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"Ellis is fast becoming a writer of real American genius." -"GQ"
"His best work to date....He remains a laser-precise satirist but the wit now dominates." -"Esquire"
"His best work to date....He remains a laser-precise satirist but the wit now dominates." -"Esquire"
Book Description
The centre of the world: 1990s Manhattan. Victor Ward, a model with perfect abs and all the right friends, is seen and photographed everywhere, even in places he hasn’t been and with people he doesn’t know. On the eve of opening the trendiest nightclub in New York history, he’s living with one beautiful model and having an affair with another. Now it’s time to move to the next stage. But the future he gets is not the one he had in mind. ‘A master stylist with hideously interesting new-fangled manners and the heart of an old-fashioned moralist’ Observer ‘Gets under the skin of our celebrity culture in a way that is both illuminating and frightening’ Daily Telegraph ‘Does for the cold, minimal ’90s what American Psycho did for the Wall Street greed of the ’80s. You name it, he manages to get it all in’ Vogue ‘Brilliant . . . He is fast becoming a writer of real American genius’ GQ
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
By The Amazon J
Format:Paperback
Pretty much all of Ellis' work should come with a health warning that it is not meant to be read, except by final year students working on the effects of post-modernism on literature. Basically this is the story of a male model, who goes to the right restaurants, meets the right people, and takes the right drugs. One major slip-up however sees him cruise-linering off to Europe, into the hands of a model / terrorist organisation, who are behind a massive bombing campaign. Can you say Der-e-leeect?
Actually when I first read this, I presumed it was Ellis writing something truly unfilmable, just because all of his other books had ended up on screen; the irony that Zoolander basically took this premise and turned it into something entertaining is... quite wonderful.
Back to the novel, you can never tell what is true, what is really going on, and what is real. There is no resolution (there never is with Ellis). His characters are cyphers, indicators of general malaise, empty shells, not people in themselves, or people who participate in cause and effect plots. They are designed to inform us that our souls are dead, and that there aren't enough drugs to fill the gap. They are not designed to entertain us, and that is the problem - Ellis' books aren't entertaining, are a slog to read, and don't provide any payback for reading them (unless you consider the bitter after taste to be worth the while). Therefore I simply can't recommend reading them to anyone, unless you are someone who is quite happy to be bored by the books you read, and read for mood, not plot. Because there is no plot because either nothing happened or hundreds of people were blown limb from bloody limb by model agency bombing attacks; and no matter how many times you read this book, you will never know which of these scenarios occurred.
Actually when I first read this, I presumed it was Ellis writing something truly unfilmable, just because all of his other books had ended up on screen; the irony that Zoolander basically took this premise and turned it into something entertaining is... quite wonderful.
Back to the novel, you can never tell what is true, what is really going on, and what is real. There is no resolution (there never is with Ellis). His characters are cyphers, indicators of general malaise, empty shells, not people in themselves, or people who participate in cause and effect plots. They are designed to inform us that our souls are dead, and that there aren't enough drugs to fill the gap. They are not designed to entertain us, and that is the problem - Ellis' books aren't entertaining, are a slog to read, and don't provide any payback for reading them (unless you consider the bitter after taste to be worth the while). Therefore I simply can't recommend reading them to anyone, unless you are someone who is quite happy to be bored by the books you read, and read for mood, not plot. Because there is no plot because either nothing happened or hundreds of people were blown limb from bloody limb by model agency bombing attacks; and no matter how many times you read this book, you will never know which of these scenarios occurred.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is not as good as American Psycho but is the work I seem to re-read the most. Although split into six parts (with little bursts counting down to zero), its actually split up into two parts.
Part 1:
Manhatten 1995. Our protagonist is Victor Ward/Johnston (From the rules of attraction). He is, as is typical Ellis, an unlikable selfish stupid and is continually ploting to launch a rival club to his employee. The world of the book frequently mentions celebrities and saturises the culture of the time, occuasionally subtlely (song lyrics) but often not. The movies are rediculous (a cop is partnered with Gibons-like Turner and Hooch) as are the tattoos (always on the bisep-casper the friendly ghost, a little mussell man, power rangers-like P!nk's frog tattoo#. The celebrity couples are similar as both smoke and are tattooed #e.g. Justin Beber and Selena Gomez).
This section is like American Psycho in that stuff is occuring minus a visable plot, but one is present and emerges slowly. However, oddly for Ellis, Ward gets his comupence and flees America.
Part 2:
Set up by a bogus asignment, Ward is recurited by a terrorist group. This acts like a Robert Ludlum book, but is like no thriller you have ever read. With evil incarnet and Victor having ho vay attraction and the possilbe presence of a film crew, it is odd, but enternating with an unclear climax.
This book will either confuse you,or leave you fasinated. I was the latter.
Part 1:
Manhatten 1995. Our protagonist is Victor Ward/Johnston (From the rules of attraction). He is, as is typical Ellis, an unlikable selfish stupid and is continually ploting to launch a rival club to his employee. The world of the book frequently mentions celebrities and saturises the culture of the time, occuasionally subtlely (song lyrics) but often not. The movies are rediculous (a cop is partnered with Gibons-like Turner and Hooch) as are the tattoos (always on the bisep-casper the friendly ghost, a little mussell man, power rangers-like P!nk's frog tattoo#. The celebrity couples are similar as both smoke and are tattooed #e.g. Justin Beber and Selena Gomez).
This section is like American Psycho in that stuff is occuring minus a visable plot, but one is present and emerges slowly. However, oddly for Ellis, Ward gets his comupence and flees America.
Part 2:
Set up by a bogus asignment, Ward is recurited by a terrorist group. This acts like a Robert Ludlum book, but is like no thriller you have ever read. With evil incarnet and Victor having ho vay attraction and the possilbe presence of a film crew, it is odd, but enternating with an unclear climax.
This book will either confuse you,or leave you fasinated. I was the latter.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1.0 out of 5 stars
1 review
1.0 out of 5 stars
Terrible!
11 May 2013
By Michelle Swadling
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Self-indulgent waffle. I expected so much and it failed miserably. A waste of my time and money. A real disappointment.
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1.0 out of 5 stars
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