"
I'm not a page skipper, but I did indeed skip through a lot of the boring detail over designer labeling. There were no descriptives other than Bill Blass and the rest of the unheard of (to most of us) hoards of designers.
I feel fobbed off when a writer leaves the ending with no ending, I need closure, American Psycho doesn't leave that. I wanted him caught and beaten to a pulp as nasty as the pulps he had beaten his victims to. What does that say about me!! This book will, if it hasn't already stop many people in their tracks when thinking about having some wild or spontaneous sex with someone we really don't know. So it might do for the human race what condoms and AIDs warning couldn't. There may be less STD's around now if it was written a lot sooner. I for one will never ever have oral sex with a stranger or even half stranger again. I will seriously think twice about perhaps three times before I even go in for a cup of coffee. What sort of impression does this book leave with society's young people, the impressionable ones. There's already enough machete weilding tenagers out there now. I wouldn't be suprised if most of them had read this book. The gore and torture only gets worse the deeper into the chapters you go. BUT and thank god at least he stops yabbering on about designer labels and his bloody 100 assorted different face creams, we actually get some good writing in parts, I enjoyed maybe a page until the torture started again. Oh and the chapters on his favourite music, well if I'd wanted a music review I'd have gotten a copy of rolling stone.Its an inconsistent read, for example: as he leaves us at the end of one chapter about to go on a date with (lets say) Evelyn. At the start of the next chapter the girl has a new name a differnet girl! Oh and he gets called by all sorts of names throughout, to the point where i started thinking, has this guy got multiple personalities not just the two, Mr Boring and Mr Psycho. His head is in such a mess that I as a reader was just as confused..I'm sorry to damn it as he's had rave reviews for this peice of work. But its not funny, its sick and I do wonder what goes on in the minds of the reviewers so far that find it an amusing read. Yes it is a banal and superficial world he portrays, but its not done well. Or perhaps i'm just not sick enough.

I love this book, 23 Oct 2007
I only read this book after I seen the film, which is portrayed wonderfully by Christian Bale. The book itself is the blackest of comedies with a hint of sarcasm about it. The violence in American Psycho, which is described down to the closest of details, is only a small part of the book as a whole. The rest of it is about the day-to-day life of an American businessman who is rich, good-looking but rarely happy and those are the most entertaining parts for me.

You may find it heavy going having to read the over-described details on everything from fashion to electrical products, but trust me, it gets easier. As I write this I struggle to pinpoint exactly why this book is entertaining, it just is. It's funny, quirky, sarcastic and plain sick all at once and it can play tricks with your mind. The interaction between characters is comical, as everyone is so self absorbed that half the time they don't know who one another are. But that doesn't really matter: having the right suit, business card and restaurant reservations are important. It's the 80's and image is everything to yuppies living in New York city.

one of my favourite books, 22 Sep 2007
bret easton ellis writes beautifully crafted sentences - of that there is no doubt. even in the more unsavoury parts of this novel (e.g. when the character of patrick bateman is being sarcastic, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, as he kills and tortures, during his innermost thought, and even in his detailed descriptions of situations and objects, the words used by bret easton ellis are chosen just right).

a highly entertaining gluttony of wholesale slaughter, unbridled paranoia, complete and utter self-loving and self-loathing and vacuousness. read it for yourself.

What makes this book so good?, 03 Nov 2008
Bret Easton Ellis documents the life of Clay, eighteen years old, back home in LA for the holidays from his New England college. Clay does little. He moves in a daze, from bedroom to pool to parties and tense family dinners, watching the lives of his family and friends - mostly fellow teens with no direction, too much money and too much freedom - their parents all divorced and mostly absent.

The style is choppy- deliberately so - as Clay's thoughts and feelings grasshopper through observations and feelings. Emotionally detached, he watches his world with the blinds drawn, numbed by a haze of sex, drugs and alcohol, witness to the slow-motion death-dives of the lives around him as his friends compete in an endless, no-holds-barred search for ever bigger and more contemptible thrills to alleviate the ennui of their hopeless lives.

Darkly pessimistic, Less than Zero confused me; why did I keep reading? Nothing really happens. There is virtually no plot and the only character development is that of Clay himself and his slow realisation that he's living in Hell.

Clay's final vow to leave LA and never return is the final word in a book that goes nowhere but is, nevertheless, always disturbing, fascinating and compelling.


Disappear Here, 31 Jul 2008
I for one thoroughly enjoyed this book. Bret Easton Ellis sets the tone of his writing style with his first novel here. It doesn't disappoint and is still an enjoyable read twenty years later. Like in the style of Ellis's other novels, Less Than Zero is no different: this book is about a group of seemingly bored, rich and attractive individuals who appear to have everything but happiness. It's basically written in the style of a diary, narrated by the main character Clay, and is entertaining, believable and sad.

Depressingly brilliant, 03 Nov 2007
I think the most astonishing thing about Bret Easton Ellis's first book is how well constructed it is, how it permanently keeps you on edge, and how effectively it conveys an atmosphere of increasing dread out of what starts out to be just an impressive amount of shallowness. American Psycho notwithstanding, Less than Zero might just be his most powerful book, and if you are new to Ellis, then you are in for a real treat. For those in the know, all the familiar Ellis themes are already firmly in place: the emptiness, the alienation, the complete boredom of a spoiled generation - abandoned and eaten by their parents - who only get their kicks in the most perverse and obscene ways. These LA scenesters are utterly dead, or better yet, they are undead, and, like proper vampires, need to sustain themselves on a steady diet of human sacrifice. The deaths, OD's, car-crashes and snuff films are the only things that raise a flicker of genuine interest in them. All the rest (the parties, the drugs, the sex) is just business as usual.
What is not business as usual is the way Ellis carefully builds on this, introducing and exposing the reader to all the superficial drug abuse and mindless sex before building up to the real decadence underneath - the only one that seems to elicit a flicker of interest (if not true excitement) from these walking dead. And in Clay, Ellis has one of his best characters: as dead as the rest of them, he expertly guides the reader through this emotionally barren landscape, showing just the tiniest bit of troubled humanity needed to sustain the reader, towards the final scenes, before returning to his emotionally flat-lined natural state. In any novel, this type of pacing would be great, but for a first novel written in his mid-twenties, it is absolutely ace. Read it and be depressed by Ellis's brilliance.

The dumbest generation yet, 22 Oct 2007
Very much a practise run for American Psycho, this nihilistic tale of alienation and ennui among 1980s Los Angeles youth leaves the reader with a feeling of emptiness and despair. This is not alienation through poverty but through excess, the triumph of consumerism over imagination, catalysed by a second-rate culture and education system, and poor quality parenting. Narrated by Clay, on holiday in Los Angeles for Christmas, a clique of decadent and aimless young Californians subsists on a soulless diet of MTV cable, porn films, cocaine, crystal meth and loveless sex; what Philip Roth has called `the dumbest generation yet.' In this moral vacuum they drift from one ruinous party to another, indifferent to the often tragic consequences of their actions (ODs, abortions), balancing precariously between a meaningless life and a meaningless death. The novel is powerful, effective and accomplished in a horrible sort of way, with an undertone of menace, but in the end you can't help feeling that it is as pointless as the lives of the cartoon-ish characters within. A book to sink the spirits.

