Is it too late to say that I think
that Brett Easton Ellis is not only a really bad writer, but a sick fuck as well?

'Less Than Zero' is one of the few books I've actually stopped reading in disgust and binned. Call me a prude if you like, but I think he should have been put down...and I don't mean like you'd put a book down on a coffee table.

I can't understand how so many people rate him so highly - OK, not everyone will like the same books as me, but really, how can you come away from reading one of his books feeling anything other than dirty?
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 16:15, 9 replies)

Prude!
Less than Zero messed my head up unlike anythin I had read before and for that it's probably my favourite book. Left me rather shocked for a long while and affected me great deal. It made me take stock of the casual nihilism amongst my friends and I and probably saved me from ending up like some of the horrors in the book.

I suppose its down to if you can relate to the protagonist, Clay, or not.

what age were you when you attempted to read it?
(Raol Duke, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 16:26, closed)

From memory
it was probably when I was about 21 (that would be 1985-ish).
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 16:31, closed)

I see an increase in sales based on this review alone

( Michael Ellis contributes nothing, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 16:30, closed)

What upset you so much?

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 16:51, closed)

I don't remember the details, more the feeling
of remorseless desperation. But something about watching a snuff movie involving kids and, I think, a bit about killing a tramp(?). But it was more the 'diary of a wealthy group of bored sociopaths' that made me want to bin it.

It depressed me to think that such people might exist. To be sure I was a young idealist who liked nothing better than hitching round Europe, smoking dope and having romantic encounters with young ladies...all of which seemed alien to the characters in this book.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 17:03, closed)

inclined to agree
I still don't really think any of the satirical justification for the misogyny in American Psycho stands up to scrutiny. Maybe a hint that the female characters did have personalities, even if it was just a hint, would have been something (and yes, I know it was told from Batemans point of view, but a good writer could have implied it)
(clinteastwoodbradfield, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 23:31, closed)

Don't ever pick up a newspaper.
You'll be driven over the edge of despair, if you do.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Thu 12 Jan 2012, 0:02, closed)

By the brutality of everyday reality?
Far worse than anything BEE ever wrote.
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Thu 12 Jan 2012, 8:57, closed)

I didn't say I was shocked by it
Just that for me it didn't work as satire, and the level of sexual violence said more about the author an it did abut the character
(clinteastwoodbradfield, Thu 12 Jan 2012, 9:33, closed)