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In March, we will be reading Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.
Please share your thoughts and comments in this thread.
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In March, we will be reading Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.
Please share your thoughts and comments in this thread.
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I loved American Psycho so I was looking forward to reading another book by this author. One of the things which I really enjoy about Ellis' writing is dark satire and the way in which he so accurately is able to peg the generation/culture of which he is writing about.
It is both sad and laugh out loud funny how so completely LA this book really is. And though the author does exaggerate certain things, the sad and ridiculous thing is that the exaggeration really are not exaggerated by that much.
I had to laugh out loud during the scene when Clay attended the first part with Blair shortly after his returning to LA because my sister went to USC and my Brother-in-Law went to UCLA. And though my sister did pay her way through school with college loans, it is true it really is the school for spoiled rich kids, most of my sisters classmates where there on a free ride because their parents where paying their way for them.
And in one of my first visits to my sister while she was down in LA it was shortly after she graduated and I attended a party with her that was a film student party with a bunch of USC grads, it is true, most of them where all blond and tan.
In a lot of ways this book really reminds me of a friend of mine who also lives in the LA area, and though he isn't as bad as the characters in the book (he isn't a drug addict) but still there are some similarities, that a lot feels "familiar" to me reading this book because I know that whole culture even though I am not actually a part of it.
One thing which confuses me is that at the beginning of the book it says that Clay is 18 I think it is, but he keeps buying alcohol at bars. I know there was a reference to another character having a fake ID, so I we just supposed to assume that Clay is using a fake ID?
I picked this book up in HMV for £2.99 today so I'll give it a whirl. I realise I'm a bit late.
Hey, Paul, I'll read too!!
Just finished reading this. I couldn't put it down. Even though I found some of the scenes amusing and enjoyed their satirical nature, I was strongly disturbed by some others.
I cannot help but wonder if this book is the Catcher in the Rye of our generation.
Definitely a fake ID.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark Muse
I couldn't put it down either. I think it was the tone of the narrative.Quote:
Just finished reading this. I couldn't put it down. Even though I found some of the scenes amusing and enjoyed their satirical nature, I was strongly disturbed by some others.
I cannot help but wonder if this book is the Catcher in the Rye of our generation.
"People are afraid to merge in L.A."
I think that statement is really what this whole book is about. It is a collection of individuals that are so wrapped up in themselves, self, so absorbed in their own problems, and life, that they are afraid and unable to make any serious meaningful connections to anyone else. They are like flotsam and jetsam, just being swept along down life's current, and sometimes they bump into each other, and most the time they are completely oblivious when they do brush up against another. They don't know how to grab on to another and pull each other out of the current.
That makes sense. The thing I found most odd was the dettachement and ambivalence Clay had towards everbody, especially Julian.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark Muse
I think it is also interesting how many times throughout the story the characters are physically unable to connect with each other. There are many times when one character is looking for another character but cannot find them, and no one else seems to know where they are, so they are not able to make contact.Quote:
Originally Posted by papayahed
I think this also demonstrates the inability of the characters to make connections with each other, how they often spend so much time just wandering around unable to find one another.
And when they do find each other it seems they don't say what they really mean what they are really thinking and feeling.
A bit like the whole Clay/Blair thing, if they are together, or not together, what they truly feel for one another.
Sorry - I was late finishing this book.
The whole episode where Clay and Blair are in the house by the sea is a classic, relationship forming episode. It's almost a cliche with the waves rolling in and a loving couple strolling the beach. All this seems to happen but it is told in such a remote way.
I agree with the comments above, and Ellis' characterisation is consistent with his telling of the story - the people are described in terms of their tans, t shirts or hairstyles. I wonder if this way of characterising people is only sustainable in a short novel? I think it achieves its purpose in conveying the isolation of everyone - or their non-merging - but could it sustain a longer novel?
Is this an aspect of Easton's style in other books or is it a technique he just employs in this one?
American Psycho is written very similarly to this book and does use similar techniques in its describing of people and being very surface level/shallow, a lot of the people in American Psycho are described in terms of how they are dressed. It has that same feel of dealing with the entitled but isolated rich who never really connect with each other or see deeper into a person than their exterior.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulclem
In fact my nick name for Less Than Zero was American Psycho Jr. because I can easily see the characters in Less Than Zero growing up to become the people in American Psycho.
I've seen the film and it makes sense to refer ti Less than as junior.
It does seem to be a limited style though. It makes its point but is it diminished each time it's made?
I thought the style worked well in both Less Than and American Psycho, but but if he uses this style consistently I can see how by the third or fourth book it might feel a bit diminished.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulclem
So far I have only read the two books by him.
Yes. It does work well in this one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark Muse
There was a good point about the isolation of the characters - not meeting and being unable to find each other.
Another thing I've just thought of is the lack of any comment on the characters interiority by the narrator remindex me of Blood Meridian. Is Ellis taking the angle tbat the thoughts and feelings of others are essentially unkbowable? Is this a post modern theme?
That makes me think of the conversation Clay has with Blair near the end when she asks him if he ever loved her and at first he seems incapable of answering the question, and even after he finally denies that he ever really cared about her he still asks her to stay.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulclem
If Clay is incapable of understanding his own feelings, and doesn't even know how to respond when he is asked what he thinks or feels about something, than how can he begin to have any understanding of what anyone else is thinking or feeling?
He is completely disconnected from all those around him.
Clay hasn't even begun to truly know himself yet so he has no way of understanding or relating to anyone else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulclem
I've read Lunar Park by Ellis, and his character sketches have far more depth than Less Than Zero... but interestingly enough, the story is rather flat and tedious. In fact it's just plain self-absorbed crap.
Yes. At the end the narrative voice - Clay's - seems to indicate that he has come to some kind of understanding, but it all seems to be about him leaving that environment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark Muse
American Psycho might be a better read. The flatness in Less Than Zero is in the characters.Quote:
Originally Posted by Iain Sparrow