The No Future Generation, 19 Oct 2007
"Less Than Zero" is the first novel by the American writer Bret Easton Ellis. The main characters name is Clay, a New Hampshire college student, who returns home to Los Angeles for Christmas vacation. Clay and his friends are travelling from party to party, taking drugs and having sex with one another. It's the normal life of American upper class teenagers, but then the parties are getting wilder and wilder, Clay notices that his best friend is a junky and other friends of his are watching hardcore snuff pornos. And once Clay asks a friend: "Why are you doing this? You have everything," and he answers: "No I don't. I don't have anything to lose."
And that's exactly what the book is about - the description of the "no future generation". It's the generation which has nothing to do, because they have everything. So they are destroying themselves, and B. E. Ellis describes this mercilessly.
"Less Than Zero" is a harsh and violent book, which shows the problems of our society: boredom, egoism, over-stimulation... "Less Than Zero" was written in the 80's, but the problems are as relevant today as they were then.


brilliant peek into a tangled web, 15 Feb 2008
This was the second book by Easton Ellis that I read (after american psycho) and focuses on the complicated lives of three characters caught up in a nasty love triangle (square? pentagon?) It slowly leaks information regarding the personas and backgrounds of the characters and does a good job of drawing you in, and putting you behind their eyes so to speak. For me the best thing about Ellis' works are the way the characters are linked, for example, one of the three primary characters in the rules of attraction, Sean Bateman, is the the brother of American psycho Pat Bateman (Sean stars in that book, for about 4 lines, and Pat is mentioned in this) Likewise, the love of one of the other leads lives, Victor, is the main character in Glamourama. These links are ingenious and very subtly deployed. From the second I clocked that Sean was Pat Batemans brother, I was hooked, and read all the rest of Easton Ellis' novels. I havent been dissapointed with a single one of them. Whilst this isnt as good as American Psycho, it stands alongside Glamorama, and above less than zero. A worthy read!

Great insight, 13 Feb 2008
This was the first Bret Easton Ellis book I'd read, so I wasn't sure on what to expect, but the book didn't disappoint. In fact it has made me stick a few more of his books in my Amazon wish list.

The start of the book sets the tone for the characters. It starts mid-sentence like your just dropping in on the book, and it ends mid-sentence, as if you just drift off not really caring about what has happened. This juxtaposition works very well and helps show the characters true essence.

Are money and drugs ruining the world? After reading "The Rules of Attraction" you will certainly believe so. The wild times, out-of-control students and disregard for anything other than oneself, doesn't paint a very pretty picture.

The story revolves around three main characters, Sean, Paul and Lauren. All rich, beautiful and delusional. Which attribute describes them best is hard to tell. As you go deeper the characters become entangled in various situations, some more serious than others. But all with the same terrible, depressing & soul-less attitude.

As the old cliche goes, after I started I didn't want to stop. A great read.

"The Rules of Attraction", 10 Jun 2004
Having been dragged to the movie in the first instance I found it - confusing. Following a movie with very little plot, enough cocaine to bring down a herd of elephants and a twisted concept of love in the teenage world I became intruiged.

So, I bought the book.

I found that the book contains much of the missing information that causes the movie to lack substance. Although there is still no plot, per say, one has to acknowledge that the writer is exploring the concept that events in ones' life have no precise start and end - like a nice fairytale.

This daily journal of student life from the characters' varying points of view had me heart-broken as I watched Paul read deep into a non-existent relationship. Mary's suicide over being unable to communicate her affection for Sean and what little humanity he has being quashed by Lauren all caused this novel to hold my attention.

I agree, it's not the ideal book for someone who likes a strict plot and all the usual ingredients which make a 'classic' novel but if you can respect it for what it truly it (as well as the concept of the writer and the fact it's an exploratory piece of writing) then you should fully appreciate "The Rules of Attraction".

Good but not the best from Easton-Ellis, 23 May 2004
I am a self titled Bret Easton Ellis Fan having read all of his books more than once. But while this one has some really great dark comedy moments - I laughed out loud at Sean's ill-fated suicide attempt to the 'Monster Mash' - to me this comes across as Bret doing Less Than Zero again but without it's overall coherence, poetry and impact. As an Easton Ellis fan I am dissapointed at it's poetic bluntness. Maybe that is not the point, not the intention, but I still think that Ellis is at his best when seeing significance in small details and in the sureal. Here there is none of the deftly poetic prose as in for example Less Than Zero that puts the meaningless lives of the protagonists into perspective.

A Very Good novel, 06 Mar 2004
The Rules Of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, is his second novel, and definitely one of my favourites (the other being American Psycho). The story evolves around Sean Bateman, (Patrick Bateman's brother, the sick and demented character in American Psycho) Lauren, a girl who changes boyfriends as she changes majors, Paul, a bi-sexual who has the hots for Sean, and other guys around the college. It is set in New England during the Regan 80's. They spend their time getting drunk, doing drugs, and having sex. Yet, these characters are unlikable, they dont have a clue what they want to do in their future, or the present. They barely go to class, and that is all they do. What makes this book so good? The writing that Bret Easton Ellis does in this novel. This novel brings back the 80's; full of drugs, sex, and music, and it pokes fun at it. The novel is very entertaining, and yet very unique in many ways. The novel tells us about these slackers who rather have sex and get drunk, and yet they dont have a single clue of what they want to do with their lives. One of the thing that Ellis does not make us feel sorry for them, which is very different from other writers out there; James Patterson, Stephen King, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and the list goes on. A very unique novel by one of the finest modern writers of our time.

Sure the novel does not have a plot, but that is not what makes this book good; what makes it good is the story being told by Ellis about these people who rather do drugs than go to class most of the time, and have sex also, but did American Psycho have a plot? No. Most of Bret Easton Ellis's novels dont, they just show the people as they are, and you take it as it is. If you are looking for a book that has a plot, dont read this, but if you like Ellis's work (or you have never heard of him), then buy it or get it from your local library.

My first BEE novel, 16 Dec 2008
This is my first book by BEE and only casually picked it up in the bookshop.
Its a well written book, not for the faint hearted as it can be quite graphic indetail and some parts rather disturbing (I cringed heavily when he mentions the animals)
I loved the intricate detail he put into every action and throughout the book I was imagining each detail, I wont go into too much detail as it will spoil the book.
The book is very dark and yet I managed to burst out with laughter in a few parts, Im not quite sure if that makes me crazy...
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to reading another novel by BEE.
Reader will enjoy this book if they are fans of Palanuhiks works also.

The most pointless book I've ever read., 23 Jul 2008
Yep, without doubt.

It's shocking, no doubt, but mainly in its inanity...

The constant references to Labels, restaurants, bars and clubs, the obsession with physical fitness, the racism, the sterotypical 'Wall Street workers', the gratuitous, graphic violence and sex all become deeply tedious VERY quickly...

And... as soon as they do you realise there's no story in this book.

I thought I must have missed some deep meaning in this 'work', but I suspect the point the writer thought he was making is so 80s that it really doesn't have any meaning today anyway.

Other reviewers talk about how it's poking fun at the Yuppies - Duh... if you don't get that in the first 3 pages you're probably on a life support machine.

This book could be subtitled "Irony for Dummies", it's so heavy-handed.

This is one of only two books that I've given up on part way through (and don't bother to say it all comes clear in the last third as it's now recycled into something useful, like toilet roll... Actually I'll admit I skim read the last 100 pages after originally writing this and THEN recycled it - The last 100 pages were rubbish too...)

It read like it was written by a 14 year old trying to upset his parents.

Waste your life, if you wish, but I'll not waste another second on this...

