What do you drunkards think about Bret Easton Ellis?

I havent read anything but I saw the movie version of American Psycho and that was enough for me.

V. important influence during my teens, second only to Philippe Djian. Being 80s-obsessed. "AP" is a particular novel in the sense that it is the epitome of the "roman à thèse", which I dunno how to translate. "Novel with a thesis"? By that I mean that the novel itself is absolutely uninteresting, which is the whole point. That makes it his most important novel, yet the most unpleasant to read. I dont think anybody can really enjoy this novel, not because of the gore or shock value, just because it is fucking boring. Brilliantly boring. Justifiably prize-winning boring. But boring nonetheless.

"Less" was already a roman à thèse, but at least I find it more interesting, albeit barely. "Rules" naturally is my favourite. Fantastic novel. Form and content stick together perfectly. It is an American Tragedy that reads like a light comédie de moeurs. And of course, we all love Sean's hippie chick chapter, which makes me cry tears of laughter every time. Some of the Informers stories are quite good. The vampya is a great bastard. Fucking Valley Girls... I have not read "Glamourama", and have no desire to. I feel like I am past *that* now. What I mostly like about his 4 first books is the fact that everyone is intertwined, linked, even mortally cursed together is this great bland country of opportunities that goes from Spago to Ivy League unis. With fuck all in between. The cast is always the same, only their despair and hollow existences vary s l i g h t l y.

He ultimately had me buy Plimsouls and X records. "Los Angeles"/"We're Desperate". Yeah! For that I am thankful!

By the way, Ally, I am not a drunkard. You know that. I am a drug addict.

I believe we've already done this. Problem is, I can't remember whether it was filed under 'celebrities' or 'literature'.

Actually, Mr. Greenwood, I believe we did it on ILM ;)

Simon: I've never actually read Rules of Attraction, that's next on my list, so I'm interested in your comments. Unfortunately being as that is, I have no comments back :)

Greenwood? Well, it's not as good/bad as being called 'Sidney', after the actor Sidney Greenstreet, as my gym teacher did. He thought he was really funny.
We have done it here, trust me, I remember categorising it earlier.

It's on ILE, under "Literature", and only last week. Should be noted, perhaps, that the first thread didn't actively solicit response from drunkards. Maybe that makes it different.

Listen, I only want response from drunkards, like me, who get drunk on margaritas and call people the wrong last name :)

I don't drink margaritas, and I call people by their right last names (eh, Solinger?), but I'm a drunkard, so I'll answer anyway. I only read to be a snob, so I would never read Bret Easton Ellis. I hate people who use their middle or maiden name. Whatever Easton is, I hate him for using it. But if they make a made-for-TV movie based on one of his books, I would watch it, like I watched American Psycho. Good flick. I would also read a book based on a movie based on one of his books.

I am not drunk right now. But I have a BIG bottle of absinthe in my cupboard. And the only BEE novel I have ever read was Glamourama, which was such unmitigated SHITE that I could not be bothered to pick up another one.

And I have said this before, on another thread. Except for the absinthe bit which was a different thread entirely.

I'm a former drunkard, so I hope that counts - in QLD, my home state, it's still banned from over the counter sale (Amer.PSyc.), but when i was a wee lady of 16 yrs, doing work experience at the local newspaper in my shitty hometown, I found a copy at the 2nd hand bookstore (this is late 91, me thinks) - anyway, being a small rural shithole, and having the police radio on and leaarning that a cop caar had run out of petrol being the biggest news story of the day, me and a journo mate took to reading out sections of the book to the news room - they lloved the brie and pvc pipe part...so calssic. (btw, that's the 2nd time today I've told that story...hmmmm)

Funny, I just started rereading it last week myself. Well, I don't know if I'd call it rereading, as I only got a few chapters into it last time. Loads of people whose opinion I respect seem to think it's a brilliant satire, unjustly maligned, blah blah blah. So I thought I'd give it another go.

How far have you gotten this time, Ally? I just can't seem to give a shit. I'm up to the Genesis review. Not too far, I know. I keep thinking, "I get it, I get it, kill someone already." Is this the idea? Should I stick with it?

