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Dec 16, 2009

Crystal rated it:

Cover Story: Fashion Models and B-class celebrities turned International Terrorists!

Or………… Wait! Do these plastic explosives match my Armani? Call the camera crew. We have to go back to wardrobe! Reset the timer. And….where’s my Zanex?
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OMG. ummmm……..*yawn?

This isn’t World Weekly News, but a novel that didn’t know where or how exactly to end. And I’m shocked really, because I adore Bret Easton Ellis. I also secretly enjoy World Weekly News, which cou More...

5 comments like (11 people liked it)

May 11, 2010

Greg rated it:

I read this book like eleven years ago, or maybe it was twelve, or inevitably even longer in the future. I don't remember much about it. I remember taking it out of the library, it was in the new release section, so I only had ten days to read the book. I then remember reading part of it sitting at the counter of a coffee shop that would be soon banning me from being their customer, but that has nothing to do with the book. I do remember that the part of the book which I remember reading at More...

19 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

bick rated it:

the book that ?might? have preceded zoolander is a tour de force about the banalities of the 90's, much like American Psycho was to the 80's, along with cameos from Patrick Bateman, Ben Stiller, and Christian Bale, this book hums along at a crazy pace, leaving no possible ambiguity due to the ending. (as opposed to American Psycho.)

Written in 1996, it's interesting to see that 2000's movie version of American Psycho stars Christian Bale. Interesting turn of events, that.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2008

Patrick rated it:

I might actually have liked this one more than "American Psycho," now that I think about it. It's actually kind of a 90's version of what AP was to the 80's, a sort of indictment/celebration(?) of materialistic/consumer culture, at least at the begining. Featuring a main character just as vapid as Patrick Bateman, Victor Ward is a male model who spends the first 200 pages going to night clubs and hanging with tons of equally vacant celebrities. Ellis's style makes this all pretty fu More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 20, 2007

Eugene rated it:

if you were to ask my what my favorite work of fiction was, on most days, I would respond with Glamorama. Celebrity fashion models become terrorists. Photographs and appearances in the gossip columns of the worlds major newspapers begin to replace reality. Sex and drugs are consumed in mass quantities. Bombs go off. Celebrities die horrific deaths, told in a cold, obsessively detailed manner. There is a chapter long description of an passanger airlplane explosion that I now, unfortunately, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Michelle rated it:

Although Ellis follows his familiar intriguing style, I found myself loving and loathing this book at the same time. There were times I just wanted to finish so that I could be done and others when I genuinely wanted to finish the story.
Following the young, rich, and hip for way too long, this book seems to offer too many details; some of them make sense later, others just seem like a way to add pop culture references. I found myself skimming over paragraphs that seemed to be placed ju More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 26, 2007

Joe rated it:

I remember that I had to quit in the middle of this book because it felt like the world was collapsing in on itself. And literally, Glamorama does. It is so dense, that just like a black hole, it sucks everything in, even gravity.
It is the story of Victor post-Camden, now a high profile model/celebutante!?! This is the reason why I picked it up. I love how B.E.E. makes for creating a whole new world for his characters. The novel is half espionage and half drug-induced. If you want to More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

May 21, 2007

Mark rated it:

I'm not sure what I learned from this book, hell I can't even remember half of it. It flew by in a blaze of glory and time-stops, and I must say I really enjoyed it.I remember that it is fairly disturbed, and once again the protagonist is a extremely good looking man. In fact, in this case, he's a male model. And everything is going great. Till he gets involved with terrorists. By accident.
It's an easier read than American Psycho, but let me tell you, this in an undertaking. An extremely More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 22, 2008

Andy rated it:

Oh my god, somebody help me. I'm a prisoner in a book that's a cross between "Party Monster", "Project Runway" and every annoying E! Network program that pretends it's not gay but is so gay even Logo won't touch it. Smarmy and irritating to the point where the satire has to be justified in your mind just to get through this mind rot. I've read comic books with more culture than this trash! Spamorama.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2009

Jason.frisbie rated it:

A guy I know, Cliff, and I were at the Trolley Stop knocking back some nasty dollar drafts and talking about obscure noize music ("Black Dice is okay, but Daughters blow their shit out of the water"), when we somehow got on the subject of school and our English degrees, and he brought up books and specifically Bret Easton Ellis.
"I loved American Psycho, but Glamorama just didn't hit it for me, you know?" I told him.
"Ugh! You're kidding me!" He held his h More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 06, 2008

Sarah rated it:

This book is so tiresome. It drones on and on.

