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still a bop
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Less Than Zero is a cold, hard look at a lost generation. Clay returns home to find his friends mired in a world of excess and emptiness. The American Dream is a hollow promise in their gilded cage.
Ellis doesn’t sugarcoat. This isn’t a feel-good story; it’s a harsh reflection of a culture in decline. Drugs, sex, and violence are the backdrop, not the climax. The novel’s unflinching honesty is hard to stomach but impossible to ignore. There’s no sugarcoating, no easy answers. Just a raw, unflinching portrayal of a world gone wrong.
Clay’s voice is both repellent and compelling. A detached observer, he navigates this wasteland with a mix of disgust and a strange familiarity. The novel’s impact is its chilling simplicity. It’s a stark, unflinching portrait, a mirror reflecting the ugly truth.
Less Than Zero is a brutal, necessary read. It’s a wake-up call, a reminder that beneath the surface, there’s often a void. It’s a book that stays with you, a haunting echo of a world we’d rather forget. The fact that BEE was only 20 when he wrote this debut made me give it the fifth star even though his other works exceed this one, especially The Shards, which expands Zero to unimaginable heights.
Ellis doesn’t sugarcoat. This isn’t a feel-good story; it’s a harsh reflection of a culture in decline. Drugs, sex, and violence are the backdrop, not the climax. The novel’s unflinching honesty is hard to stomach but impossible to ignore. There’s no sugarcoating, no easy answers. Just a raw, unflinching portrayal of a world gone wrong.
Clay’s voice is both repellent and compelling. A detached observer, he navigates this wasteland with a mix of disgust and a strange familiarity. The novel’s impact is its chilling simplicity. It’s a stark, unflinching portrait, a mirror reflecting the ugly truth.
Less Than Zero is a brutal, necessary read. It’s a wake-up call, a reminder that beneath the surface, there’s often a void. It’s a book that stays with you, a haunting echo of a world we’d rather forget. The fact that BEE was only 20 when he wrote this debut made me give it the fifth star even though his other works exceed this one, especially The Shards, which expands Zero to unimaginable heights.
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TW: drug abuse, pedophilia
The person who recommended this to me cited it as her favorite book of all time, but she had read it for a class, so I think we had different experiences with it. This book is steeped in melancholy and nihilism, which I typically enjoy, but the format and emotionlessness of this often made it difficult to read, so it took me over a month to complete. Still, I enjoyed its themes and totally understand why my friend connected with it so much. I'm jealous that she got to discuss it in a class because I think I would have gotten more out of it that I didn't even realize. This is one of those books that looks simple on the surface but is packed with so much meaning and intricately laced themes. It's definitely not for the lighthearted, though.
The person who recommended this to me cited it as her favorite book of all time, but she had read it for a class, so I think we had different experiences with it. This book is steeped in melancholy and nihilism, which I typically enjoy, but the format and emotionlessness of this often made it difficult to read, so it took me over a month to complete. Still, I enjoyed its themes and totally understand why my friend connected with it so much. I'm jealous that she got to discuss it in a class because I think I would have gotten more out of it that I didn't even realize. This is one of those books that looks simple on the surface but is packed with so much meaning and intricately laced themes. It's definitely not for the lighthearted, though.
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Another empty novel about emptiness, oh joy! I read this because friends were always like, “You’ve never read Bret Easton Ellis? Whaaaaat?” But now I have and we never have to talk about it again. Yay.
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To varying degrees I've found something to appreciate in all Bret Easton Ellis's novels since this debut novel was first published in 1985. I'd not read this since it was first published but, having really loved The Shards (2023), I've decided to go back and reread all his books.
I recall loving Less Than Zero when it came out, but then again I may be conflating it with The Rules of Attraction, so was curious about how it would stand up.
