Has anyone here read "Less Than Zero" by Bret East

LessThanZero · Post by **LessThanZero** » Mon Jul 14, 2003 10:05 pm

I'm going to start reading it tonight.

Cool title eh?!?!

I came up with it.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Mon Jul 14, 2003 10:24 pm

I read it. I wouldn't call it a good book, exactly, but it is a compelling document of a very specific group in a very specific time and place. A lot of people truly despise it, even though it did briefly render Ellis a legitimate literarly flavor of the month.

Having grown up perhaps within a year or two and about 3-5 miles from where Ellis grew up and went to school, I can tell you that the book is only representative of a tiny subset of L.A. youth in late 70's/early eighties, thank God. (Though it is true that drugs were pretty generally rampant back then. Actually the movie, "Better Luck Tomorrow" rings far truer as a depicition of Southern California life for another subset.)

BTW: EC gave a devastating, hilarious parody of Easton Ellis's style in one of his interviews. I take it he wasn't too fond of the book and/or Mr. Ellis.

LessThanZero · Post by **LessThanZero** » Mon Jul 14, 2003 10:24 pm

"I take my shoes off and lie on the bed and feel my brow to see if I have a fever. I think I do. And with my hand on my forehead I look up with caution at the poster encased in glass that hangs on the wall above my bed, but it hasn't changed either. It's the promotional poster for an old Elvis Costello record. Elvis looks past me, with this wry, ironic smile on his lips, staring out the window. The Word "Trust" hovering over his head, and his sunglasses, one lens red, the other blue, pushed down past the ridge of his nose so that you can see his eyes, which are slightly off center. The eyed don't look at me though. They only look at whoever's standing by the window...."

WHAT A COOL BOOK!

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 8:13 am

LTZ-- I like the song-- and you!!--way more than that book. I'm sure it has its moments (it's been, oh, nearly 20 years since I read it!) but I think it's entirely contemptible. I worked for the publisher (Simon and Schuster) when it came out, and read it pre-publication, before the buzz and hype it generated, which was a lot.

As I say, I seem to recall it having its moments and clevernesses, but more or less I think it takes the coattails of Elvis's song, rides along, drops off somewhere and stays for the party. In other words, rather than having Elvis's disgust at a lack of morality, it just embraces the lack of morality, or at least fails to comment on it, either directly or implicitly. People waited around to see if his later books would bring out more critique of the horrors he portrays, but instead they were amplified versions of the same voyeuristic stuff (see AMERICAN PSYCHO, one of the few movies I can recall that consistently got reviews saying that the film version was better than the book).

There's a school (and I use that term loosely) of thought that says you needn't contextualize evils in art in order to condemn them, but IMO that's high postmodernist bullshit. Finish it and tell me what you think-- am I an uptight old prude?

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 9:50 am

Occasionally amusing, rather scattered book is my main re-collection of this book. The film is miles better, Robert Downey very much plays himself, if you know what I mean, Andrew McCarthy is sublime. The Region 2 dvd is due out soon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 17-2968464

And here are the US ordering details
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 80-5760730

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 7:51 pm

BTW: That quote is a bit of an homage/swipe from a famous passage in "The Great Gatsby."

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 11:15 am

Bobster-- which quote from BEE, and which quote from GATSBY? Cause I thought I knew the latter inside and out....

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 11:20 am

Oh wait, do you mean the blue-eyed, yellow-framed Eyes of Doctor What's-his-name? (What was it T.J. Eckelheim?) Guess so. If so it only reinforces my disdain... BEE just citing other people with a moral vision (pun is relevant) cause he's got none. Can you tell I hate him?!?!

But LTZ, don't mind me, I'm just an old grumpus when it comes to some of these things!

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 11:09 pm

SMM --

That's the one!

LessThanZero · Post by **LessThanZero** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 6:40 pm

SMM, I guess you're right, because I didn't finish it!

I read between 1/2 and three quarters of the book, and with 20 minutes left in my shift, I just started parousing for more Elvis references. Does that make me one of you guys now or what?!?! Maybe my friends are right! am i obsessed?

But I LOVE that title!

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 9:14 pm

I remeber reading it, and I remember liking it - but thinking it was terribly overhyped. It didn't leave a lasting impression.

If the book "American Psycho" was worse than the movie, it must of been pretty bad. I thought the film was utter crap.