Less Than Zero, claimed to be the “Catcher in the Rye for the MTV
generation” by the USA Today quote on the back cover, revives the angst in me
that I had nearly forgotten about after being separated from my parents for
such a long time. I, and I’m sure many others, have felt Clay-esque emotions
after going across the country to a new place for the first months of college
and returning back to the same old familiar home. The familiar home which seems
all-too-familiar, with friends you once held fond memories of but not sure if
you feel the same way anymore, and with roads and places no longer being as
attractive as they once were. After the first couple of passages of Clay’s
narrative, I couldn’t really relate to his story anymore, but his angst throughout
(not the way he carried through with it) really resonated with my younger
adolescent years.
Like
others, I was compelled by Clay’s reckless and glamorous lifestyle and I could
hardly imagine people living like this in real life, so I decided to do some
research on Bret Easton Ellis to see if this work was possibly autobiographical
in anyway. Not surprisingly, like other works we’ve read in class, it was. Bret
grew up in Los Angeles (which was pretty much already known, given his
familiarity with the region), went to a prep school, and then went to a college
in Vermont, not too far off from Clay’s college state, New Hampshire. He doesn’t
identify consistently with a particular sexuality, partly because he claims he
doesn’t want to be read as a straight/gay/bisexual author.
Probably
for most readers, who aren’t part of “the industry” in LA or the wealthy
Beverly Hills cliques, Less Than Zero represents
a story of super rich kids (shout out to Frank Ocean) who are selfish, stupid,
and too bored to do anything productive other than snort coke and drink
champagne. Yet I can’t help but deeply sympathize with him.
-Carrie
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