There's little plot. Clay, back from college for the winter holidays, is reunited with various old friends in LA. Nothing has changed, indeed all that changes during this interlude is Clay's increasing disgust with the drugs, violence, sex, and parties. Nobody has conversations or connects properly, everything is at a remove. Parents are indifferent and the young have to survive as best they can in an alienated world lacking love or care, and with a dark underbelly. LA is hell disguised as paradise. Disappear here.
It still packs a seductive, disgusted punch
4/5
Set in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, this coolly mesmerizing novel is a raw, powerful portrait of a lost generation that experienced sex, drugs, and disaffection at too early an age, growing up in a world shaped by casual nihilism, passivity, and too much money.
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 into the seamy world of L.A. after dark.
I recall loving Less Than Zero when it came out, but then again I may be conflating it with The Rules of Attraction, so was curious about how it would stand up.
There's little plot. Clay, back from college for the winter holidays, is reunited with various old friends in LA. Nothing has changed, indeed all that changes during this interlude is Clay's increasing disgust with the drugs, violence, sex, and parties. Nobody has conversations or connects properly, everything is at a remove. Parents are indifferent and the young have to survive as best they can in an alienated world lacking love or care, and with a dark underbelly. LA is hell disguised as paradise. Disappear here.
It still packs a seductive, disgusted punch
4/5
Set in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, this coolly mesmerizing novel is a raw, powerful portrait of a lost generation that experienced sex, drugs, and disaffection at too early an age, growing up in a world shaped by casual nihilism, passivity, and too much money.
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 into the seamy world of L.A. after dark.
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Sparire qui
Quando l'ho letto la prima volta, nel 1986, ero di un anno più piccola di quando BEE lo aveva scritto, e avevo letto subito prima Le mille luci di New York, che fu l'esordio, altrettanto deflagrante in quegli anni, di Jay McInerney. Che poi si sia trattato di esordi molto differenti, nonostante a lungo siano stati accomunati dalla definizione di post minimalisti, ce lo spiega molto bene Fernanda Pivano nella preziosissima postfazione al romanzo: gli anni di differenza fra McInerney (che è del 1955) e Ellis (1964) sono identificativi di un salto che se non è generazionale lo è sicuramente da un punto di vista identificativo, perché se il primo è, suo malgrado, rappresentante sulla East Coast della generazione yuppie degli anni Ottanta, l’altro appartiene, invece, per scrittura e vissuto, a quella che viene definita la MTV generation e cresce e scrive (ma studia in Vermont, così come Clay, il suo protagonista, frequenta l’università in New Hampshire) dalla parte opposta degli USA, in California.
All’epoca fu una folgorazione, quella che mi portò a leggere, nell’arco di tre anni, seguendo le pubblicazioni della nostra editoria, “Le mille luci di New York-Meno di zero-Le regole dell'attrazione”, fascinazione che poi proseguì con la lettura di altri autori accomunati dalla stessa definizione di post-minimalisti, da Susan Minot a David Leavitt.
Perché rileggerlo oggi, dopo che è trascorsa praticamente una vita?
Perché leggerò Le Schegge con LIT, il gruppo di lettura della McMusa, che ci ha detto che aver letto prima questo sarebbe stato meglio, e dunque eccoci qua.
Mi è piaciuto? Onestamente non tanto quanto la prima volta, segno che si tratta di un’opera forse più generazionale (e non per questo di minor valore) che non di un classico, ma di cui si riesce a percepire ancora oggi, a distanza di quasi quarant’anni, la forza d’urto, l’impatto che Meno di zero deve avere avuti in quegli anni sia negli Stati Uniti che da noi.
In tal senso, torno a Fernanda Pivano, la sua postfazione è davvero un valore aggiunto, perché non si tratta di una paginetta di accompagnamento, ma di un vero e proprio saggio sugli autori americani di quell’epoca, di un excursus su quella letteratura agli albori e di uno strumento di comparazione con quelli che l’hanno preceduta, influenzata, formata, sia a livello letterario che generazionale.
