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Summary: A novel broken up into short stories.... Perfect!
Review: For his fourth book, Ellis once again was able to shock us with his stories of the young and rich in L.A. But this time, with "The Informers" Ellis took a different route to grip us with. Instead of writing a full novel, we get thirteen short stories of several characters that are introduced in the first two chapters, either by being in that chapter, or being a name in passing.
As in his other stories, Ellis brings in names and characters that have been used in other of his works, making all of his books intertwined in small ways. I found this book to read a lot more like "Less Than Zero" than his other works, mainly because the characters go to the same schools and know each other, and are the same age.
The are three main charachters that the short stories are mainly based around and the shorts in this book range over a time period of roughly two to three years, putting you before and after major events.
This book is something only Ellis could achieve. Taking normal lives of teens and adults alike and showing us their rich, corrupt and disappointing lives. From divorce, to random sex with lovers and friends, to the mind of a boy who believes he is a vampire.
This is another perfect piece of literature that will no doubt become another Ellis classic.
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Summary: Ellis's Worst Effort Thus Far
Review: Don't get me wrong - Bret Easton Ellis is one of my favorite authors - along with Chuck Palahniuk and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. So...needless to say having read Ellis many times over, I came in with lofty expectations which sadly went unfulfilled. I read an interview with Ellis where he stated that The Informers was merely a collection of short stories he had been working on for years in between novels when he had writer's block that were basically turned in to satisfy a publishing deadline - he did not expect them to ultimately to be approved for publishing. Now I know why, Bret. Somewhat enjoyable and recommended strictly for diehard Ellis fans. If you want real Bret Easton Ellis with much more depth, intensity & cohesiveness, pick up The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, Less Than Zero or Glamorama - all superb and quintessential Ellis reading.
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Summary: The Rules of Attraction
Review: The most interesting aspect of this book is its narrative structure. It combines multiple stories told in the first person by diverse characters, the events narrated are somehow connected although they don`t create a cohesive whole. Most of these characters are rich elistist, souless and hedonistic people from L.A. who can`t relate to those who surround them, living vapid lives in a mind-numbing loneliness. There are some good, intense and entertaining moments here, as well as a couple of repulsive ones. The ending result is uneven and, for the most part, as shallow as the lives of these cardboard characters. Some of this material reminds me of Martin Amis`s "Money" or Irvine Welsh`s "Ecstasy", however those books are a bit better. Still, this one is worth a look anyway. Mildly recommended.
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Summary: A Book Replete with the Nihilism of an Era
Review: I have read "Less Than Zero", "The Rules of Attraction" and my favourite, "American Psycho". I have about thirty pages left to read in "The Informers" and I must say that the book is a mixture of all Ellis's other books. For those who say the book lacks a story or even a plot, I would say that they are sadly mistaken. The point of "The Informers" is to take you through the lives of some really twisted people and underscore their naive search for meaning, whether it be in the form of fashion, sex, or drugs and whatever else is the pleasure of the moment. The frustration of living a life devoid of meaning and the inability to discern where one can find substance is found in the Ellis's sexually rapacious vampire character. Here is guy that takes out all of his anger on women, i.e. through his violent sexual escapades and minorities, i.e. his casual, yet caustic references to "niggers" and "gooks". "The Informers" and all of Ellis's other works are windows that give you a snapshot of the nihilisitic children of the 80s. Though I believe that Ellis uses hyperbole in all of the sex, violence and senseless dialogue to get his point across, the goal of his works is to show just how empty and pointless, the life of nihilism really is.
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Summary: If you liked The Rules Of Attraction...
Review: then you will like The Informers. I loved The Rules Of Attraction (and also all of Bret Easton Ellis's books), and I came across this little book and I dove right in. Some of these stories are Easton's best writing, and his characters are STILL unlikable, and they do stupid stuff like drugs, and all that other mess. With these characters; and like most of Bret characters, they always do coke or smoke a joint afterwards.