I'll never let a stranger perform oral sex on me, ever!, 15 Jul 2008
I'm a bit confused as to why other readers have said this is a black comedy, I laughed once! Perhpas if i had read this in the early nineties it may have resonated with me more. But it didn't. The only thing that kept me going, was the wanting to know "where is the stuff of the reviews read?"
I'm not a page skipper, but I did indeed skip through a lot of the boring detail over designer labeling. There were no descriptives other than Bill Blass and the rest of the unheard of (to most of us) hoards of designers.
I feel fobbed off when a writer leaves the ending with no ending, I need closure, American Psycho doesn't leave that. I wanted him caught and beaten to a pulp as nasty as the pulps he had beaten his victims to. What does that say about me!! This book will, if it hasn't already stop many people in their tracks when thinking about having some wild or spontaneous sex with someone we really don't know. So it might do for the human race what condoms and AIDs warning couldn't. There may be less STD's around now if it was written a lot sooner. I for one will never ever have oral sex with a stranger or even half stranger again. I will seriously think twice about perhaps three times before I even go in for a cup of coffee. What sort of impression does this book leave with society's young people, the impressionable ones. There's already enough machete weilding tenagers out there now. I wouldn't be suprised if most of them had read this book. The gore and torture only gets worse the deeper into the chapters you go. BUT and thank god at least he stops yabbering on about designer labels and his bloody 100 assorted different face creams, we actually get some good writing in parts, I enjoyed maybe a page until the torture started again. Oh and the chapters on his favourite music, well if I'd wanted a music review I'd have gotten a copy of rolling stone.Its an inconsistent read, for example: as he leaves us at the end of one chapter about to go on a date with (lets say) Evelyn. At the start of the next chapter the girl has a new name a differnet girl! Oh and he gets called by all sorts of names throughout, to the point where i started thinking, has this guy got multiple personalities not just the two, Mr Boring and Mr Psycho. His head is in such a mess that I as a reader was just as confused..I'm sorry to damn it as he's had rave reviews for this peice of work. But its not funny, its sick and I do wonder what goes on in the minds of the reviewers so far that find it an amusing read. Yes it is a banal and superficial world he portrays, but its not done well. Or perhaps i'm just not sick enough.

I love this book, 23 Oct 2007
I only read this book after I seen the film, which is portrayed wonderfully by Christian Bale. The book itself is the blackest of comedies with a hint of sarcasm about it. The violence in American Psycho, which is described down to the closest of details, is only a small part of the book as a whole. The rest of it is about the day-to-day life of an American businessman who is rich, good-looking but rarely happy and those are the most entertaining parts for me.

You may find it heavy going having to read the over-described details on everything from fashion to electrical products, but trust me, it gets easier. As I write this I struggle to pinpoint exactly why this book is entertaining, it just is. It's funny, quirky, sarcastic and plain sick all at once and it can play tricks with your mind. The interaction between characters is comical, as everyone is so self absorbed that half the time they don't know who one another are. But that doesn't really matter: having the right suit, business card and restaurant reservations are important. It's the 80's and image is everything to yuppies living in New York city.

one of my favourite books, 22 Sep 2007
bret easton ellis writes beautifully crafted sentences - of that there is no doubt. even in the more unsavoury parts of this novel (e.g. when the character of patrick bateman is being sarcastic, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, as he kills and tortures, during his innermost thought, and even in his detailed descriptions of situations and objects, the words used by bret easton ellis are chosen just right).

a highly entertaining gluttony of wholesale slaughter, unbridled paranoia, complete and utter self-loving and self-loathing and vacuousness. read it for yourself.

What makes this book so good?, 03 Nov 2008
Bret Easton Ellis documents the life of Clay, eighteen years old, back home in LA for the holidays from his New England college. Clay does little. He moves in a daze, from bedroom to pool to parties and tense family dinners, watching the lives of his family and friends - mostly fellow teens with no direction, too much money and too much freedom - their parents all divorced and mostly absent.

The style is choppy- deliberately so - as Clay's thoughts and feelings grasshopper through observations and feelings. Emotionally detached, he watches his world with the blinds drawn, numbed by a haze of sex, drugs and alcohol, witness to the slow-motion death-dives of the lives around him as his friends compete in an endless, no-holds-barred search for ever bigger and more contemptible thrills to alleviate the ennui of their hopeless lives.

Darkly pessimistic, Less than Zero confused me; why did I keep reading? Nothing really happens. There is virtually no plot and the only character development is that of Clay himself and his slow realisation that he's living in Hell.

Clay's final vow to leave LA and never return is the final word in a book that goes nowhere but is, nevertheless, always disturbing, fascinating and compelling.


Disappear Here, 31 Jul 2008
I for one thoroughly enjoyed this book. Bret Easton Ellis sets the tone of his writing style with his first novel here. It doesn't disappoint and is still an enjoyable read twenty years later. Like in the style of Ellis's other novels, Less Than Zero is no different: this book is about a group of seemingly bored, rich and attractive individuals who appear to have everything but happiness. It's basically written in the style of a diary, narrated by the main character Clay, and is entertaining, believable and sad.

Depressingly brilliant, 03 Nov 2007
I think the most astonishing thing about Bret Easton Ellis's first book is how well constructed it is, how it permanently keeps you on edge, and how effectively it conveys an atmosphere of increasing dread out of what starts out to be just an impressive amount of shallowness. American Psycho notwithstanding, Less than Zero might just be his most powerful book, and if you are new to Ellis, then you are in for a real treat. For those in the know, all the familiar Ellis themes are already firmly in place: the emptiness, the alienation, the complete boredom of a spoiled generation - abandoned and eaten by their parents - who only get their kicks in the most perverse and obscene ways. These LA scenesters are utterly dead, or better yet, they are undead, and, like proper vampires, need to sustain themselves on a steady diet of human sacrifice. The deaths, OD's, car-crashes and snuff films are the only things that raise a flicker of genuine interest in them. All the rest (the parties, the drugs, the sex) is just business as usual.
What is not business as usual is the way Ellis carefully builds on this, introducing and exposing the reader to all the superficial drug abuse and mindless sex before building up to the real decadence underneath - the only one that seems to elicit a flicker of interest (if not true excitement) from these walking dead. And in Clay, Ellis has one of his best characters: as dead as the rest of them, he expertly guides the reader through this emotionally barren landscape, showing just the tiniest bit of troubled humanity needed to sustain the reader, towards the final scenes, before returning to his emotionally flat-lined natural state. In any novel, this type of pacing would be great, but for a first novel written in his mid-twenties, it is absolutely ace. Read it and be depressed by Ellis's brilliance.

The dumbest generation yet, 22 Oct 2007
Very much a practise run for American Psycho, this nihilistic tale of alienation and ennui among 1980s Los Angeles youth leaves the reader with a feeling of emptiness and despair. This is not alienation through poverty but through excess, the triumph of consumerism over imagination, catalysed by a second-rate culture and education system, and poor quality parenting. Narrated by Clay, on holiday in Los Angeles for Christmas, a clique of decadent and aimless young Californians subsists on a soulless diet of MTV cable, porn films, cocaine, crystal meth and loveless sex; what Philip Roth has called `the dumbest generation yet.' In this moral vacuum they drift from one ruinous party to another, indifferent to the often tragic consequences of their actions (ODs, abortions), balancing precariously between a meaningless life and a meaningless death. The novel is powerful, effective and accomplished in a horrible sort of way, with an undertone of menace, but in the end you can't help feeling that it is as pointless as the lives of the cartoon-ish characters within. A book to sink the spirits.

The No Future Generation, 19 Oct 2007
"Less Than Zero" is the first novel by the American writer Bret Easton Ellis. The main characters name is Clay, a New Hampshire college student, who returns home to Los Angeles for Christmas vacation. Clay and his friends are travelling from party to party, taking drugs and having sex with one another. It's the normal life of American upper class teenagers, but then the parties are getting wilder and wilder, Clay notices that his best friend is a junky and other friends of his are watching hardcore snuff pornos. And once Clay asks a friend: "Why are you doing this? You have everything," and he answers: "No I don't. I don't have anything to lose."
And that's exactly what the book is about - the description of the "no future generation". It's the generation which has nothing to do, because they have everything. So they are destroying themselves, and B. E. Ellis describes this mercilessly.
"Less Than Zero" is a harsh and violent book, which shows the problems of our society: boredom, egoism, over-stimulation... "Less Than Zero" was written in the 80's, but the problems are as relevant today as they were then.


brilliant peek into a tangled web, 15 Feb 2008
This was the second book by Easton Ellis that I read (after american psycho) and focuses on the complicated lives of three characters caught up in a nasty love triangle (square? pentagon?) It slowly leaks information regarding the personas and backgrounds of the characters and does a good job of drawing you in, and putting you behind their eyes so to speak. For me the best thing about Ellis' works are the way the characters are linked, for example, one of the three primary characters in the rules of attraction, Sean Bateman, is the the brother of American psycho Pat Bateman (Sean stars in that book, for about 4 lines, and Pat is mentioned in this) Likewise, the love of one of the other leads lives, Victor, is the main character in Glamourama. These links are ingenious and very subtly deployed. From the second I clocked that Sean was Pat Batemans brother, I was hooked, and read all the rest of Easton Ellis' novels. I havent been dissapointed with a single one of them. Whilst this isnt as good as American Psycho, it stands alongside Glamorama, and above less than zero. A worthy read!