Una nota aggiuntiva sull’edizione d’epoca - Tullio Pironti Editore con traduzione di Francesco Durante - che ho letto comparandola a quella nuova di Einaudi, con traduzione di Marisa Caramella - che mostra più di qualche problema, evidenziato dalla lettura contemporanea di quella successiva: in alcuni passaggi non solo si mostrano evidenti i limiti della prima (eppure Durante è stato - non solo, anche professore universitario - un traduttore importante anche dell’opera di John Fante!), ma anche differenze sostanziali (per fortuna non decisive nella comprensione del romanzo) che fanno venire voglia di andare a controllare sulla versione originale chi dei due avesse ragione, e la sensazione che a tratti la versione di Durante, seppur datata, aiutasse a comprendere meglio la situazione. In ogni caso, a Pironti va senz’altro il merito di aver portato in Italia un’opera dirompente e l’attenzione e la curiosità che gli ho riservato questa volta (ma anche i mezzi, visto che all’epoca non esisteva ancora Internet per togliersi ogni curiosità) di avermi fatto scoprire grazie alla dedica iniziale di editore e traduttore, Annibale Ruccello che ”era entusiasta di questo romanzo e aveva deciso di farne una riduzione teatrale, alla quale, anzi, aveva già incominciato a lavorare pochi giorni prima di incontrare la sua tragica fine.”
Annibale Ruccello, attore, regista, drammaturgo napoletano, a soli trent’anni, il 12 settembre 1986 muore in un incidente stradale sulla Roma-Napoli: tornava da Roma, insieme all’attore Stefano Tosi, dove presso il Ministero aveva ottenuto la sospirata qualifica di Stabile d’innovazione per il Teatro Nuovo di Napoli.t
Riguardo alla copertina, poi, c'è un aneddoto interessante: nelle primissime pagine del romanzo il protagonista descrive il poster del tour Trust di Elvis Costello appeso nella sua camera, nel quale indossa un paio di occhiali da sole con le lenti una blu e l'altra rossa, che poi sono gli stessi che compaiono sulla copertina del romanzo.
Sparire qui, dunque, come il desiderio recondito, di Clay, suo malgrado incapace di sottrarsi a privilegi e meccanismi distorti, come il titolo del libro di Marta Ciccolari Micaldi: tutto torna, il mio cerchio si chiude.
Tre stelline oggi, quattro allora.
”Dice solo «Sparire qui» e anche se probabilmente è soltanto la pubblicità di qualche villaggio vacanze, quella scritta mi fa sballare, così picchio sull’acceleratore e la macchina schizza via stridendo oltre il semaforo. Mi metto gli occhiali da sole anche se fuori è ancora quasi buio e continuo a guardare nello specchietto retrovisore, con la strana sensazione che qualcuno mi stia seguendo.” (Marisa Caramella)
“Dice soltanto «Scomparite qui», e anche se probabilmente si tratta della pubblicità di qualche posto di villeggiatura, devo dire che mi fa un certo effetto, cosicché pigio duro sul gas e la macchina sgomma ripartendo. Mi metto gli occhiali da sole anche se fuori è ancora buio e continuo a guardare nello specchietto retrovisore, con la strana sensazione che qualcuno mi stia seguendo.” (Francesco Durante)
Quando l'ho letto la prima volta, nel 1986, ero di un anno più piccola di quando BEE lo aveva scritto, e avevo letto subito prima Le mille luci di New York, che fu l'esordio, altrettanto deflagrante in quegli anni, di Jay McInerney. Che poi si sia trattato di esordi molto differenti, nonostante a lungo siano stati accomunati dalla definizione di post minimalisti, ce lo spiega molto bene Fernanda Pivano nella preziosissima postfazione al romanzo: gli anni di differenza fra McInerney (che è del 1955) e Ellis (1964) sono identificativi di un salto che se non è generazionale lo è sicuramente da un punto di vista identificativo, perché se il primo è, suo malgrado, rappresentante sulla East Coast della generazione yuppie degli anni Ottanta, l’altro appartiene, invece, per scrittura e vissuto, a quella che viene definita la MTV generation e cresce e scrive (ma studia in Vermont, così come Clay, il suo protagonista, frequenta l’università in New Hampshire) dalla parte opposta degli USA, in California.
