Set in Los Angeles in the early 1980's, 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, in a world shaped by casual nihilism, passivity, and too much money 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.
When prompted to choose a book that illustrated a mental illness for my Child and Adolescent Psychopathology class, I decided to choose this book--Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis. Books like this reflect so well what is the magic of books; they take to into a world that you might never ever want to go into, and allow you to get an idea of what some experiences are like. In this book, you are taken on a journey of teenage sex and drugs in the '80s. You aren't going to get connected to any characters, but it's a reflection of Clay's, the main character, lack of connection.
A few years ago, I went through a phase where I only read books involving these themes, but this novel outweighs all the others. At the same time, it's such a messed up novel and you just have to read it to see what I'm talking about. Considering its heavy themes, this is not at all a good book for middle schoolers, but I mostly would recommend it for college students and older. It's a short read and can easily be read in a night. From the start of the book, I was intrigued to see how the novel unwinds, and I was left speechless.
Have a great week!
-NBW
Buy it here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/less-than-zero-bret-easton-ellis/1100619413?ean=9780679781493
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