Great insight, 13 Feb 2008
This was the first Bret Easton Ellis book I'd read, so I wasn't sure on what to expect, but the book didn't disappoint. In fact it has made me stick a few more of his books in my Amazon wish list.

The start of the book sets the tone for the characters. It starts mid-sentence like your just dropping in on the book, and it ends mid-sentence, as if you just drift off not really caring about what has happened. This juxtaposition works very well and helps show the characters true essence.

Are money and drugs ruining the world? After reading "The Rules of Attraction" you will certainly believe so. The wild times, out-of-control students and disregard for anything other than oneself, doesn't paint a very pretty picture.

The story revolves around three main characters, Sean, Paul and Lauren. All rich, beautiful and delusional. Which attribute describes them best is hard to tell. As you go deeper the characters become entangled in various situations, some more serious than others. But all with the same terrible, depressing & soul-less attitude.

As the old cliche goes, after I started I didn't want to stop. A great read.

"The Rules of Attraction", 10 Jun 2004
Having been dragged to the movie in the first instance I found it - confusing. Following a movie with very little plot, enough cocaine to bring down a herd of elephants and a twisted concept of love in the teenage world I became intruiged.

So, I bought the book.

I found that the book contains much of the missing information that causes the movie to lack substance. Although there is still no plot, per say, one has to acknowledge that the writer is exploring the concept that events in ones' life have no precise start and end - like a nice fairytale.

This daily journal of student life from the characters' varying points of view had me heart-broken as I watched Paul read deep into a non-existent relationship. Mary's suicide over being unable to communicate her affection for Sean and what little humanity he has being quashed by Lauren all caused this novel to hold my attention.

I agree, it's not the ideal book for someone who likes a strict plot and all the usual ingredients which make a 'classic' novel but if you can respect it for what it truly it (as well as the concept of the writer and the fact it's an exploratory piece of writing) then you should fully appreciate "The Rules of Attraction".

Good but not the best from Easton-Ellis, 23 May 2004
I am a self titled Bret Easton Ellis Fan having read all of his books more than once. But while this one has some really great dark comedy moments - I laughed out loud at Sean's ill-fated suicide attempt to the 'Monster Mash' - to me this comes across as Bret doing Less Than Zero again but without it's overall coherence, poetry and impact. As an Easton Ellis fan I am dissapointed at it's poetic bluntness. Maybe that is not the point, not the intention, but I still think that Ellis is at his best when seeing significance in small details and in the sureal. Here there is none of the deftly poetic prose as in for example Less Than Zero that puts the meaningless lives of the protagonists into perspective.

A Very Good novel, 06 Mar 2004
The Rules Of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, is his second novel, and definitely one of my favourites (the other being American Psycho). The story evolves around Sean Bateman, (Patrick Bateman's brother, the sick and demented character in American Psycho) Lauren, a girl who changes boyfriends as she changes majors, Paul, a bi-sexual who has the hots for Sean, and other guys around the college. It is set in New England during the Regan 80's. They spend their time getting drunk, doing drugs, and having sex. Yet, these characters are unlikable, they dont have a clue what they want to do in their future, or the present. They barely go to class, and that is all they do. What makes this book so good? The writing that Bret Easton Ellis does in this novel. This novel brings back the 80's; full of drugs, sex, and music, and it pokes fun at it. The novel is very entertaining, and yet very unique in many ways. The novel tells us about these slackers who rather have sex and get drunk, and yet they dont have a single clue of what they want to do with their lives. One of the thing that Ellis does not make us feel sorry for them, which is very different from other writers out there; James Patterson, Stephen King, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and the list goes on. A very unique novel by one of the finest modern writers of our time.

Sure the novel does not have a plot, but that is not what makes this book good; what makes it good is the story being told by Ellis about these people who rather do drugs than go to class most of the time, and have sex also, but did American Psycho have a plot? No. Most of Bret Easton Ellis's novels dont, they just show the people as they are, and you take it as it is. If you are looking for a book that has a plot, dont read this, but if you like Ellis's work (or you have never heard of him), then buy it or get it from your local library.

masterpiece, 10 Sep 2008
im a massive fan of ellis so i may be biased, but i believe this to be his greatest novel to date, i love the idea of the fictional autobiography which plays on ideas of what the media may believe his character to be. Then half way through the book it transforms into a kind of stephen king style horror....i loved every minute of this bizarre story, especially when patrick bateman appears to have become real....

Egotistical drivel, 05 Sep 2008
After reading American Psycho and been very impressed I was recommended this by a friend. Biggest reading disappointment so far.

I just couldn't get to grips with the narrative, a strange mix of 3rd person 1st person which just didn't work for me. Seemed very self-indulgent and the paranormal angle made the whole thing totally unbelievable (that is unless your a Derrick Accora fan). Sorry Bret I just didn't buy the whole residual energies taking over a kids toy...

funny scary brilliant, 19 May 2008
lunar park begins in what appears to be an autobiography, which then changes to become a homage to the great Stephen King. At some points you are laughing out loud, others you are scared, its only halfway through when you realise that it is in fact fiction and not an autobiography!
I particuarly liked his evil furby type character. Shame about the ending as the rest is fantastic

YBRET, 18 Oct 2007
Excessive, poignant, hilarious and quite unsettling by turns; Lunar Park is a brilliant read. The novel begins as a self-confessional autobiography of Bret Easton Ellis written in such a way that it's difficult to know which details are fictional and which are real, with Easton Ellis constantly referencing real events and real people (often involved in very believable scenarios). The candidness of this part of the novel makes for extremely funny reading (particularly when Keanu Reeves comes into the story).
This setting later morphs into a fantastical horror story. The writer decides to make a go of family life but finds himself haunted by demons from his past - all rooted in his relationship to his now deceased father. The supernatural elements are quite disturbing but somehow mix surprisingly well with an emotional and very moving family drama. Easton Ellis's narrator, for all his faults, is a very likeable narrator.

Inside the warped mind of Ellis..., 01 Aug 2007
Another great booked by Ellis, I was hooked yet again. It makes references to characters from American Psycho, so you should probably read that book first. Also, as with most of his books, it leaves you feeling like you could've done with just a tad more detail at the end... But overall amazing descriptions and captivating language - a definite read for this year.

My first BEE novel, 16 Dec 2008
This is my first book by BEE and only casually picked it up in the bookshop.
Its a well written book, not for the faint hearted as it can be quite graphic indetail and some parts rather disturbing (I cringed heavily when he mentions the animals)
I loved the intricate detail he put into every action and throughout the book I was imagining each detail, I wont go into too much detail as it will spoil the book.
The book is very dark and yet I managed to burst out with laughter in a few parts, Im not quite sure if that makes me crazy...
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to reading another novel by BEE.
Reader will enjoy this book if they are fans of Palanuhiks works also.

The most pointless book I've ever read., 23 Jul 2008
Yep, without doubt.

It's shocking, no doubt, but mainly in its inanity...

The constant references to Labels, restaurants, bars and clubs, the obsession with physical fitness, the racism, the sterotypical 'Wall Street workers', the gratuitous, graphic violence and sex all become deeply tedious VERY quickly...

And... as soon as they do you realise there's no story in this book.