All’epoca fu una folgorazione, quella che mi portò a leggere, nell’arco di tre anni, seguendo le pubblicazioni della nostra editoria, “Le mille luci di New York-Meno di zero-Le regole dell'attrazione”, fascinazione che poi proseguì con la lettura di altri autori accomunati dalla stessa definizione di post-minimalisti, da Susan Minot a David Leavitt.
Perché rileggerlo oggi, dopo che è trascorsa praticamente una vita?
Perché leggerò Le Schegge con LIT, il gruppo di lettura della McMusa, che ci ha detto che aver letto prima questo sarebbe stato meglio, e dunque eccoci qua.
Mi è piaciuto? Onestamente non tanto quanto la prima volta, segno che si tratta di un’opera forse più generazionale (e non per questo di minor valore) che non di un classico, ma di cui si riesce a percepire ancora oggi, a distanza di quasi quarant’anni, la forza d’urto, l’impatto che Meno di zero deve avere avuti in quegli anni sia negli Stati Uniti che da noi.
In tal senso, torno a Fernanda Pivano, la sua postfazione è davvero un valore aggiunto, perché non si tratta di una paginetta di accompagnamento, ma di un vero e proprio saggio sugli autori americani di quell’epoca, di un excursus su quella letteratura agli albori e di uno strumento di comparazione con quelli che l’hanno preceduta, influenzata, formata, sia a livello letterario che generazionale.
Una nota aggiuntiva sull’edizione d’epoca - Tullio Pironti Editore con traduzione di Francesco Durante - che ho letto comparandola a quella nuova di Einaudi, con traduzione di Marisa Caramella - che mostra più di qualche problema, evidenziato dalla lettura contemporanea di quella successiva: in alcuni passaggi non solo si mostrano evidenti i limiti della prima (eppure Durante è stato - non solo, anche professore universitario - un traduttore importante anche dell’opera di John Fante!), ma anche differenze sostanziali (per fortuna non decisive nella comprensione del romanzo) che fanno venire voglia di andare a controllare sulla versione originale chi dei due avesse ragione, e la sensazione che a tratti la versione di Durante, seppur datata, aiutasse a comprendere meglio la situazione. In ogni caso, a Pironti va senz’altro il merito di aver portato in Italia un’opera dirompente e l’attenzione e la curiosità che gli ho riservato questa volta (ma anche i mezzi, visto che all’epoca non esisteva ancora Internet per togliersi ogni curiosità) di avermi fatto scoprire grazie alla dedica iniziale di editore e traduttore, Annibale Ruccello che ”era entusiasta di questo romanzo e aveva deciso di farne una riduzione teatrale, alla quale, anzi, aveva già incominciato a lavorare pochi giorni prima di incontrare la sua tragica fine.”
Annibale Ruccello, attore, regista, drammaturgo napoletano, a soli trent’anni, il 12 settembre 1986 muore in un incidente stradale sulla Roma-Napoli: tornava da Roma, insieme all’attore Stefano Tosi, dove presso il Ministero aveva ottenuto la sospirata qualifica di Stabile d’innovazione per il Teatro Nuovo di Napoli.t
Riguardo alla copertina, poi, c'è un aneddoto interessante: nelle primissime pagine del romanzo il protagonista descrive il poster del tour Trust di Elvis Costello appeso nella sua camera, nel quale indossa un paio di occhiali da sole con le lenti una blu e l'altra rossa, che poi sono gli stessi che compaiono sulla copertina del romanzo.
