Rating: 
Summary: It's not American Psycho
Review: Misguided rich kids - and in California of all places. You can see where Ellis got his inspiration for American Psycho and how he started writing. The book is good, not hot, but good. I did race through it, but more because I was expecting more of what didn't come. Often it's slow and tedious but it is interesting to see what Ellis has written since. Three out of Five for this.
Rating:
Summary: Good but Depressing
Review: I thought this book was very well written. I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to call it the Catcher in the Rye for our generation but was good. I can't honestly say I enjoyed it though. It was just too disturbing to be fun to read. Its one of those books that makes a very clear point, that teenagers, especially rich ones in California, are so warped by society they are beyond caring. I think that the message is too general to really be true. The only thing I didn't like about the way the book was written was once the shock value wore off, hearing about 11 year olds watching pornos and doing crack got a little repetious. So did the sex. But maybe that was what the author was going for.
Rating: 
Summary: very good novel about American youth life-style
Review: This is what I remember from my exhange student days in California in the 80's. Kids who never read books, who only listen to rock music, who are completely lost without their credit card, who wouldn't survive one week in Russia. I love this book and have recommended it to my sons. This is also America:illiterate teenagers who think Bruce Springsteen is a poet, who think MTV is a window to the world. Don't blame the poor writer for holding a mirrot in front of you. When I finally left this surfside paradise I felt as if I've been in a greenhouse for 12 months. Thank God for the East Coast and substance! These Kens and Barbies really ought to get [real], not the writer. Send them all to Vietnam to re-build the country you destroyed!
Rating: 
Summary: Every young person should read this.
Review: From the very beginning this novel is obviously not the normal coming-of-age story: Through his spare prose style and unblinking first-person eye, Bret Easton Ellis paints a bleak yet poignant picture of the dissaffected youth of America. The natural contempt one feels for these rich kids with their fast cars and drug-fuelled lives soon gives way to a grudging sympathy as their pathetic, empty lives are mapped out for us. The spiral of sex, drugs and parties soon blurs into a desperate search for lost souls, a search that never seems to near fruition. Sad, disturbing, at times confusing, always touching. In short, brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: Is this how I spent my life in the 80's
Review: Personally I found this book funny at times and sad at others. The 80's were a time of a lost generation looking to fit in. The tunes (The Go-G0's and others) make me remember why it was a great time. The drugs, the parties, the philosophy we all shared through the 80's is somewhat reflected through the pages between the covers but I must admint, as for it's literary counterpart, I found it to be poorly written and quite mundane at times. However, this book is a 4 star rating to me. Not in-so-much for the way it was written but it's capture of a "LOST GENERATION" or yet better known as the "GENERATION-X". B.E.E. is right on target with this one. The 1980's were a time of change and of question.
Rating: 
Summary: IF THIS BOOK WAS A HORSE, I'D SHOOT IT!
Review: Ponderous, Banal, Pointless. . . I ordered this book from Amazon, after seeing such comments as "the Catcher in the Rye" for this generation. Who are they kidding? Ellis is a one-note writer, who can't even play his one note well. I went to high school in California in the early 80's. The drugged, existentialist haze this writer describes is not to be believed. Even in Los Angeles or Hollywood, this is the stuff of bad fiction. The book is boring and monotonous to the extreme. At only 200 pages, it is 150 pages too long! I read the first 80 pages then put this book down in disgust. The story was already repeating itself with its boring dialogue and meaningless characters. Books like these aren't worth the paper they're printed on. The main character just goes from club to club, takes drugs, and talks useless drivel over and over again. Pointless and meaningless. But then, there is no point to be made here. I love books and I admire talented authors. That someone can achieve commercial success solely because of the sensationalist or exploitive subject matter of their books, and not talent or originiality, makes me sick. Think before you read.
Rating:
Summary: The most accurately titled book ever written
Review: This book is a profound, disturbing, true-to-life expose of . . . what exactly? The characters, with their laughably stilted speech and their contrived actions, bear not the slightest resemblance to any individuals or subculture recognizable from the real world. Even his portrayal of self-absorbed, materialistic rich kids is off. I went to high school and undergrad with plenty of such kids, and either they were driven to succeed so that they could retain their self-absorbed, materialistic lifestyle, or they were too busy being hung over to act as Ellis depicts. As for the incessant, glamorous partying with no consequences, has Ellis ever heard of the banality of evil? Doesn't anyone in his universe ever get into a car wreck when stoned or catch crabs from the promiscuity?
Rating:
Summary: Better than you'd think
Review: This book isn't as bad as some people on this page might have you believe. Sure, the writing style is somewhat sophomoric--but you have to remember it's being narrated by an 18 year old kid. Two other novels which immediatley come to mind are "Far From Nowhere", by Deron Hamel, and "Basketball Diaries", by Jim Carroll. Both these books are VERY similar to LTZ, in that they both deal with a *troubled* young protaganist. But each is also unique in its own way, and they are both very good books. The point I'm trying to make here is that if you're looking for a book with a great deal of substance, then look elsewhere. If you want a quick and entertaining read, then by all means pick up this book and give it a try.
Rating:
Summary: Top
Review: Any book that people either absolutely hate or absolutely love is definitely a book to read. I personally loved this book because I think that the casual amoralism of Clay and his friends is an authentic look at twentysomething life in LA. This book works as a drug book (a cocaine counterpart to the heroin Trainspotting), as an Eighties book, and as novel about stumbling into adulthood. Like Ellis' other books, Less than Zero is flawed but like his other books (save for the the vast majority of the vile American Psycho) the charms of the book far outweigh its weaknesses. Forget the movie unless you love the brat pack. The book is infinitely better.
Rating:
Summary: Strange
Review: There are two ways of perceiving "Less Than Zero". On one hand, it's a roughly written book that completely lacks developement and detail, aimlessly following a character who makes shallow observations about the corruption of young L.A. in the early 80's. Situations may seem exaggerated and only written for shock value, and the characters remain static throughout the entire story. There is no solid theme, and there is hardly a point. BUT, on the other hand, you can look at "Less Than Zero" is a disguised masterpiece. As raw as the writing is, it still brilliantly portrays the quiet nihilism that runs through a generation completely lost in the dark side of L.A., and illustrating with painful clarity the lives of people who have no sense of moral, whose only aim in the life is to gain physical pleasure through sex and narcotics. The relationships between the narrator and the people around him may at first seem vague, but the emotions of fear, anger and despair that start to emerge make sense, and by the end, it feels like a generation of lost souls has been completely exposed. I was saddened by the undercurrent of tragedy in this book, it's difficult to believe that society was at one time so degenerated, where kids didn't know about their paren't where-abouts until they read it in a magazine, and when a corpse in the alley becomes a fun thing to see. There are also a lot of creepy scenes, dealing with violence and death, it's pretty safe to say you'll be up all night with some of the images in your head. "Less Than Zero" is not for all tastes, but for those who are interested in a look at the darkest side of life, this is a must-read.
|
