Less Than Zero

Rating:
Summary: Less than zero: An intense novel of life in the fast lane
Review: Set in early 1980's Los Angeles, this novel is follows the lifes of people who live for sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. When Clay returns home from college back east, meets up with his long-time friends, and uses cocaine excessively, he and his friends are taken on a wild ride of drug-induced apathy. Clay, a introspective young man with a flare for being detached from reality, is generally apathetic like his friends, but there is a duality about the man that sets his him apart from the rest. After weeks back home, Clay's life begins to intertwine with the lives of his long-time, coked-out friends Julian, Blaire and Kim. If a plot in the context of any interpersonal story is to be defined as a true depiction of the life or lives of a character or characters, then author B. Ellis does this with such complexity that it dazzles the human perspective. In the following the different paths Clay and his friends take, from limitless parties to intense cocaine rushes, Ellis writes this story of grim 80's life in a way that has been too often neglected by movie directors and novelists. For all this, plus many aspects in the novel that transcend ordinary human comprehension, I recommend this novel. Score: 4 Stars

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: I'll start off by saying the movie and the book are totally different. I don't know which one is better, they both don't have a plot. It's about some rich kids who are screwed up. That's it! But, it does have interesting story lines like Julien the prostitute.

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Summary: Ellis and Woolf?
Review: Is it just me who is struck by the structural, plot-developmental and character similarities between "Less Than Zero," "The Rules of Attraction" and Virginia Woolf's "The Waves"? It seemed pretty unmistakable to me, but perhaps I'm just exaggerated things. I'm considering doing a project on it before I graduate--I'd appreciate any input from anyone!

Rating:
Summary: A sad but true tale of youth in L.A. in the 80's
Review: Ellis captures the apathy and the excess of the lives of young twenty-somethings (and teens) in Los Angeles during the decade of indulgence. The saddest part of this story is these people really existed and that old cliche is true...money cannot always buy happiness.

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Summary: This is a novel of truth, it could be anyone, even you
Review: Ellis says "people are afraid to merge" their lives with one another. It's a contest in this book, who is the loneliest, and who can destroy their soul the quickest. But Clay is also nostalgic for something good. Too bad he never lives that in his life. It makes you wonder what kind of person Bret Easton Ellis really is. This book reminded me of Joan Didion's "Play it as it Lays", the whole spritual-quest-in-the-CA-desert thing. Ellis is far more stylish, however.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect
Review: If you are a person who is trying to decide whether or not to buy this book, there is one thing I can say: YOU SHOULD READ IT!!!! That is a novel about the 80's youth, generation X. I felt lost when I finished that book and not every book can make me feel that way. Bret Easton Ellis is a great writer, and this book is a materpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Not recommended
Review: Is this book supposed to represent a generation? C'mon Ellis! I didn't like the fact that ALL the characters were indifferent, sometimes cruel, drug addicts with little to no sense of humanity. Are there people like this in the world? Of course there are, and Ellis did an excellent job of representing them. However, I definitely think some interaction with "the average person" was needed - because no one can argue that the characters in this novel are "typical." It almost made the characters feel like they were from a different planet because, whether you like it or not Mr. Ellis, there are some decent people in the world in general and in the U.S. in particular. The dialogue was interesting at first, and then became redundant. It concludes with some horrific events in an attempt to imprint its impression on the reader - but it failed in my case because I was numb from the message after about 100 pages. Read Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" if you want a book that's message will stay with you.

Rating:
Summary: don't bother
Review: Do not waste your money on this book.There is no plot and no direction. Such a waste...

Rating:
Summary: Certainly not a feel-good book, but kinda interesting.
Review: I guess I read this book about a year ago, and as I remember it, I found it disturbingly empty and heartless -- which is, of course, the point of the novel. As a result of lives filled with nothing more than quick sex, lots of drugs, and meaningless, phony "friendships", the teenage characters in the book seem utterly devoid of genuine emotion, other than despair, which is expressed obliquely. I suppose this book reflects reality for a certain segment of the population, which is unfortunate.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Little Rich Kids
Review: An awful book. It glamourizes the worst excesses of the 1980's: meaningless sex, rampant consumerism, drug use and youthful apathy. If whining rich kids bemoaning their existence sounds exciting, try this. If you want a well written and stimulating book, go elsewhere.