I thought I must have missed some deep meaning in this 'work', but I suspect the point the writer thought he was making is so 80s that it really doesn't have any meaning today anyway.

Other reviewers talk about how it's poking fun at the Yuppies - Duh... if you don't get that in the first 3 pages you're probably on a life support machine.

This book could be subtitled "Irony for Dummies", it's so heavy-handed.

This is one of only two books that I've given up on part way through (and don't bother to say it all comes clear in the last third as it's now recycled into something useful, like toilet roll... Actually I'll admit I skim read the last 100 pages after originally writing this and THEN recycled it - The last 100 pages were rubbish too...)

It read like it was written by a 14 year old trying to upset his parents.

Waste your life, if you wish, but I'll not waste another second on this...

I'll never let a stranger perform oral sex on me, ever!, 15 Jul 2008
I'm a bit confused as to why other readers have said this is a black comedy, I laughed once! Perhpas if i had read this in the early nineties it may have resonated with me more. But it didn't. The only thing that kept me going, was the wanting to know "where is the stuff of the reviews read?"
I'm not a page skipper, but I did indeed skip through a lot of the boring detail over designer labeling. There were no descriptives other than Bill Blass and the rest of the unheard of (to most of us) hoards of designers.
I feel fobbed off when a writer leaves the ending with no ending, I need closure, American Psycho doesn't leave that. I wanted him caught and beaten to a pulp as nasty as the pulps he had beaten his victims to. What does that say about me!! This book will, if it hasn't already stop many people in their tracks when thinking about having some wild or spontaneous sex with someone we really don't know. So it might do for the human race what condoms and AIDs warning couldn't. There may be less STD's around now if it was written a lot sooner. I for one will never ever have oral sex with a stranger or even half stranger again. I will seriously think twice about perhaps three times before I even go in for a cup of coffee. What sort of impression does this book leave with society's young people, the impressionable ones. There's already enough machete weilding tenagers out there now. I wouldn't be suprised if most of them had read this book. The gore and torture only gets worse the deeper into the chapters you go. BUT and thank god at least he stops yabbering on about designer labels and his bloody 100 assorted different face creams, we actually get some good writing in parts, I enjoyed maybe a page until the torture started again. Oh and the chapters on his favourite music, well if I'd wanted a music review I'd have gotten a copy of rolling stone.Its an inconsistent read, for example: as he leaves us at the end of one chapter about to go on a date with (lets say) Evelyn. At the start of the next chapter the girl has a new name a differnet girl! Oh and he gets called by all sorts of names throughout, to the point where i started thinking, has this guy got multiple personalities not just the two, Mr Boring and Mr Psycho. His head is in such a mess that I as a reader was just as confused..I'm sorry to damn it as he's had rave reviews for this peice of work. But its not funny, its sick and I do wonder what goes on in the minds of the reviewers so far that find it an amusing read. Yes it is a banal and superficial world he portrays, but its not done well. Or perhaps i'm just not sick enough.

I love this book, 23 Oct 2007
I only read this book after I seen the film, which is portrayed wonderfully by Christian Bale. The book itself is the blackest of comedies with a hint of sarcasm about it. The violence in American Psycho, which is described down to the closest of details, is only a small part of the book as a whole. The rest of it is about the day-to-day life of an American businessman who is rich, good-looking but rarely happy and those are the most entertaining parts for me.

You may find it heavy going having to read the over-described details on everything from fashion to electrical products, but trust me, it gets easier. As I write this I struggle to pinpoint exactly why this book is entertaining, it just is. It's funny, quirky, sarcastic and plain sick all at once and it can play tricks with your mind. The interaction between characters is comical, as everyone is so self absorbed that half the time they don't know who one another are. But that doesn't really matter: having the right suit, business card and restaurant reservations are important. It's the 80's and image is everything to yuppies living in New York city.

one of my favourite books, 22 Sep 2007
bret easton ellis writes beautifully crafted sentences - of that there is no doubt. even in the more unsavoury parts of this novel (e.g. when the character of patrick bateman is being sarcastic, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, as he kills and tortures, during his innermost thought, and even in his detailed descriptions of situations and objects, the words used by bret easton ellis are chosen just right).

a highly entertaining gluttony of wholesale slaughter, unbridled paranoia, complete and utter self-loving and self-loathing and vacuousness. read it for yourself.

What makes this book so good?, 03 Nov 2008
Bret Easton Ellis documents the life of Clay, eighteen years old, back home in LA for the holidays from his New England college. Clay does little. He moves in a daze, from bedroom to pool to parties and tense family dinners, watching the lives of his family and friends - mostly fellow teens with no direction, too much money and too much freedom - their parents all divorced and mostly absent.

The style is choppy- deliberately so - as Clay's thoughts and feelings grasshopper through observations and feelings. Emotionally detached, he watches his world with the blinds drawn, numbed by a haze of sex, drugs and alcohol, witness to the slow-motion death-dives of the lives around him as his friends compete in an endless, no-holds-barred search for ever bigger and more contemptible thrills to alleviate the ennui of their hopeless lives.

Darkly pessimistic, Less than Zero confused me; why did I keep reading? Nothing really happens. There is virtually no plot and the only character development is that of Clay himself and his slow realisation that he's living in Hell.

Clay's final vow to leave LA and never return is the final word in a book that goes nowhere but is, nevertheless, always disturbing, fascinating and compelling.


Disappear Here, 31 Jul 2008
I for one thoroughly enjoyed this book. Bret Easton Ellis sets the tone of his writing style with his first novel here. It doesn't disappoint and is still an enjoyable read twenty years later. Like in the style of Ellis's other novels, Less Than Zero is no different: this book is about a group of seemingly bored, rich and attractive individuals who appear to have everything but happiness. It's basically written in the style of a diary, narrated by the main character Clay, and is entertaining, believable and sad.

Depressingly brilliant, 03 Nov 2007
I think the most astonishing thing about Bret Easton Ellis's first book is how well constructed it is, how it permanently keeps you on edge, and how effectively it conveys an atmosphere of increasing dread out of what starts out to be just an impressive amount of shallowness. American Psycho notwithstanding, Less than Zero might just be his most powerful book, and if you are new to Ellis, then you are in for a real treat. For those in the know, all the familiar Ellis themes are already firmly in place: the emptiness, the alienation, the complete boredom of a spoiled generation - abandoned and eaten by their parents - who only get their kicks in the most perverse and obscene ways. These LA scenesters are utterly dead, or better yet, they are undead, and, like proper vampires, need to sustain themselves on a steady diet of human sacrifice. The deaths, OD's, car-crashes and snuff films are the only things that raise a flicker of genuine interest in them. All the rest (the parties, the drugs, the sex) is just business as usual.
What is not business as usual is the way Ellis carefully builds on this, introducing and exposing the reader to all the superficial drug abuse and mindless sex before building up to the real decadence underneath - the only one that seems to elicit a flicker of interest (if not true excitement) from these walking dead. And in Clay, Ellis has one of his best characters: as dead as the rest of them, he expertly guides the reader through this emotionally barren landscape, showing just the tiniest bit of troubled humanity needed to sustain the reader, towards the final scenes, before returning to his emotionally flat-lined natural state. In any novel, this type of pacing would be great, but for a first novel written in his mid-twenties, it is absolutely ace. Read it and be depressed by Ellis's brilliance.

The dumbest generation yet, 22 Oct 2007
Very much a practise run for American Psycho, this nihilistic tale of alienation and ennui among 1980s Los Angeles youth leaves the reader with a feeling of emptiness and despair. This is not alienation through poverty but through excess, the triumph of consumerism over imagination, catalysed by a second-rate culture and education system, and poor quality parenting. Narrated by Clay, on holiday in Los Angeles for Christmas, a clique of decadent and aimless young Californians subsists on a soulless diet of MTV cable, porn films, cocaine, crystal meth and loveless sex; what Philip Roth has called `the dumbest generation yet.' In this moral vacuum they drift from one ruinous party to another, indifferent to the often tragic consequences of their actions (ODs, abortions), balancing precariously between a meaningless life and a meaningless death. The novel is powerful, effective and accomplished in a horrible sort of way, with an undertone of menace, but in the end you can't help feeling that it is as pointless as the lives of the cartoon-ish characters within. A book to sink the spirits.