Sparire qui, dunque, come il desiderio recondito, di Clay, suo malgrado incapace di sottrarsi a privilegi e meccanismi distorti, come il titolo del libro di Marta Ciccolari Micaldi: tutto torna, il mio cerchio si chiude.
Tre stelline oggi, quattro allora.
”Dice solo «Sparire qui» e anche se probabilmente è soltanto la pubblicità di qualche villaggio vacanze, quella scritta mi fa sballare, così picchio sull’acceleratore e la macchina schizza via stridendo oltre il semaforo. Mi metto gli occhiali da sole anche se fuori è ancora quasi buio e continuo a guardare nello specchietto retrovisore, con la strana sensazione che qualcuno mi stia seguendo.” (Marisa Caramella)
“Dice soltanto «Scomparite qui», e anche se probabilmente si tratta della pubblicità di qualche posto di villeggiatura, devo dire che mi fa un certo effetto, cosicché pigio duro sul gas e la macchina sgomma ripartendo. Mi metto gli occhiali da sole anche se fuori è ancora buio e continuo a guardare nello specchietto retrovisore, con la strana sensazione che qualcuno mi stia seguendo.” (Francesco Durante)
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“Fear never shows up and the party ends early.”
― Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero
I'm afraid I OD'd on LA novels this week. Started with 'Less than Zero', added the Black Dahlia, and finished with The Day of the Locusts. Let me just say, I'm definitely not planning on moving to that City where people and their dreams both go to die. A visit of 3 days was just enough to reestablished my conviction.
I had a hard time deciding whether to read Less than Zero. I hold B.E.E. with a certain level of contempt. My feelings about him are similar to Norman Mailer's:
"How one wishes this writer was without talent!"
I would only add, how I personally wish this writer was without a Twitter account. I debate in my mind if I could, with a switch, delete all of Twitter I think I would just to eliminate B.E.E.'s toxic presence there. Which is I guess throws me firmly into the Franzen camp. But ye GODs really Franzen v B.E.E. Both of those together is like slamming two plutonium bowls together. They both kinda make my head want to explode.
Anyway, 'Less than Zero' is sterile and precise in both language and style, but like David Lynch movies (I'm thinking of Blue Velvet and Fire Walk with Me) underneath those well-trimmed nails is the flesh and stink of corruption. It is like Lord of the Flies, but the Island is LA, and fuck the conch cause here there is plenty of sunshine, sex, drugs. The book had a lot of potential, but when I compare it with other early, debut novels filled with elements of angst and school like The Catcher in the Rye, This Side of Paradise, or Other Voices, Other Rooms, it just seems flat and when not flat indulgent and uneven. But, it was a bit shocking and had a definite voice, so there is that. But in the end, final analysis, I think it was more zeitgeist than literature. More pulp than fiction.
I tend to tread lightly when it comes to BEE, just because while I sometimes approve of what the beast brings, I don't always want to live with the idea that I fed that glossy LA beast.
― Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero
I'm afraid I OD'd on LA novels this week. Started with 'Less than Zero', added the Black Dahlia, and finished with The Day of the Locusts. Let me just say, I'm definitely not planning on moving to that City where people and their dreams both go to die. A visit of 3 days was just enough to reestablished my conviction.
I had a hard time deciding whether to read Less than Zero. I hold B.E.E. with a certain level of contempt. My feelings about him are similar to Norman Mailer's:
"How one wishes this writer was without talent!"
I would only add, how I personally wish this writer was without a Twitter account. I debate in my mind if I could, with a switch, delete all of Twitter I think I would just to eliminate B.E.E.'s toxic presence there. Which is I guess throws me firmly into the Franzen camp. But ye GODs really Franzen v B.E.E. Both of those together is like slamming two plutonium bowls together. They both kinda make my head want to explode.
