NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The timeless classic from the acclaimed author of American Psycho about the lost generation of 1980s Los Angeles who experienced sex, drugs, and disaffection at too early an age. • The basis for the cult-classic film "Possesses an unnerving air of documentary reality." —The New York Times They live in a world shaped by casual nihilism, passivity, and too much money in a place devoid of feeling or hope. When Clay comes home for Christmas vacation from his Eastern college, he re-enters a landscape of limitless privilege and absolute moral entropy, where everyone drives Porsches, dines at Spago, and snorts mountains of cocaine. He tries to renew feelings for his girlfriend, Blair, and for his best friend from high school, Julian, who is careering into hustling and heroin. Clay's holiday turns into a dizzying spiral of desperation that takes him through the relentless parties in glitzy mansions, seedy bars, and underground rock clubs and also into the seamy world of L.A. after dark.
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About the author
Bret Easton Ellis
Author
Bret Easton Ellis is an American author and screenwriter. Ellis was one of the literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique as a writer is the expression of extreme acts and opinions in an affectless style. His novels often share recurring characters.
Less Than Zero
by Bret Easton Ellis
Books Like Less Than Zero
If you're looking for books similar to Less Than Zero, here are some recommendations based on themes, tone, and narrative style.
American Psycho
Bret Easton Ellis
Another Ellis novel exploring the dark underbelly of 1980s excess and moral emptiness. Follows Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street investment banker with violent psychopathic tendencies. Satirizes consumer culture, materialism, and emotional detachment in urban professional life. A shocking critique of Reagan-era superficiality and alienation.
Bright Lights, Big City
Jay McInerney
A seminal 1980s novel about a young Manhattan magazine fact-checker spiraling through cocaine-fueled nights and existential crisis. Captures the era's decadence and emotional numbness through second-person narrative. Explores themes of urban disillusionment, lost identity, and generational malaise. Reflects the same sense of disconnection found in Less Than Zero.
White Noise
Don DeLillo
A postmodern novel examining media saturation, consumer culture, and existential anxiety. Follows a college professor confronting mortality and technological alienation. Offers a satirical look at contemporary American life and its psychological discontents. Shares a similar intellectual critique of societal emptiness and individual disconnection.
The Rules of Attraction
Bret Easton Ellis
Another Ellis novel depicting privileged college students navigating meaningless sexual encounters and substance abuse. Set in an elite New England campus, the book explores emotional disconnection and nihilistic behavior. Characters drift through experiences without genuine connection or purpose. Shares the same bleak, detached narrative style as Less Than Zero.
Generation X
Douglas Coupland
A landmark novel about disillusioned young adults rejecting mainstream consumer culture. Follows three friends working marginal jobs and seeking meaning outside traditional societal expectations. Captures the generational malaise and economic uncertainty of the late 1980s. Explores themes of alienation and search for authenticity.
Glamorama
Bret Easton Ellis
A postmodern novel about celebrity culture, terrorism, and identity dissolution. Follows a male model who becomes entangled in a surreal world of violence and media manipulation. Continues Ellis's exploration of superficiality, moral bankruptcy, and psychological fragmentation. Maintains the provocative and disorienting narrative approach of his earlier works.
Story of My Life
Jay McInerney
A novel about a young woman's experiences in 1980s New York City. Follows her encounters with drugs, sex, and urban social scenes. Captures the era's hedonistic lifestyle and emotional disconnection. Provides a female perspective on similar themes of generational aimlessness.
Lunar Park
Bret Easton Ellis
A metafictional novel blending autobiography and horror, featuring a protagonist named Bret Easton Ellis. Explores themes of identity, family dysfunction, and psychological breakdown. Continues Ellis's examination of suburban darkness and personal disintegration. Maintains the author's signature style of blending reality and surreal narrative.
Slaves of New York
Tama Janowitz
A novel about struggling artists in 1980s New York City. Explores themes of personal relationships, artistic ambition, and urban survival. Captures the era's social dynamics and cultural landscape. Provides a nuanced look at young adults navigating complex social environments.
Bright Palaces
Tama Janowitz
A novel capturing the New York City art and social scene of the 1980s. Explores the lives of young, privileged individuals navigating complex social dynamics. Offers a sharp, satirical look at urban culture and personal relationships. Shares the era's sense of cultural disillusionment and social artifice.
The Informers
Bret Easton Ellis
A collection of interconnected stories set in 1980s Los Angeles. Explores themes of alienation, sexual transgression, and moral ambiguity. Captures the same sense of cultural emptiness found in Less Than Zero. Offers a fragmented view of privileged urban life.
Model Behavior
Jay McInerney
A novel about media, celebrity, and urban life in New York City. Explores themes of professional ambition and personal relationships. Captures the social dynamics of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Provides a satirical look at media culture and personal identity.
Imperial Bedrooms
Bret Easton Ellis
A sequel to Less Than Zero, revisiting the characters decades later. Continues the exploration of moral decay and emotional emptiness. Reveals the long-term consequences of the characters' earlier lifestyle. Maintains the dark, cynical tone of the original novel.
Bright Lights
Gary Indiana
A novel exploring the underground art and social scenes of 1980s New York. Examines themes of sexuality, artistic expression, and cultural marginalization. Offers a gritty, realistic portrayal of urban life. Shares the era's sense of social disillusionment and personal exploration.
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