Rating: 
Summary: Wow.
Review: Bret Easton Ellis's "Less Than Zero" is a stunning look at a demoralized generation of young adults, and everything starts going downhill from page one. The narrator, Clay, comes home to L.A. from school for Christmas, trying to get back to his normal life with his best friend, Julian (who has become a serious druggy), his old girlfriend, Blair, and his drug dealer, Rip. Things aren't quite the same though, and things take a turn for the worst as the book gets moving. This was Ellis's first book, and for a debut novel, this is one hell of a book. He writes about some rather shocking things, ranging from a snuff movie to homosexual prostitution, throwing the realism in your face, commenting on the nihilism and demoralization that people beginning experiencing at a younger and younger age. Though written in 1985, I don't think it's outdated, I think it still works for nowadays. If you want a dark yet compelling novel, than read "Less Than Zero."
Rating: 
Summary: Try a Different Ellis Book
Review: Less than Zero should have been a screenplay, not a movie. In 200 pages, nothing really happens and noone really changes and there really isn't a point, which I suppose was Ellis' point. Condense it down to 2 hours of film, and maybe it would work, but do not spend hours on reading the novel. Ellis writes about some rich youngsters out in L.A. who fall into some amoral, careless, lonely existance. Critics label them the MTV generation, whatever that means. I don't know anyone like the characters in this book. I think that at best 500 people in the world might resemble these people. They just aren't believable. I don't have to like the characters to like a book, but I never cared about these guys. Ellis beats you over the head with the characters' nihilism. So they watch a snuff film, so they turn tricks, so they do drugs, so what? None of it is interesting without a human element, and Ellis refuses to give these characters a human element. Try Ellis' Glamorama instead. At least it has a plot.
Rating:
Summary: A tale of the emptiness felt in teenage culture
Review: Bret Easton Eliss' "Less Than Zero" tells the tale of the emptiness and shallowness of teenage and young adult culture. It follows the story of Clay, a rich college student who comes back home for the holidays. Clay and his friends have everything they want: drugs, new cars, sex etc.. but it cannot make them happy as it used to or fill the void they feel in their souls. "Less Than Zero" is a very short book(I read it in one day) with simple prose and short chapters that help the reader feel the shallowness of the characters and what they do which is really nothing. It is a lot like the characters in Chekhov's plays that sit around and do nothing and feel depressed and do nothing about it. Even though I am not rich, I could relate to the whole book with my experience of the alienation and emptiness that goes along with teenage culture esp. when drugs are involved. "Less Than Zero" should be read in High Schools because it relates directly to many teenages lives. Bret Easton Eliss' books tend to deal with the same themes and "Less Than Zero" is his best book to deal with these themes. It is his best book and one of the best books to come out of the 80s.
Rating: 
Summary: Captivating, well writen, and unfufilling
Review: Okay the good stuff first: The charectors are great, and well thought out, the overall gloomy tone of the novel workd perfectly. As a resident of Los Angeles I would say he did a good job with the geography, and the charectors i can see as Angelinos and as no one else. The bad: What was the point maybye i missed it. The charectors come in and leave the novel in the same way, nothing has changed. The point is that there is no point, wich is a good point, (i did that on pourpouse), but having no point leaves the reader diss satisfied, wich could have been Ellises goal. Worth reading, but not worth cherishing.
Rating:
Summary: A coming of age story that won't let go
Review: Bret Easton Ellis' first novel tells the story of Clay, an extremely rich eighteen year old college kid home for the holidays in L.A.
Through the first person, we follow Clay over two weeks into parties, bedrooms and crack houses. This is a story of how the young and rich live their lives and it is disgusting. The words in this book disturbed me, making me realize what some people are like in this world when they have to much power at a young age. In one scene Clay goes to a friends house to find a party and the teen age kids have a twelve year old girl tied to the bed. The are shooting heroin into her and take turns raping her, nobody seems to care other than Clay. When he asks why they are doing this to the poor girl, the answer he gets is "Because I can".
But this novel isn't just about the wreckless lives of rich teens, but how Clay comes home from a normal college live and slowly realized that he doesnt want to be like this anymore.
This novel is extremely gripping and not for the squimish. It grabs you, and shakes you, showing you the lives some live when they have to much money and nothing to do.
To make a quote from the movie box that hits this story on the spot: "A compelling story of kids that started out with everything and are about to wind up with Less than Zero."
Rating:
Summary: Not as great as American Psycho
Review: I got right into Ellis after American Psycho and I'll say I didn't think this book as up to the same par as American Psycho.
Ellis still does a great job of explaining things in great graphic detail but this book was still missing something. I felt that it really didn't go anywhere. I kept waiting for the main character Clay to get into something but all he did was meet his friends and go to parties.
I will continue to read Ellis books but I don't suggest this as one of his reads.
Rating:
Summary: Skip this book????
Review: Skip this book and read another book this guy wrote or pick another author all together. There is absolutely no point, moral, entertainment value, theme, etc. nothing. Its a waist of time and money, and I only read half of it.
Rating:
Summary: Wish It Were Zero (Stars, That Is)
Review: I read this book when it first came out in the 80s. I actually read it three times. The first, because BEE was suppose to be the "new!" thing; the second, because I couldn't believe how bad it was and wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something; and the third, because I really had to make sure. I couldn't believe how terrible it was; I still can't. Please kids, take it from someone who was a young adult in the 80s, this book is not worth the time. Don't do it! Turn back now! Additionally, the movie was no better. I saw a screening of it in a packed movie theater on Boylston Street in Boston in the 80s. By the end of the movie, when you were suppose to care for these characters, most of the audience was laughing hysterically. It was quite sad (and funny).
Rating:
Summary: Best Ever
Review: This is my favorite book of all time. It is not just a book about kids doing drugs and partying. It is much deeper than that and carries a lot of meaning. I love the description that Bret Ellis gives the reader about everything that goes on. Do not read this book lightly. It is a book about life and what we all go through. If you are someone who loves to read and enjoys a book that is not just straightforward and actually makes you think then I recommend you give Bret Ellis and his work a chance.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, not great.
Review: I have mixed feelings regarding this book. It wasn't until the final 50 or so pages that I saw any glimpse of humanity in these characters. Ellis does a good job of nailing their vacuous lives but it became reduntant and boring. At the end the narrator realizes the horror of it all and it ends on a hopeful note - though it is not a wrap-it-all-up happy ending, thankfully. Ellis' habit of describing wardrobe is seriously annoying and useless except to date the novel. And any comparison to "Catcher in the Rye" is laughable. Why would Gen. X need a "Catcher in the Rye" anyway? It already has THE "Catcher in the Rye."
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