Where do I even begin with this book. It's really not worth me spending too much time on, however, I want revenge on this book. It's not fair that I wasted so much time on it. Life is too short. It's really long (about 540 pages) and the first 337 pages are so terrible. I wanted to put it down after page 60, but I was reading this with a book club, so I decided to attempt to stick with it. It only got worse and worse and more borin More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2008

H.nauen rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 28, 2009

Sherrie rated it:

This is the worst book I have ever read from cover to cover. I will never read another Bret Easton Ellis book again. I'm sure he's heartbroken.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2011

Thom rated it:

"Reading Bret Easton Ellis' Glamorama is like being dragged down a vicious river. From the moment you've fallen in, the churning, tossing and tumbling confuses you so much that you don't even know where you are, and trying to escape is no longer a conceivable thought."

I wrote this late at night after I'd first started reading this book. It's a little dramatic, sure, but the book certainly had this kind of effect on me. The countless names of celebrities, trendy night clubs More...

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Oct 31, 2011

Becky rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Aug 07, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

Yet again, Bret Easton Ellis manages to writer something that both disgusts me and fascinates me all at once like no other author can. I think I have to put this at the top of my list for his works, in that I feel like the continuation and expansion of his cast of characters and their vapid, materialistic universe has finally reached a dizzying crescendo. It felt like TMZ through the looking glass to me, and I absolutely loved how he played fast and loose with real celebrities (or "celebr More...

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Nov 28, 2010

Sara E. rated it:

OK. Victor Ward has a special place in my heart. There is so much egregious name dropping in this book that it is ridiculous, but if I am glad for anything, it's that I am old enough to know who all of these people are. What a terrible thing it would be to be young. And not know who Todd Oldham or Shalom Harlow are. And worship at the altar of Bieber.

Yes, the name dropping reminded me of Tell All, but Ellis succeeds here where Palahniuk failed. The name dropping does not become annoyi More...

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Apr 19, 2010

Bradley rated it:

so good.

it took 300 pages for me to really enjoy victors character. loved ellis's tangents of ultra violence and pornographic play-by-play.

The novel is strategically misleading in a BEE fashion.

Connections are made and conclusions come to the readers understanding that explain a number of unanswered, series of events; Ellis took his time with this one (roughly 500 pages, if I remember correctly) and it shows through the stories setting changes that push the sto More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2009

Mike rated it:

So I borrowed this book from the local public library, and as I was leaving I bumped into a woman who works with me. She's a great lady - a retired librarian who's funny, smart, and well-read. We chit chat for a bit about work and then she asks me what I got from the library. I show her "Glamorama" and she's visibly unhappy with this choice. Apparently, she picked up "American Psycho" when it first came out and was so disgusted by it that she went back to Borders and turned a More...

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Aug 19, 2007

Marissa rated it:

I'm a big fan of Ellis, and at first was fairly nonplussed by this one. Soon enough, though, I was entirely sucked in... and not just because of the chapter-long threesome scene, upon which my friend had recommended this to me. That I actually found rather unnecessary, if well done. But I digress.

