Less Than Zero in Around the World in 80 Books

Sep 10, 2016 Suvi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1970-1999, _north-america, novels, cities_los-angeles, _book-shelf

American Psycho (1991) is a novel that is a force, and I doubt there are that many people who feel indifferent about it. I recognized its genius, but I think I wasn't ready for its overwhelming effect. It was nothing like I had ever read before, and I just pushed it into the back of my mind and let it simmer in there.

Now, Ellis has started to draw me back into his world, and I thought his debut novel Less Than Zero would be both a soft(er) landing and an interesting glimpse into his early ye American Psycho (1991) is a novel that is a force, and I doubt there are that many people who feel indifferent about it. I recognized its genius, but I think I wasn't ready for its overwhelming effect. It was nothing like I had ever read before, and I just pushed it into the back of my mind and let it simmer in there.

Now, Ellis has started to draw me back into his world, and I thought his debut novel Less Than Zero would be both a soft(er) landing and an interesting glimpse into his early years and where he came from. At first the trip wasn't successful. I kept wondering why I'd ever liked this guy. Then... Something clicked. I got used to the clipped style and at some point I realized I had slowly but surely been seduced.

Coke, omnipresent blondes, glimmering turquoise swimming pools, dark silhouettes of palm trees rustling in the soft night air. Sudden flashes of violence à la American Psycho tear bloody wounds in the seemingly calm exterior, but mostly Less Than Zero feels like you've been in its grasp forever. It's a place where everything looks like a slowed down and a distorted version of the real world. Something's off, and you're not entirely sure what. Los Angeles is like one of those purgatory-like nightmares, where images want to strangle you in your sleep, leaving you heaving and rolling in cold sweat.

Then it all melts into an ending that is brilliant in all its understatedness.

My decision to read this in English turned out to be a good idea, by the way. I have to remember that next time, because Ellis can write about boredom and vapidity in a way that leaves you disoriented and mesmerized. He doesn't explain much, his characters don't know what the hell they're doing on this Earth, and his subtle black humor pops up in the most unexpected places.

Now, the movie on the other hand is less successful in portraying the lost generation of the 20th century. I admit, it's probably hard to capture the mood of the novel, but when the focus is shifted to something entirely different and everything that made the novel into what it is has been taken away, it creates something else. Another story, another nightmare, and less captivating.

It's not entirely hopeless, though, because the colors are great, the 80s aesthetic almost always makes everything look better, James Spader is oddly fascinating in everything he does etc. But, the entire thing might be worth the watch just for the amazing performance of Robert Downey Jr. He might not be the Julian of the novel, but he's the Julian that everyone should see, even if it's just for that tennis court scene alone.

'I don't want to care. If I care about things, it'll just be worse, it'll just be another thing to worry about. It's less painful if I don't care.'

...more

7 likes · Like · see review

May 16, 2008 Sera rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: other-fiction, 1001-books

This book is much more disturbing than the movie. Parts of it still resonate with me even though I read it 20 years ago. Ellis likes to write about really messed up kids. Here, he tackles the California rich and presents a somber commentary on their lifestyle.

2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 22, 2014 Rachel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2014-reads, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

Wow. . not the same 80s where I enjoyed my obviously pedestrian adolescence! the characters in this book are so obnoxiously materialistic and surface but I found the development of Clay and his growing dislike for that materialism to be so real. I cannot believe BEE was 19 when he wrote this and I wonder how much of it was real to him. some shockingly awful scenes in this book that turned my stomach - not sure if it's for everyone. loved all the pop culture references! ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 05, 2011 Dana Arbelaez rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-books-i-ve-finished

I felt hopeless and ambivalent toward the world after reading this book; it was like I had absorbed the antipathy of the characters and became possessed with the same bored recklessness they personified.

Like · see review