Glamorama - Bret Easton Ellis

I first started reading Glamorama around 5 years ago straight after reading and loving Less Than Zero. However, I quickly realised that this was an entirely different animal and try as I might I could not get into it, it was so much hard work I just gave up which is very unusual for me - and the book went back on my shelf. Over the years it kept bugging me every time I looked at the spine that I hadnt finished it and eventually I picked it back up a couple of weeks ago. Again I found the novel to be incredibly hard work to get into - disjointed, constantly confusing and difficult to like the main protagonist Victor Ward, I would say I didnt feel properly into ...  Read the complete review

Whereas I found `American Psycho' an easy and absorbing read, I found this much harder work. Although rewarding in the end it took a while to get into. The part on the cruise ship became confusing for me and I was uncertain at times when we were focusing on a real plot or not. I enjoyed the concept of the camera crew, always having your life in the spot life etc but then I felt it lost something. If you don't reflect too much and try to analyse as you are reading it then this is a great read. I found myself trying to link characters together and once all the pieces of the jigsaw started to fall into place it was as if one of them wasn't quite right and you had to start ...  Read the complete review

'Glamorama' is an exceptionally sharp moral satire from Bret Easton Ellis, hailed as a Jack Kerouac for the morally barren 1980s, and most famous for his controversial novel 'American Psycho'. This work follows a young socialite, Victor Ward, on a fantastical and disturbing journey from the safety of affluent fashion and celebrity obsessed New York, to a nightmarish reflection in Europe. Buzzing with drugs, sex, violence and hedonism, 'Glamorama' constantly and unexpectedly mutates from satire to psychological thriller, with gashes of black humour and a few terrorists. Ellis' unpredictable inventiveness makes this ...  Read the complete review

It took the author a number of years to write this book, and it certainly shows. I feel that he tried to pack too much into this work. It feels very laboured, and there are too many devices that impede the story from moving forward in any satisfying way. Most notably, the whole idea of the different film crews running the show. The story goes awry when the main character leaves New York on the QE2, and the terrorism, of course described in exquisite detail by Ellis, including pages and pages of description of a place crash, which is unnecessary. I would not go out of my way to recommend this book to someone. ...  Read the complete review