LESS THAN ZERO by Bret Easton Ellis was reviewed 16 years ago by Michiko Kakutani in the NY Times article, Books of the Times; The Young and Ugly. The most critical pieces of the book were precisely taken into account, and I happen to make the mistake of running into this excellent review to stall my own thoughts. Anything I'd say about the book (and perhaps what most people would say) subsequent to Kakutani, would seem like crap.
Now, the beauty of writing is that we are entitled to read our own crap. Nothing stops us.
In the lovingly-arranged, neatly-tailored, clean-living constitution of my family life, I craved for a novel that smacked me with, as Kakutani puts it - "a narrative, told in fast-paced, video-like clips, devolves into a litany of predictable scenes involving sex, drugs and rock-and-roll..." I need to absorb some virtual amounts of nihilism, disaffection, and general bad-assness. So when I read this novel, it's as though I craved and ordered for a triple-patty cheeseburger with bacon and gobbled with the pleasure of getting exactly what I wanted and more.
The casual nihilism of this book is needless-to-say disturbing. At the same time (at least to me) - it delivered that soothing, literary effect of reading something abominable being said with perfect nonchalance. It surprised me with a convincing authenticity that needn't even be detailed. The story told seemingly as-is, and with the genuine first-person voice, the minimalist approach demonstrates it's own powerful effectivity.
The book's been described as a grim sociological report or a disturbing reality that's been written. Disturbingly and quite selfishly, I enjoyed reading about insanely-rich fucked-up kids from LA, even if all this is just true. Beyond stereotypes, it read like fiction that happened.
Mr. Ellis wrote this when he was nineteen, and at some point I think that's really where the raw, underdeveloped talent peaks. This novel may be criticized for a lack of forceful imaginative transactions or literary grandiose, but if you pick up a book like this - you only need moderate imaginative transactions. On the better end, this novel isn't just pretending, and neither it is superficial. It's a good hit, and as good hits go you save another line for later.
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On the State of Book Buying
Priced $15 back in 1985, I got a good, worthy hit even if bought this for over 625 PHP. It's one of the few titles I'd still buy from overpriced bookstores like PowerBooks. Most of my books nowadays are priced between 100-200 PHP. Big thanks to BookSale, and the proliferation of ebooks/new media that dropped the price of things strapped in covers. Phenomenally, Profligate Book-Buying has ended. But yeah, 625 PHP was worth every page.
The PowerBooks (MOA branch) I bought it from closed down a few weeks after.