The No Future Generation, 19 Oct 2007
"Less Than Zero" is the first novel by the American writer Bret Easton Ellis. The main characters name is Clay, a New Hampshire college student, who returns home to Los Angeles for Christmas vacation. Clay and his friends are travelling from party to party, taking drugs and having sex with one another. It's the normal life of American upper class teenagers, but then the parties are getting wilder and wilder, Clay notices that his best friend is a junky and other friends of his are watching hardcore snuff pornos. And once Clay asks a friend: "Why are you doing this? You have everything," and he answers: "No I don't. I don't have anything to lose."
And that's exactly what the book is about - the description of the "no future generation". It's the generation which has nothing to do, because they have everything. So they are destroying themselves, and B. E. Ellis describes this mercilessly.
"Less Than Zero" is a harsh and violent book, which shows the problems of our society: boredom, egoism, over-stimulation... "Less Than Zero" was written in the 80's, but the problems are as relevant today as they were then.


brilliant peek into a tangled web, 15 Feb 2008
This was the second book by Easton Ellis that I read (after american psycho) and focuses on the complicated lives of three characters caught up in a nasty love triangle (square? pentagon?) It slowly leaks information regarding the personas and backgrounds of the characters and does a good job of drawing you in, and putting you behind their eyes so to speak. For me the best thing about Ellis' works are the way the characters are linked, for example, one of the three primary characters in the rules of attraction, Sean Bateman, is the the brother of American psycho Pat Bateman (Sean stars in that book, for about 4 lines, and Pat is mentioned in this) Likewise, the love of one of the other leads lives, Victor, is the main character in Glamourama. These links are ingenious and very subtly deployed. From the second I clocked that Sean was Pat Batemans brother, I was hooked, and read all the rest of Easton Ellis' novels. I havent been dissapointed with a single one of them. Whilst this isnt as good as American Psycho, it stands alongside Glamorama, and above less than zero. A worthy read!

Great insight, 13 Feb 2008
This was the first Bret Easton Ellis book I'd read, so I wasn't sure on what to expect, but the book didn't disappoint. In fact it has made me stick a few more of his books in my Amazon wish list.

The start of the book sets the tone for the characters. It starts mid-sentence like your just dropping in on the book, and it ends mid-sentence, as if you just drift off not really caring about what has happened. This juxtaposition works very well and helps show the characters true essence.

Are money and drugs ruining the world? After reading "The Rules of Attraction" you will certainly believe so. The wild times, out-of-control students and disregard for anything other than oneself, doesn't paint a very pretty picture.

The story revolves around three main characters, Sean, Paul and Lauren. All rich, beautiful and delusional. Which attribute describes them best is hard to tell. As you go deeper the characters become entangled in various situations, some more serious than others. But all with the same terrible, depressing & soul-less attitude.

As the old cliche goes, after I started I didn't want to stop. A great read.

"The Rules of Attraction", 10 Jun 2004
Having been dragged to the movie in the first instance I found it - confusing. Following a movie with very little plot, enough cocaine to bring down a herd of elephants and a twisted concept of love in the teenage world I became intruiged.

So, I bought the book.

I found that the book contains much of the missing information that causes the movie to lack substance. Although there is still no plot, per say, one has to acknowledge that the writer is exploring the concept that events in ones' life have no precise start and end - like a nice fairytale.

This daily journal of student life from the characters' varying points of view had me heart-broken as I watched Paul read deep into a non-existent relationship. Mary's suicide over being unable to communicate her affection for Sean and what little humanity he has being quashed by Lauren all caused this novel to hold my attention.

I agree, it's not the ideal book for someone who likes a strict plot and all the usual ingredients which make a 'classic' novel but if you can respect it for what it truly it (as well as the concept of the writer and the fact it's an exploratory piece of writing) then you should fully appreciate "The Rules of Attraction".

Good but not the best from Easton-Ellis, 23 May 2004
I am a self titled Bret Easton Ellis Fan having read all of his books more than once. But while this one has some really great dark comedy moments - I laughed out loud at Sean's ill-fated suicide attempt to the 'Monster Mash' - to me this comes across as Bret doing Less Than Zero again but without it's overall coherence, poetry and impact. As an Easton Ellis fan I am dissapointed at it's poetic bluntness. Maybe that is not the point, not the intention, but I still think that Ellis is at his best when seeing significance in small details and in the sureal. Here there is none of the deftly poetic prose as in for example Less Than Zero that puts the meaningless lives of the protagonists into perspective.

A Very Good novel, 06 Mar 2004
The Rules Of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, is his second novel, and definitely one of my favourites (the other being American Psycho). The story evolves around Sean Bateman, (Patrick Bateman's brother, the sick and demented character in American Psycho) Lauren, a girl who changes boyfriends as she changes majors, Paul, a bi-sexual who has the hots for Sean, and other guys around the college. It is set in New England during the Regan 80's. They spend their time getting drunk, doing drugs, and having sex. Yet, these characters are unlikable, they dont have a clue what they want to do in their future, or the present. They barely go to class, and that is all they do. What makes this book so good? The writing that Bret Easton Ellis does in this novel. This novel brings back the 80's; full of drugs, sex, and music, and it pokes fun at it. The novel is very entertaining, and yet very unique in many ways. The novel tells us about these slackers who rather have sex and get drunk, and yet they dont have a single clue of what they want to do with their lives. One of the thing that Ellis does not make us feel sorry for them, which is very different from other writers out there; James Patterson, Stephen King, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and the list goes on. A very unique novel by one of the finest modern writers of our time.

Sure the novel does not have a plot, but that is not what makes this book good; what makes it good is the story being told by Ellis about these people who rather do drugs than go to class most of the time, and have sex also, but did American Psycho have a plot? No. Most of Bret Easton Ellis's novels dont, they just show the people as they are, and you take it as it is. If you are looking for a book that has a plot, dont read this, but if you like Ellis's work (or you have never heard of him), then buy it or get it from your local library.

masterpiece, 10 Sep 2008
im a massive fan of ellis so i may be biased, but i believe this to be his greatest novel to date, i love the idea of the fictional autobiography which plays on ideas of what the media may believe his character to be. Then half way through the book it transforms into a kind of stephen king style horror....i loved every minute of this bizarre story, especially when patrick bateman appears to have become real....

Egotistical drivel, 05 Sep 2008
After reading American Psycho and been very impressed I was recommended this by a friend. Biggest reading disappointment so far.

I just couldn't get to grips with the narrative, a strange mix of 3rd person 1st person which just didn't work for me. Seemed very self-indulgent and the paranormal angle made the whole thing totally unbelievable (that is unless your a Derrick Accora fan). Sorry Bret I just didn't buy the whole residual energies taking over a kids toy...

funny scary brilliant, 19 May 2008
lunar park begins in what appears to be an autobiography, which then changes to become a homage to the great Stephen King. At some points you are laughing out loud, others you are scared, its only halfway through when you realise that it is in fact fiction and not an autobiography!
I particuarly liked his evil furby type character. Shame about the ending as the rest is fantastic

YBRET, 18 Oct 2007
Excessive, poignant, hilarious and quite unsettling by turns; Lunar Park is a brilliant read. The novel begins as a self-confessional autobiography of Bret Easton Ellis written in such a way that it's difficult to know which details are fictional and which are real, with Easton Ellis constantly referencing real events and real people (often involved in very believable scenarios). The candidness of this part of the novel makes for extremely funny reading (particularly when Keanu Reeves comes into the story).
This setting later morphs into a fantastical horror story. The writer decides to make a go of family life but finds himself haunted by demons from his past - all rooted in his relationship to his now deceased father. The supernatural elements are quite disturbing but somehow mix surprisingly well with an emotional and very moving family drama. Easton Ellis's narrator, for all his faults, is a very likeable narrator.

