Less Than Zero

Rating:
Summary: Not too bad...
Review: I laugh when people compare this to the Cathcer in the Rye. Umm ....no it's not even worthy of being mentioned in the same breath, although the formers influence is very evident in the book. As a piece of contempory fiction though it's not bad. It takes about an hour to read and you finish up feeling as hollow as everyone in the book. I think American Psycho was better, depsite its excesses at leats it was funny in places... this isn't.

Rating:
Summary: Well written, but false
Review: Well written, but what is it? Is it a true-to-life description of life in LA, or of some sub-culture in LA? Disturbing but honest, making one face the truth? Or is it a "Goosebumps for adults", entertainment for a tired bourgeois, scare-the-wits-out-of-your-parents book? I think it is the later type.
I myself lived in LA in the 1980's. I was in my 20's at the time. I know the places he is describing (for example, I have been to the Westwood Cafe Casino many times). Yet, I have nothing in common with the anti-heroes of the book, nor can I think of ever meeting a single person of this type.
While Clay's friends were doing drugs and sex, I was studying Indonesian dance and music, going to art exhibits, and most of all, working my but off as a computer programmer. In all this I was surrounded by people doing the same things.
But maybe I was in a different category? Maybe Clay and his buddies are some sub-culture I have never come across? I don't think so.
They all have "classy" names, not a single "Michael" or "John". They are mostly blond (clearly a minority of Americans are blond, and since these are the kids of Hollywood, where are the dark-haired Jewish kids?) Some OD (overdose), but not a single banal car crash or a jail sentence. If they were really to combine driving with drinking and drug use, there would've been a lot more fatal car crashes than overdoses. Believe me, I know what I am talking about.
I actually gave the book to my mother (I am nearly 40 and she has nothing to worry about from this angle). "This Clay really is less than zero", she said. The end, where he blames it all on LA, proves the point.
So what is this book? It is yet another cleverly constructed world, which comes out of the imagination of the writer and has little to do with life. Documentary style does not necessarily mean it is true. Still, the book is so well written that it creates a feeling of unease in me even when I know it is not true.

Rating:
Summary: panacea for the attention-deficient
Review: This book is great for people who want a superficial and supercilious piece of "literature" to talk about in front of others to make themselves appear more artful. The book is a quick rush, it is indeed exhilarating and unrepentantly self-abasing, but the style is amateurish, there is little emphasis on characterisation, description, irony, or drama, and the intent of the author appears to be merely to shock, not to illuminate or enlighten as Art should. In addition it is devoid of any degree of philosophy or denouement. Perhaps this is the author's intent, and if it is he has accomplished his goal, but I would certainly hope that our culture could produce authors with much more noble literary aspirations. It's worth a read if you have two hours and don't expect too much.

Rating:
Summary: this is the my favorite book
Review: Nothing can explain how much this book has meant to me. It is not a novel in the usual sense, but more like a song, painting, building or other work of art. Less Than Zero is not a long book, but by association, like all great art, it contains the entire world. The images of youth adrift, of neon towers, palm trees, black nights, parties, clubs, drugs and cars and sex will never leave me. If you are a teenager now, YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK. Maybe it will change your life the way it has changed mine.

Rating:
Summary: more real the the real world
Review: an amazing story. very real and very scary because of that. I recomend it and it truely is the Catcher in the Rye of MTV generation.

Rating:
Summary: Should be part of high school ciriculum
Review: "Less Than Zero" is a book that, had it been a little more well-written and not catered so much to the short-attention-spanned teenagers that were hooked on MTV and glam rock, have become a classic of modern literature. Not that it hasn't attained that status, or doesn't deserve it. This one should be required reading for anyone who finds themselves lucky enough to fall between the 14 to 18 period in their lives. It's a book that doesn't glorify the lifestyles chosen by the characters (i.e - drug addiction, $ex, hustling, etc.) but it doesn't preach against it either. For Ellis, who was 21 when the book was published, it's probably autobiographical, and in the fifteen years since it's publication, the overall themes run true, just the culture has changed. Teenagers can identify with it, I'm 17 and I know I did, because it's themes are universal when you're at this age. Ellis knows where he's coming from, and even though this sort of thing has been done to death, he knows what's up. He doesn't sugarcoat or beat around the bush, he gets to it swinging his fists. It should replace "Ethan Frome" on the high school ciriculum, but that's just old resentment talking.

Rating:
Summary: I liked it.
Review: I thought that this was well written, for the one reason that it was different. I'm sick of the formulaic novels that have been churned out for years. This novel creates thought and doesn't comply with the Grade 2 formula for a novel> beginning, middle, end. Although a bit more of a plot would have been useful, but only to keep it moving. Anyways it's only 200 pages or so, so it's worth the time to read it.

Rating:
Summary: A young writer who understands his subject & what a subject!
Review: I learned about Bret Easton Ellis from an interview in "High Times" magazine. His age at Less Than Zeros publishing (21 yrs.) is what interested me the most. I read the rave reviews on the books cover and decided to give it a go. From the first few lines you're thrown into a world that, although on a much more extreme level than the everyday life I'm used to, is an obvious example of art imitating life in its most Kafka-ish depths. Ellis pulls no punches, hides from no subject and tells everyone to open your eyes and open them wide. He also manages to slip in many of the literary techniques and characteristics used by the writers which I have been studying and trying to understand for my own personal benefit. Ellis's style, a modern-day Henry Miller type of journal entry that is fast paced and quick chaptered, was a pleasant surprise. He should stand on the literary mountain for quite some time, and will probably be standing on top before everything is said and done. Try this book. It's the real Beverly Hills 90210, without a single Tori Spelling smile.

Rating:
Summary: Graphic depressing realistically devasting to our society
Review: Okay maybe its not the greatest novel ever written. It can be compared to Catcher in the Rye blended in with The sun also rises. Of course they were both written by great writters and who is to say Ellis is not. His language is vernacular and it shows you what our society has turned into what has happened to the meanings of people in this generation. Truth is our worst enemy but we must face it and this is book will show you it!@

Rating:
Summary: .
Review: "Less Than Zero" is the greatest novel in the history of contemporary American literature. It is banal, disgusting, and laughably poorly written. It is profound, brilliant, gripping, and supenseful. It is boring, asinine, and pointless. It is a devastating comment on materialism and superficiality, refuting both in an amusing and entertaining way. It's so thoroughly meaningless that not a single comment, interesting or not, can be found in it. It's wonderful. It's horrible. It's a classic. My hands have been soiled by its filthy pages. It smashes all vapid literary bandwagons. It's not worth the paper it's printed on.

Read it.