1% Well-Read Challenge: Less Than Zer0

Title: Less Than Zer0
Author: Brett Easton Ellis
Genre: Fiction
Published: 1985
Pages: 208
Rating: 6 / 10

Hoo, boy. Where do I start?

This is Ellis' first novel. He wrote it when he was 19, which I find amazing. Our narrator is Clay, an east coast college student visiting his friends and family in Los Angeles during winter break. Basically, all these characters do is take drugs and have sex with one another. Seriously. This book has pretty much every sin and depravity you could think of: male prostitution, pre-teens doing coke, a snuff film, etc. There were a few funny moments toward the beginning, but after a while the stream-of-consciousness writing and complete amorality really wore on me. I had to stop every once in a while and read a Baby-sitter's Club book just to keep my spirits up.

I marked a few passages that I found interesting, but I don't think I'll quote them here because I don't want to offend or upset anybody. But please don't let that turn you off the book. It has an oddly hopeful ending, despite all the nihilism along the way.

While doing research for this post (read: Wikipedia), I discovered that Less Than Zer0 was made into a movie in the 80's - starring Robert Downey Jr. - and now I want to see it. According to the article, it deviates greatly from the book, but still. For some reason, all of the books that I'm reading for this challenge have been made into movies.

Up Next: The Last Temptation of Christ