Inside the warped mind of Ellis..., 01 Aug 2007
Another great booked by Ellis, I was hooked yet again. It makes references to characters from American Psycho, so you should probably read that book first. Also, as with most of his books, it leaves you feeling like you could've done with just a tad more detail at the end... But overall amazing descriptions and captivating language - a definite read for this year.

Sex and death of the soul in L.A., 23 Mar 2008
I have to admit, when I first read this collection of short stories, having read a fair amount of Ellis other work, I thought 'Oh, here we go again, same old boring self obsessed rich kids doing drugs, Ellis is a one trick pony'. But this haunting book drew me in. Don't try and keep track of all the characters, one of the points is that they are almost anti-characters, losing their souls in a sea of Valium and vodka. The writing is masterfully minimal, giving as much if not more attention to designer clothes than the essential selves-if there is any-of the characters.
While some stories miss the mark-real life vampires?...This book contains some genuine sublime moments.
Reading this book is like viewing the world by flicking through 700 tv channels, showing the alternate horror and banality of the Western world. Cool and detached. Enjoy.

A SUPERBLY PENNED VIEW OF THE DARK SIDE, 02 May 2005
When a cast of vacuous, narcissistic, bronzed Californians indulges in whatever brings them pleasure, Bret Easton Ellis is at his sardonic, cynical best. Culled from sketches begun in 1983 and eventually filling several notebooks, "The Informers" is more a tale of a group's flawed response to its culture than it is a picture of individuals.

Impossibly empty, the characters are predominantly male students who spend little time at their studies. Flouting their parents' checkbooks, they drive expensive cars, wear extravagantly priced clothes, dine at the trendiest spots, and indulge in most forms of chemical escapism.

Punctuated with dark metaphors, the author's text is hauntingly spare, offering no explanation for the characters' lives but simply presenting them. This leaves the readers to judge, gnash their teeth or gape in shocked surprise. There is room for shock. As in Ellis' "American Psycho," some very unpleasant descriptions of mayhem and murder are included.

In an interview Mr. Ellis commented, "What I've always been interested in as a writer is this idea of a group of people who seem to have everything going for them on the outside. Because of that, they have a lot of freedom. The theme of my fiction is the abuse of that freedom."

With his superior intellect and total mastery of his craft, Mr. Ellis presents his theme well.

- Gail Cooke

The Informers, 25 Nov 2002
Well, I find it hard to describe this Easton-Ellis novel; yet again he captures the offbeat, sidetracking of a society so engrossed in wealth and drugs that it doesnt know its own place. Brett Easton Ellis conveys this well but one cant help feeling that it is an extremely disjointed novel, much akin to American Psycho, yet slightly less easy to follow. That would be the main criticism of an otherwise well written, largely captivating novel. Yet the characters did seem a little "rough around the edges" as in they werent quite as strong as other characters in his other books such as the infamous Patrick Bateman of American Psycho

Not his best work - but have a look, anyway., 10 May 2002
Apparently this was writen before American Psycho but was held back because it wasn't thought of too highly by the publishers. After the overwhelming success of 'AP' this was given the go ahead some years later, the publishers certain that those who lapped-up his previous work would buy this without a second thought.
It makes me wonder: if this was his debut, what would we be saying about this author?

The Informers is a collection of short stories loosely held together by one or two characters who flit in and out of a few, and includes narratives from fading rock-stars, vampires, drug abusers, and characters in the mould of 'Clay' from Less Than Zero - angst-ridden, self destructing teens.
It is sometimes hard to follow and difficult to make the connections between the many characters, but often Ellis sucks you in and spits you out with a ball of low-life going-ons and and the care-free abuse of under-age girls - by Vampires, no less. Yes, like his other work, sometimes it is a little hard to stomach.

All in all I'd rank this in last place of all his 5 works, but the rest are of such high quality that this is no fair reflection on this dark, humerous and sometimes-grotesque read.

Novel Stories, 24 Feb 2001
An interesting point that has arisen in previous reviews is that some people treat "The Informers" as a novel and others as a series of stories. I know how they both feel.

I first read it in paperback, where there is no indication whatever that this is not a novel. I tried to keep track of the different narrators and different characters until my brain hurt (this wasn't helped by the fact that all the male characters are 20 years old, blond with green eyes and adonis-like bodies - just how Ellis likes 'em, I guess - and all the women are middle-aged, wasted and strung out on tranquillisers.)

I loved it anyway for what the blurb calls its "impressionistic blur" of narrative. That's another way of saying it makes your brain hurt if you try to keep track of them individually.

Then I picked up a hardback copy in a second-hand bookshop and it made it quite clear that this was a collection of stories. I breathed a sigh of relief, but as someone who is never happier than when he feels there's something in a book he's not quite getting, "The Informers" felt slightly diminished as a result.

Read it anyway. It's cool, mature, bleak, hilarious Ellis.

My first BEE novel, 16 Dec 2008
This is my first book by BEE and only casually picked it up in the bookshop.
Its a well written book, not for the faint hearted as it can be quite graphic indetail and some parts rather disturbing (I cringed heavily when he mentions the animals)
I loved the intricate detail he put into every action and throughout the book I was imagining each detail, I wont go into too much detail as it will spoil the book.
The book is very dark and yet I managed to burst out with laughter in a few parts, Im not quite sure if that makes me crazy...
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to reading another novel by BEE.
Reader will enjoy this book if they are fans of Palanuhiks works also.

The most pointless book I've ever read., 23 Jul 2008
Yep, without doubt.

It's shocking, no doubt, but mainly in its inanity...

The constant references to Labels, restaurants, bars and clubs, the obsession with physical fitness, the racism, the sterotypical 'Wall Street workers', the gratuitous, graphic violence and sex all become deeply tedious VERY quickly...

And... as soon as they do you realise there's no story in this book.

I thought I must have missed some deep meaning in this 'work', but I suspect the point the writer thought he was making is so 80s that it really doesn't have any meaning today anyway.

Other reviewers talk about how it's poking fun at the Yuppies - Duh... if you don't get that in the first 3 pages you're probably on a life support machine.

This book could be subtitled "Irony for Dummies", it's so heavy-handed.

This is one of only two books that I've given up on part way through (and don't bother to say it all comes clear in the last third as it's now recycled into something useful, like toilet roll... Actually I'll admit I skim read the last 100 pages after originally writing this and THEN recycled it - The last 100 pages were rubbish too...)

It read like it was written by a 14 year old trying to upset his parents.

Waste your life, if you wish, but I'll not waste another second on this...