Bret used to come in to the NY bar I worked in (I seem to mention this bar in nearly all of my infrequent posts, sorry) with all of his preppy pals, guys and girls, right after Less Than Zero came out. He was the toast of the town and he'd order drinks for them all and tip very badly. He seemed nice enough though, in a stand-offish way. He looked like Richard Nixon. His friends were pretty inane, though, giggling at the songs on the jukebox, "Ooh, they've got "Sugar Sugar" on here, can you believe it!" That was the problem I had with "Less Than Zero". The characters just seemed so lame. I much prefer Dennis Cooper's take on the lost youth of LA. The movie's fun, though.

Holy shit. I just got past the Genesis chapter. Like, I'm one chapter past that - let's compete to see who finishes first.

Eeeeek... Dennis Cooper scares me. But mainly because he seems to get away with writing total fan fiction, and then selling it as literature. That pisses me off, more than the nihilism of his characters or the third rate Burroughs impression that he passes off as his writing style.

LA is a deeply philosophically unsound place, and I should just avoid it, in literature as in life.

No, really, what I dislike most about BEE's writing is the way that so many people go "No, really... look, it's SATIRE!!! Honest!!!" yet to me, it reads too much like homage to the lifestyles that he is satiring. (is that a word?) I don't know if it's me or him that has lost the ability to discern.

Or who gives up first. Do you find yourself speedreading through the designer names and product description, Ally? Who doesn't, I suppose. Half of them I'm not familiar with and can' t visualize so it's just a bunch of names.

Kate, yeah, I know how you feel about Dennis Cooper. And LA, for that matter! Are there other examples of fan fiction in his books, other than the Blur thing? I can't remember. I read the Alex from Blur story thinking it'd be a laugh and it was really pretty creepy. I can see why Alex backed out of interviewing him. Does fan fiction get violent/exploitative like that often? Or is it usually more romantic and playful?

I do find the kids in Cooper's novels more interesting, more diverse, than the exclusively Beverly Hills upper class bores in Less Than Zero. And every so often there's a sweet, humane kid amongst all the amoral murderous types. Who usually ends up getting strung up and gutted by some creep, oh well, la dee da. The writing doesn't move me so much, although occasionally there's a really beautiful line. And he and his characters have *much* better taste in music than anyone in a Bret Easton Ellis novel. Guess that's what drew me to him in the first place. I read of poem of his praising Abba in the early Eighties and it seemed pretty smart and fresh.

Know who I really hate, though? Gregg Araki. His movies are the worst, the dialogue is AWFUL.

Several months later...I am still rereading American Psycho. I have decided that it is an unreadable novel.

I was told on Tuesday, relating my weekender stories, that my life resembles a Bret Easton Ellis novel. "All you need is the coke!" I am very upset by this. What could it mean? Discuss.

surely your friend is asserting that you are a very shallow unhappy person with lots of sexual partners?

That's what it sounds like but it's not really true.

Too bad it wasn't a Bret Easton Ellis movie, as you'd then get to play with Robert Downey Jr. and Patrick Bateman. I mean, okay, RDJ would end up stealing your stuff and going down on random guys for some nose candy and PB would try to redecorate you with an axe, but those first five minutes would be kind of fabulous.

Ally, tell us your weekender stories and then we can judge.

When I saw AMerican Psycho in the theatre, I leaned over to Fred and said, "I work with that man". I stand by the statement.

My weekender stories aren't that great, I went to a college and helped two hooligans set fire to a shed and destroy art whilst very drunk and watching some hoity toity film, then we went to this party where a guy with blue hair hit on me then another guy SMELLED me and said "Ooh, someone smells good", which was when I had to end the party, the guys had on some ridiculously wanky outfits. Then this man at a train station who just got out drug rehab told me about god and his girlfriend in Rockaway and then a homeless woman asked me if I was okay, cos I "looked sad". It's really nothing like Less Than Zero or anything. Maybe it's more Rules of Attraction.