Reading thoughts: Less Than Zero
Feb. 24th, 2026 06:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valzhangLet me jump straight into saying this. With how much I loved and enjoyed the other two BEE works I read, I was really looking forward to this one. Especially since a lot of people seem to like it. Less Than Zero wasn't a bad experience, but it left me rather disappointed.
I'll say the things I did like first of all, though. As always, the narrative voice is spot-on. It's such a harrowing level of detached, a mind totally numbed by youth and drugs and the inability to care about anything. Not as emotional as The Shards but not as evilly apathetic as American Psycho. I liked that Clay, the protagonist, seemed so totally uncaring, but there were a few well-placed scenes of emotion. I think nostalgia, or perhaps a longing for the past in general, was a theme this book was playing with that I really enjoyed. When he displays that sort of yearning, it's a nice contrast from how utterly meaningless his life is in the present.
Related to that is the writing style. I don't think it's as wonderfully well-developed as The Shards or even AP, but I did like it, though maybe it is my own fond slant toward run-on sentences and surreal writing. The dialogue was pretty natural while also being ridiculous in that insufferable way typical of Ellis' characters.
Atmosphere is a staple in his books as well, and this novel is no different. Again, it really chokes you with its setting, though I did think The Shards did it better.
Toward the end was when things started to not only pick up but also become clear. Loss of innocence, corruption and evil, the passage of time, apathy toward the world and its utter depravity; I think these were all conveyed really well through the characters and events, and in a delightfully harrowing way. I really did close the book satisfied and a little relieved that it had meant something. There were a lot of things that I did like, so I can qualify it overall as a book that I liked and don't regret reading.
That being said... man, the first half was boring. I'm sorry, that's my entire main gripe. Nothing happens. I know that's the point, that the protagonist is just coasting through life with no real goals or desires—but that doesn't change the fact that I was badly hoping for something, anything, special to happen so I could be entertained. Maybe it's just my terrible attention span. Maybe I'm just turbo ADHD and dopamine poisoned. Doesn't change the fact that I unfortunately wasn't enjoying or even interested in it for the first 100 pages, which is why it took me so long to finish.
This doesn't mean that everything in the first half is a total slog. Like I said, there were parts that I liked. The Julian plotline, for one, is one thing that I was truly invested in and wanted to see more of. Clay looking back on his memories of his past, as well as his relationship with Blair, were also really interesting to me. But a lot of everything else was a chop. It's just lots of set-up and while the pay-off is worth it I have a feeling Ellis wasn't very concerned with making it actually good to read. Respect I guess.
I keep comparing this to The Shards and AP but that really is just because I think a lot about this book is done better in those two novels respectively. The very emotionless evil and apathy, surrounded by characters who are seemingly interchangeable, is great in AP, not to mention the dialogue and interactions in AP are much more entertaining and funny! And the general atmosphere and relationships between the characters (who are similar to Bret and his friends) are more fleshed out and meaningful in The Shards. It makes sense because in-lore Bret the character wrote LTZ, but still.
There are things that are unique about this book, again I don't regret reading it at all. I feel like I'm overexaggerating a bit here about the bad parts. I really did like this book, but I'm complaining about it so much because I had high expectations and I feel that it could've been a lot better! There are ways that apathy and indifference could've been expressed in the beginning without being a snoozefest.
Generally I just feel like this book wasn't very tightly written. If The Shards is accurate about its writing and that it was mostly just teenager's stream-of-consciousness first attempt at a novel, well, I believe that. A very artistically talented teenager, admittedly.
I give Less Than Zero a 7/10. Despite all its flaws, I would still recommend it to anyone looking to check out BEE's novels.
I'll say the things I did like first of all, though. As always, the narrative voice is spot-on. It's such a harrowing level of detached, a mind totally numbed by youth and drugs and the inability to care about anything. Not as emotional as The Shards but not as evilly apathetic as American Psycho. I liked that Clay, the protagonist, seemed so totally uncaring, but there were a few well-placed scenes of emotion. I think nostalgia, or perhaps a longing for the past in general, was a theme this book was playing with that I really enjoyed. When he displays that sort of yearning, it's a nice contrast from how utterly meaningless his life is in the present.
Related to that is the writing style. I don't think it's as wonderfully well-developed as The Shards or even AP, but I did like it, though maybe it is my own fond slant toward run-on sentences and surreal writing. The dialogue was pretty natural while also being ridiculous in that insufferable way typical of Ellis' characters.
Atmosphere is a staple in his books as well, and this novel is no different. Again, it really chokes you with its setting, though I did think The Shards did it better.
Toward the end was when things started to not only pick up but also become clear. Loss of innocence, corruption and evil, the passage of time, apathy toward the world and its utter depravity; I think these were all conveyed really well through the characters and events, and in a delightfully harrowing way. I really did close the book satisfied and a little relieved that it had meant something. There were a lot of things that I did like, so I can qualify it overall as a book that I liked and don't regret reading.
His hand drops down to Julian's jockey shorts and Julian closes his eyes. "You're a very nice young man."
An image of Julian in fifth grade, kicking a soccer ball across a green field.
"Yes, you're a very beautiful boy," the man from Indiana says, "and here, that's all that matters."
An image of Julian in fifth grade, kicking a soccer ball across a green field.
"Yes, you're a very beautiful boy," the man from Indiana says, "and here, that's all that matters."
That being said... man, the first half was boring. I'm sorry, that's my entire main gripe. Nothing happens. I know that's the point, that the protagonist is just coasting through life with no real goals or desires—but that doesn't change the fact that I was badly hoping for something, anything, special to happen so I could be entertained. Maybe it's just my terrible attention span. Maybe I'm just turbo ADHD and dopamine poisoned. Doesn't change the fact that I unfortunately wasn't enjoying or even interested in it for the first 100 pages, which is why it took me so long to finish.
This doesn't mean that everything in the first half is a total slog. Like I said, there were parts that I liked. The Julian plotline, for one, is one thing that I was truly invested in and wanted to see more of. Clay looking back on his memories of his past, as well as his relationship with Blair, were also really interesting to me. But a lot of everything else was a chop. It's just lots of set-up and while the pay-off is worth it I have a feeling Ellis wasn't very concerned with making it actually good to read. Respect I guess.
I keep comparing this to The Shards and AP but that really is just because I think a lot about this book is done better in those two novels respectively. The very emotionless evil and apathy, surrounded by characters who are seemingly interchangeable, is great in AP, not to mention the dialogue and interactions in AP are much more entertaining and funny! And the general atmosphere and relationships between the characters (who are similar to Bret and his friends) are more fleshed out and meaningful in The Shards. It makes sense because in-lore Bret the character wrote LTZ, but still.
There are things that are unique about this book, again I don't regret reading it at all. I feel like I'm overexaggerating a bit here about the bad parts. I really did like this book, but I'm complaining about it so much because I had high expectations and I feel that it could've been a lot better! There are ways that apathy and indifference could've been expressed in the beginning without being a snoozefest.
Generally I just feel like this book wasn't very tightly written. If The Shards is accurate about its writing and that it was mostly just teenager's stream-of-consciousness first attempt at a novel, well, I believe that. A very artistically talented teenager, admittedly.
I give Less Than Zero a 7/10. Despite all its flaws, I would still recommend it to anyone looking to check out BEE's novels.
"I don't know if any other person I've been with has been really there, either... but at least they tried. ... You never did. Other people made an effort and you just... it was beyond you." She takes another sip of her wine. "You were never there. I felt sorry for you for a little while, but then I found it hard to. You're a beautiful boy, Clay, but that's about it."