I'll never let a stranger perform oral sex on me, ever!, 15 Jul 2008
I'm a bit confused as to why other readers have said this is a black comedy, I laughed once! Perhpas if i had read this in the early nineties it may have resonated with me more. But it didn't. The only thing that kept me going, was the wanting to know "where is the stuff of the reviews read?"
I'm not a page skipper, but I did indeed skip through a lot of the boring detail over designer labeling. There were no descriptives other than Bill Blass and the rest of the unheard of (to most of us) hoards of designers.
I feel fobbed off when a writer leaves the ending with no ending, I need closure, American Psycho doesn't leave that. I wanted him caught and beaten to a pulp as nasty as the pulps he had beaten his victims to. What does that say about me!! This book will, if it hasn't already stop many people in their tracks when thinking about having some wild or spontaneous sex with someone we really don't know. So it might do for the human race what condoms and AIDs warning couldn't. There may be less STD's around now if it was written a lot sooner. I for one will never ever have oral sex with a stranger or even half stranger again. I will seriously think twice about perhaps three times before I even go in for a cup of coffee. What sort of impression does this book leave with society's young people, the impressionable ones. There's already enough machete weilding tenagers out there now. I wouldn't be suprised if most of them had read this book. The gore and torture only gets worse the deeper into the chapters you go. BUT and thank god at least he stops yabbering on about designer labels and his bloody 100 assorted different face creams, we actually get some good writing in parts, I enjoyed maybe a page until the torture started again. Oh and the chapters on his favourite music, well if I'd wanted a music review I'd have gotten a copy of rolling stone.Its an inconsistent read, for example: as he leaves us at the end of one chapter about to go on a date with (lets say) Evelyn. At the start of the next chapter the girl has a new name a differnet girl! Oh and he gets called by all sorts of names throughout, to the point where i started thinking, has this guy got multiple personalities not just the two, Mr Boring and Mr Psycho. His head is in such a mess that I as a reader was just as confused..I'm sorry to damn it as he's had rave reviews for this peice of work. But its not funny, its sick and I do wonder what goes on in the minds of the reviewers so far that find it an amusing read. Yes it is a banal and superficial world he portrays, but its not done well. Or perhaps i'm just not sick enough.

I love this book, 23 Oct 2007
I only read this book after I seen the film, which is portrayed wonderfully by Christian Bale. The book itself is the blackest of comedies with a hint of sarcasm about it. The violence in American Psycho, which is described down to the closest of details, is only a small part of the book as a whole. The rest of it is about the day-to-day life of an American businessman who is rich, good-looking but rarely happy and those are the most entertaining parts for me.

You may find it heavy going having to read the over-described details on everything from fashion to electrical products, but trust me, it gets easier. As I write this I struggle to pinpoint exactly why this book is entertaining, it just is. It's funny, quirky, sarcastic and plain sick all at once and it can play tricks with your mind. The interaction between characters is comical, as everyone is so self absorbed that half the time they don't know who one another are. But that doesn't really matter: having the right suit, business card and restaurant reservations are important. It's the 80's and image is everything to yuppies living in New York city.

one of my favourite books, 22 Sep 2007
bret easton ellis writes beautifully crafted sentences - of that there is no doubt. even in the more unsavoury parts of this novel (e.g. when the character of patrick bateman is being sarcastic, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, as he kills and tortures, during his innermost thought, and even in his detailed descriptions of situations and objects, the words used by bret easton ellis are chosen just right).

a highly entertaining gluttony of wholesale slaughter, unbridled paranoia, complete and utter self-loving and self-loathing and vacuousness. read it for yourself.

What makes this book so good?, 03 Nov 2008
Bret Easton Ellis documents the life of Clay, eighteen years old, back home in LA for the holidays from his New England college. Clay does little. He moves in a daze, from bedroom to pool to parties and tense family dinners, watching the lives of his family and friends - mostly fellow teens with no direction, too much money and too much freedom - their parents all divorced and mostly absent.

The style is choppy- deliberately so - as Clay's thoughts and feelings grasshopper through observations and feelings. Emotionally detached, he watches his world with the blinds drawn, numbed by a haze of sex, drugs and alcohol, witness to the slow-motion death-dives of the lives around him as his friends compete in an endless, no-holds-barred search for ever bigger and more contemptible thrills to alleviate the ennui of their hopeless lives.

Darkly pessimistic, Less than Zero confused me; why did I keep reading? Nothing really happens. There is virtually no plot and the only character development is that of Clay himself and his slow realisation that he's living in Hell.

Clay's final vow to leave LA and never return is the final word in a book that goes nowhere but is, nevertheless, always disturbing, fascinating and compelling.


Disappear Here, 31 Jul 2008
I for one thoroughly enjoyed this book. Bret Easton Ellis sets the tone of his writing style with his first novel here. It doesn't disappoint and is still an enjoyable read twenty years later. Like in the style of Ellis's other novels, Less Than Zero is no different: this book is about a group of seemingly bored, rich and attractive individuals who appear to have everything but happiness. It's basically written in the style of a diary, narrated by the main character Clay, and is entertaining, believable and sad.

Depressingly brilliant, 03 Nov 2007
I think the most astonishing thing about Bret Easton Ellis's first book is how well constructed it is, how it permanently keeps you on edge, and how effectively it conveys an atmosphere of increasing dread out of what starts out to be just an impressive amount of shallowness. American Psycho notwithstanding, Less than Zero might just be his most powerful book, and if you are new to Ellis, then you are in for a real treat. For those in the know, all the familiar Ellis themes are already firmly in place: the emptiness, the alienation, the complete boredom of a spoiled generation - abandoned and eaten by their parents - who only get their kicks in the most perverse and obscene ways. These LA scenesters are utterly dead, or better yet, they are undead, and, like proper vampires, need to sustain themselves on a steady diet of human sacrifice. The deaths, OD's, car-crashes and snuff films are the only things that raise a flicker of genuine interest in them. All the rest (the parties, the drugs, the sex) is just business as usual.
What is not business as usual is the way Ellis carefully builds on this, introducing and exposing the reader to all the superficial drug abuse and mindless sex before building up to the real decadence underneath - the only one that seems to elicit a flicker of interest (if not true excitement) from these walking dead. And in Clay, Ellis has one of his best characters: as dead as the rest of them, he expertly guides the reader through this emotionally barren landscape, showing just the tiniest bit of troubled humanity needed to sustain the reader, towards the final scenes, before returning to his emotionally flat-lined natural state. In any novel, this type of pacing would be great, but for a first novel written in his mid-twenties, it is absolutely ace. Read it and be depressed by Ellis's brilliance.

The dumbest generation yet, 22 Oct 2007
Very much a practise run for American Psycho, this nihilistic tale of alienation and ennui among 1980s Los Angeles youth leaves the reader with a feeling of emptiness and despair. This is not alienation through poverty but through excess, the triumph of consumerism over imagination, catalysed by a second-rate culture and education system, and poor quality parenting. Narrated by Clay, on holiday in Los Angeles for Christmas, a clique of decadent and aimless young Californians subsists on a soulless diet of MTV cable, porn films, cocaine, crystal meth and loveless sex; what Philip Roth has called `the dumbest generation yet.' In this moral vacuum they drift from one ruinous party to another, indifferent to the often tragic consequences of their actions (ODs, abortions), balancing precariously between a meaningless life and a meaningless death. The novel is powerful, effective and accomplished in a horrible sort of way, with an undertone of menace, but in the end you can't help feeling that it is as pointless as the lives of the cartoon-ish characters within. A book to sink the spirits.

The No Future Generation, 19 Oct 2007
"Less Than Zero" is the first novel by the American writer Bret Easton Ellis. The main characters name is Clay, a New Hampshire college student, who returns home to Los Angeles for Christmas vacation. Clay and his friends are travelling from party to party, taking drugs and having sex with one another. It's the normal life of American upper class teenagers, but then the parties are getting wilder and wilder, Clay notices that his best friend is a junky and other friends of his are watching hardcore snuff pornos. And once Clay asks a friend: "Why are you doing this? You have everything," and he answers: "No I don't. I don't have anything to lose."
And that's exactly what the book is about - the description of the "no future generation". It's the generation which has nothing to do, because they have everything. So they are destroying themselves, and B. E. Ellis describes this mercilessly.
"Less Than Zero" is a harsh and violent book, which shows the problems of our society: boredom, egoism, over-stimulation... "Less Than Zero" was written in the 80's, but the problems are as relevant today as they were then.


brilliant peek into a tangled web, 15 Feb 2008
This was the second book by Easton Ellis that I read (after american psycho) and focuses on the complicated lives of three characters caught up in a nasty love triangle (square? pentagon?) It slowly leaks information regarding the personas and backgrounds of the characters and does a good job of drawing you in, and putting you behind their eyes so to speak. For me the best thing about Ellis' works are the way the characters are linked, for example, one of the three primary characters