After I finished, I found myself for days afterwards thinking in the frenetic staccato tone of the narrator, which is as good an indicator as any that this book is pretty kickass.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2009

Ryan rated it:

This was the first book that I read by Brett Easton Ellis. I have seen the movie versions of: Rules of atrractions, American Psycho and Less then zero. The first two being on my favorite movie list so naturally i figured that I would love this author....
This is my take on Glamorama, it's about it boy Victor Ward(charector from rules of attraction)who has it all: Beautiful woman,a modeling carrer,fame and a fast moving party life. His career is jeporidised by poor choices and is approcahed More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 30, 2009

Adam rated it:

Glamorama is a twisted, disgusting, brilliant parody of all that was the early-1990's. This book is Valley of the Dolls meets Naked Lunch meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets James Bond. Don't think the combination is possible? Think again. Ellis demonstrates a superb understanding of cultural critique and is creative enough to satirize with seriousness and hilarity simultaneously. If you can get through the first two hundred or so pages of idiotic dialogue (another stroke of narrativ More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

merryxmas rated it:

Not as interesting as his other books but still very worthwhile. The orgy part was hardcore porn and was a bit hard to read without twitching constantly. Glitter and freezing all the time? Model assassins. Good stuff. I heard they were going to make this into a movie. How in the hell would that ever happen? The cast list of famous celebrities is in the hundreds with about half of them deceased. lol, be cool if roger avary does this one too though.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 10, 2011

X rated it:

Not one of my favorite Ellis novels, the plot centers around an up-and-coming model, Victor Ward, who is offered $300,000 to go to London to find a girl and bring her back to the US. During this journey to London, Victor meets various people, who he recognizes but is not able to concisely pinpoint from where. Through plot twists and turns, Victor becomes inadvertently involved in an advanced terrorist organization of models who are able to manipulate photos, have the latest, cutting-edge bomb-ma More...

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Dec 17, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Maddening! Will someone please explain this book to me? I think it is just brilliant - read it in 2004 and have not stopped thinking about it since. Ellis starts the book with a hysterical look at celebrity culture, then halfway through, takes you sharply down a turn into the most graphically violent scenes that I have ever read, including an airplane crash that encapsulates my fear of flying. Read it, but be ready to be tormented by it.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2011

Nick rated it:

With a far more complex narrative and far less likeable characters, Glamorama is a much more difficult read that magnum opus American Psycho but that's not to say it's a bad book. Continuing (and extending) many of the themes of American Psycho - the perverse obsession with high-end fashion labels, for example - and written in a similar style, Glamorama is Ellis' assault on vacuous celebrity, expertly juxtaposing its imputed importance with global terrorist conspiracy.

This book isn't f More...

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Dec 17, 2009

widgetoc rated it:

My personal favorite of Ellis's works.

I had a good time with the symbolism in the book (though some of it is still somewhat confusing), the shallowness of the characters, etcetera.

My only beef with the book is that it should have ended at a point before the actual ending. It wrapped up nicely, Bret, why did you have to go and add more?

Like pretty much everything written by Bret Easton Ellis, it's not for everyone.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Patrick rated it:

I was spurred to read Bret Easton Ellis’ Glamorama after learning that the lead character was Victor Ward a minor character from my favorite Ellis novel The Rules of Attraction. (Also an entertaining film) It is another satire that takes the modern obsession with celebrity, brand names, and outward appearance to task. It is a condemnation of the 90s culture of the shallow, but also a horror story of sorts. I’m assuming that Ellis had to do some serious research for all the name dropping he did i More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Lorraine rated it:

I vigorously read this when it was released. Loved it, then realized it was not really that "pedestal"-worthy. But I cannot help but think about this book. Though I haven't even been able to thumb through it (stupidly lent it to a friend who probably never bothered to open it), so much of what I do recall from the book has come to fruition. Reality TV crews and terrorism? Who woulda thunk? Ha! It was a fun read.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 04, 2011

Steven rated it:

Bret Easton Ellis believes in the subtle art of complete immersion. In virtually all of his novels he’s dropped the reader in the deep end of the pool. In Less Than Zero you’re introduced to an affluent drug addled hype floating seamlessly through the mid 80’s in Los Angeles. In American Psycho, Ellis give a glimpse though the eyes of an 80’s Reaganite Wall Street master of the universe as he uses art, sex, business cards, and an imagination to create a hollow buffer of an existence. In Gl More...

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