Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis is a novel set in the 1980s that follows rich college student Clay as he returns home to L.A. for winter break. The story revolves around Clay attending parties, engaging in drug use, and contemplating his relationship with his girlfriend, Blair. The narrative explores Clay's increasing alienation from the amoral behavior of his friends, portraying a bleak and nihilistic depiction of the affluent youth culture in Los Angeles. The writing style is described as short, snappy prose, with a narrative that is blank and devoid of emotional reactions, creating a sense of alienation and detachment that intensifies towards the end of the book.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings for Less Than Zero include drug abuse, sexual violence, mental health issues, and depiction of nihilistic behavior, which may be distressing to some readers.
From The Publisher:
Set in Los Angeles in the early 1980's, Less than Zero has become a timeless classic. This coolly mesmerizing novel is a raw, powerful portrait of a lost generation who have experienced sex, drugs, and disaffection at too early an age. They live in a world shaped by casual nihilism, passivity, and too much money in a place devoid of feeling or hope.
Clay comes home for Christmas vacation from his Eastern college and re-enters a landscape of limitless privilege and absolute moral entropy, where everyone drives Porches, dines at Spago, and snorts mountains of cocaine. He tries to renew feelings for his girlfriend, Blair, and for his best friend from high school, Julian, who is careering into hustling and heroin. Clay's holiday turns into a dizzying spiral of desperation that takes him through the relentless parties in glitzy mansions, seedy bars, and underground rock clubs and also into the seamy world of L.A. after dark.
Ratings (27)
Incredible (2) | |
Loved It (13) | |
Liked It (5) | |
It Was OK (4) | |
Did Not Like (3) |
Reader Stats (52):
Read It (26) | |
Want To Read (22) | |
Did Not Finish (1) | |
Not Interested (3) |
2 comment(s)
I do not know how to rate this book properly or what to think of it. At one hand it was very easy to get invested in but at the same time the descriptions and the horrid way people was handled made my stomach turn. I'm clearly not as cold blooded enough to listen/read Bret Easton Ellis books, witouth being extremely uncomfortable. I've only got 30 min left but I cannot listen to it anymore because it all became to much for me. I will probably not read something else by him in the future.
I loved this novel. It's one of my favorite novels and Bret Easton Ellis is one of my favorite authors. The subject matter is disturbing but entertaining.
What can you read after
Less Than Zero?
About the Author:
BRET EASTON ELLIS is the author of six novels and a collection of stories, which have been translated into thirty-two languages. He lives in Los Angeles and is the host of The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast available on Patreon.
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