Anyway, 'Less than Zero' is sterile and precise in both language and style, but like David Lynch movies (I'm thinking of Blue Velvet and Fire Walk with Me) underneath those well-trimmed nails is the flesh and stink of corruption. It is like Lord of the Flies, but the Island is LA, and fuck the conch cause here there is plenty of sunshine, sex, drugs. The book had a lot of potential, but when I compare it with other early, debut novels filled with elements of angst and school like The Catcher in the Rye, This Side of Paradise, or Other Voices, Other Rooms, it just seems flat and when not flat indulgent and uneven. But, it was a bit shocking and had a definite voice, so there is that. But in the end, final analysis, I think it was more zeitgeist than literature. More pulp than fiction.
I tend to tread lightly when it comes to BEE, just because while I sometimes approve of what the beast brings, I don't always want to live with the idea that I fed that glossy LA beast.
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A large part of this book is boring and the characters are all just horrible people but the overall effect is amazing. It races along full of boring details and you feel like sticking pins in your eyes and shouting at the characters but then it drops in anvil heavy, horrific statements so subtly it just merges into the text. It's so subtle it makes it all the more shocking.
Bret Easton Ellis is amzing at writing dialogue. This was a point that kept me going. All his "and then I did this, and then I did this, blah blah blah" is punctuated by perfect and real dialogue. Also I like the reminiscing parts.
The last paragraph makes you think "wow!" and it all comes together in string of horrible, boring and growing ideas. A little book that makes lots of big points about lots of everyday things.
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Updated - Full Review as on Citizen's Eye Website
I read Less Than Zero in one night, about four and a half hours and for most of it I was bored senseless. Every twenty pages or so I’d dramatically let the book fall to my knee; finger still holding my place, and roll my eyes thinking “When will something happen?!”
But then things start to happen and you quieten down. And then you reach the end and you think “Wow.” And all the boring stuff doesn’t seem quite so boring, it all had a place and wrote its place so well.
Anyhow, Less Than Zero is the story of Clay and his friends being bored in Los Angeles with too much money and no real direction. They are generally all hateful people which makes the boringness even harder to bear. You do start to feel like sticking pins in your eyes as Clay describes his days lying about, his nights pushing drugs in his face and cruising around in expensive cars and going to dull sounding parties. These people aren’t real friends, they’re bored scene people who have rich and famous parents and can’t be bothered to pick up their own lives in a constructive way.
But this is how it feels, to be a character in the book I mean and that’s why it is so effective. You become desperate for something to happen and then when it does, dropping anvil like statements subtly into the story, you are a little relieved but mainly repelled and you just want to turn away from this whole world.
The dialogue keeps you going really. Bret Easton Ellis is just so good at writing dialogue, it crackles into life like an old record player, the more you read their voices the clearer they become and more real.
The text is interspersed with passages of reminiscence from Clay. These are filled with some truly terrific writing; contrasted with the dull but effective narration and the sparkling dialogue we get a full picture of the extent of this writer’s talent. Now we have a built up portrait of what this book achieves and really it is great. You think it is boring but it’s not, it’s great and when you can see the whole thing you see what I mean and the last sentence really hammers home the true visionary nature of this book.
Bret Easton Ellis is amzing at writing dialogue. This was a point that kept me going. All his "and then I did this, and then I did this, blah blah blah" is punctuated by perfect and real dialogue. Also I like the reminiscing parts.
The last paragraph makes you think "wow!" and it all comes together in string of horrible, boring and growing ideas. A little book that makes lots of big points about lots of everyday things.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Updated - Full Review as on Citizen's Eye Website
I read Less Than Zero in one night, about four and a half hours and for most of it I was bored senseless. Every twenty pages or so I’d dramatically let the book fall to my knee; finger still holding my place, and roll my eyes thinking “When will something happen?!”
But then things start to happen and you quieten down. And then you reach the end and you think “Wow.” And all the boring stuff doesn’t seem quite so boring, it all had a place and wrote its place so well.
Anyhow, Less Than Zero is the story of Clay and his friends being bored in Los Angeles with too much money and no real direction. They are generally all hateful people which makes the boringness even harder to bear. You do start to feel like sticking pins in your eyes as Clay describes his days lying about, his nights pushing drugs in his face and cruising around in expensive cars and going to dull sounding parties. These people aren’t real friends, they’re bored scene people who have rich and famous parents and can’t be bothered to pick up their own lives in a constructive way.
But this is how it feels, to be a character in the book I mean and that’s why it is so effective. You become desperate for something to happen and then when it does, dropping anvil like statements subtly into the story, you are a little relieved but mainly repelled and you just want to turn away from this whole world.
The dialogue keeps you going really. Bret Easton Ellis is just so good at writing dialogue, it crackles into life like an old record player, the more you read their voices the clearer they become and more real.
The text is interspersed with passages of reminiscence from Clay. These are filled with some truly terrific writing; contrasted with the dull but effective narration and the sparkling dialogue we get a full picture of the extent of this writer’s talent. Now we have a built up portrait of what this book achieves and really it is great. You think it is boring but it’s not, it’s great and when you can see the whole thing you see what I mean and the last sentence really hammers home the true visionary nature of this book.
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This book probably deserved more than three stars. But I just can't give it any more than that. I HATE this book. I hate it with my whole soul. It's so true and I am massively depressed after reading it. It perfectly illustrates the life of a completely useless waste of a human being and all his useless friends and their useless lives. It's awful. They should all be put out of their (and our) misery. The best thing I can say is that this book serves as a glorious example of how not to be. The scary thing is that's it's probably a pretty accurate portrayal of a certain type of people.
If I had the choice, I would have put it down after I finished the first twenty pages and wanted to shoot myself, but I had to finish it for a class. I would not recommend this to anyone who is already depressed. There is a slight risk of becoming suicidal. I would also not recommend this to anyone who is currently blissfully happy. You should enjoy that while you can.
I can say that this is very well written. I typically cannot stand first-person present tense. It's like running when you could walk along leisurely, but it's not so bad when it's a quick read like this. Ellis makes an incredibly good point about the shallow lives that some people live through. Also, it did help me appreciate my own life a lot. I feel like a really good person now, because I'm nothing like these creeps, which is all you can hope for in life.
If I had the choice, I would have put it down after I finished the first twenty pages and wanted to shoot myself, but I had to finish it for a class. I would not recommend this to anyone who is already depressed. There is a slight risk of becoming suicidal. I would also not recommend this to anyone who is currently blissfully happy. You should enjoy that while you can.
I can say that this is very well written. I typically cannot stand first-person present tense. It's like running when you could walk along leisurely, but it's not so bad when it's a quick read like this. Ellis makes an incredibly good point about the shallow lives that some people live through. Also, it did help me appreciate my own life a lot. I feel like a really good person now, because I'm nothing like these creeps, which is all you can hope for in life.
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Ein gerade mal einundzwanzigjähriger Student, ein Seminar "creative writing" und ein dazugehöriger Tutor, der den jungen Schreiberling dazu ermutigt, das jüngst verfasste Werk zu veröffentlichen. Der Autor: Bret Easton Ellis. Der Roman "Less than zero" (bzw. "Unter Null") ist im Deutschen bei Kiepenheuer & Witsch erschienen. Eine triviale, beinahe schon naive Entstehungsgeschichte, eines der meistbeachteten und wichtigsten Debüts der 80er Jahre.
In "Unter Null" nach einer Handlung im klassischen Sinn zu suchen, ist meines Erachtens nach müßig.
Die Aneinanderreihung von Partybeschreibungen, Familientragödien, Exzessen und Reminiszenen (zusammengefaßt im Rahmen heißer Winterferien in L.A.) hat nur eine Aufgabe: die Beschreibung der totalen Einsamkeit Clays unter vielen, gelebt in aktiver Passivität, in selbstverständlicher Dekadenz und unbegrenztem Konsumhedonisums. Die Entfremdung des Protagonisten vom Freundeskreis, von der Familie, ja von sich selbst - ist Begleiterscheinung dieses abgehobenen Lebensstils.
Was Clay aber von den anderen Mitcharakteren unterscheidet, ist das Wissen um das Unglück, das zu einem nicht unbeträchtlichen Teil seiner Passivität und Oberflächlichkeit zuzuschreiben ist. Und genau dieses Wissen verbunden mit der Ohnmacht, kein Mittel gegen die Depression zu haben, macht ihn noch verstörter.
Was das Buch meiner Meinung nach so gut macht, ist die Nachvollziehbarkeit der emotionalen Strukturen und Verhaltensmuster, die Clay prägen. Diese lassen sich ohne weiteres auch auf andere Gruppen in anderen sozialen Schichten umlegen. Unverständnis in der Familie und im Freundeskreis, Shoppingwut, Drogenkonsum, Selbstzweifel etc. beschränken sich nicht nur auf die High Society, die in diesem Buch als abstrahiertes Abziehbild der Gesellschaft gesehen werden kann.
"Unter Null" ist die Momentaufnahme eines Winters, die keine Handlung benötigt, um die Verlorenheit des Einzelnen in der Gruppe, die Oberflächlichkeiten einer Gesellschaft zu zeigen. Die hemmungslos übertriebene, fast surreale Dekadenz dieser Luxusgesellschaft kann uns das nur noch besser vor Augen führen.
In "Unter Null" nach einer Handlung im klassischen Sinn zu suchen, ist meines Erachtens nach müßig.
Die Aneinanderreihung von Partybeschreibungen, Familientragödien, Exzessen und Reminiszenen (zusammengefaßt im Rahmen heißer Winterferien in L.A.) hat nur eine Aufgabe: die Beschreibung der totalen Einsamkeit Clays unter vielen, gelebt in aktiver Passivität, in selbstverständlicher Dekadenz und unbegrenztem Konsumhedonisums. Die Entfremdung des Protagonisten vom Freundeskreis, von der Familie, ja von sich selbst - ist Begleiterscheinung dieses abgehobenen Lebensstils.
Was Clay aber von den anderen Mitcharakteren unterscheidet, ist das Wissen um das Unglück, das zu einem nicht unbeträchtlichen Teil seiner Passivität und Oberflächlichkeit zuzuschreiben ist. Und genau dieses Wissen verbunden mit der Ohnmacht, kein Mittel gegen die Depression zu haben, macht ihn noch verstörter.
Was das Buch meiner Meinung nach so gut macht, ist die Nachvollziehbarkeit der emotionalen Strukturen und Verhaltensmuster, die Clay prägen. Diese lassen sich ohne weiteres auch auf andere Gruppen in anderen sozialen Schichten umlegen. Unverständnis in der Familie und im Freundeskreis, Shoppingwut, Drogenkonsum, Selbstzweifel etc. beschränken sich nicht nur auf die High Society, die in diesem Buch als abstrahiertes Abziehbild der Gesellschaft gesehen werden kann.
"Unter Null" ist die Momentaufnahme eines Winters, die keine Handlung benötigt, um die Verlorenheit des Einzelnen in der Gruppe, die Oberflächlichkeiten einer Gesellschaft zu zeigen. Die hemmungslos übertriebene, fast surreale Dekadenz dieser Luxusgesellschaft kann uns das nur noch besser vor Augen führen.
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If you're in the mood to read a book with a disaffected, bored-with-life, I'm-better-than-everybody-else main character, read Portnoy’s Complaint. At least Roth throws in some humor.
My dad asked to borrow this, and handed it back the next day, saying, "Less than zero is my rating."
I think that says it all.
My dad asked to borrow this, and handed it back the next day, saying, "Less than zero is my rating."
I think that says it all.
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