In one of the stories, it has a touch of American Psycho which Jamie who is a vampire who drinks human blood and murders his victims brutally, like what Patrick Bateman did. The book mostly contend of characters who live in the same city; Los Angeles, and they get their drugs from the same dealers, and they went to the same school. They dont know each other, but all of the characters in this book have a lot in common which is some of the things I just mentioned. Of course the stories I found out ruled, and it was different because Bret likes to ramble into detail; like he did in American Psycho, but he didnt do it that much. Also you could tell by reading the book that Bret had a couple of problems when writing their characters when they are talking. They would stop. Pause. and begin again. Does this make the book bad? No of course not. But this is some good stuff. Worth checking out, and another point, a couple of names in this book; Tim Price, Sean Bateman, are mentioned and if you read The Rules Of Attraction and American Psycho you would know these two characters already. If you dont, then read TROA and AP.
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Summary: Entertaining Depiction of a Moral Wasteland
Review: The format of this book is a little strange, because it's not exactly a novel or a collection of short stories, but something in between. The book is made up of a series of vignettes told through the viewpoints of a variety of characters who inhabit the same social circles in Los Angelos. The stories often overlap, and a peripheral character in one vignette is often the main character in another story. In terms of content, it pretty much follows the same themes as "American Psycho" and "The Rules of Attraction": immoral, spoiled, self-absorbed and mostly soulless people living in the early 80's, and having difficulty connecting with or relating to anyone else. This gives the entire book a depressing, bleak tone, but it is also somehow entertaining. Towards the end of the book, a couple of the stories take on a supernatural turn that neither of the other books did, which makes finishing the book worthwhile. Overall, I found the book entertaining, though it is far from being a masterpiece.
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Summary: The First Ellis book I read was....
Review: The Informers. This book was one of the more interesting books I've read in a great while. It wasn't an absolutely amazing book but it was no where near being a terrible book either. It will make you think, that's for sure. You read about people who have so much in common but are strangers in every important way. There is no doubt that Ellis is one of my favorite authors. I really like this book but it's not one of my favorites. It's good to read though.
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Summary: Worth purchasing on Amazon
Review: The Informers is a very interesting book. I'm not really sure how to say it outside of that. It doesn't leave a lasting impression as being good or bad, it just exists, interesting in it's own way. There isn't really a plot, it's rather a collection of stories about people who's lives are slightly connected through the people they know (along the line's of Altman's Shortcuts). Ellis' dialogue is fun as always and keeps the book relatively entertaining, but few events really stick in your head. He journey's through the lives of unhappy people in L.A., from rich college kids to unsatisfied housewives to rich homicidal vampires. Mostly he just gives you small glimpses into the lives of these people, their problems relating with each other, themselves, and the world at large. As always, they seem to be lost in an amoral wasteland with very few ambitions other than their shallow goals to look good and be envied. There are some truly frightening characters such as the vampire and his murder victims. Mostly it imparts a sense of having lost touch with reality, not being able to reach happiness because people are chasing things that are intangible. It's an astute observation of our society but it doesn't succeed as well as American Psycho did. All in all, not a bad book but very unfocused. Also recommended: THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez
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Summary: Ellis isn't the best short story writer.
Review: This complilation has some good and some bad stories but unfortunately I can't really recommend this book and myabe it's because I am not a huge fan of short story complations. There are some characters that appear througout and some continuity but most of these stories are the same versions of each other in one form or another. Ellis' has that ability to replicate that sunshine maliase of Los Angeles known only to its inhabitants and this makes it interesting for So Cal readers like myself as is also the case with Less Than Zero. Ellis needs more than a few pages to set up his characters and that is part of the problem of Informers. Bottom Line: fans of Ellis should check it out, curious readers should start at the beginnin with Less Than Zero. Reading Ellis' books in order is actually really important for two reasons. First, Less Than Zero is the easiest read of them all and it introduces you to his style in a gradual manner. Second, Ellis uses the amusing literary trick of characters popping up here and there in other novels and you will recognize the most of these by reading his books in chronilogical order.
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Summary: Creative blend of all genres.
Review: Be aware this is a book of SHORT STORIES. I did not realize this when I first began reading it because it did not say so anywhere in the book that I was aware of. Ellis sometimes rights from many perspectives and with many different story lines and in the end weaves them together, so I assumed this is what he was doing here. When I finally got to the story featuring a vampire I figured it out. Before that I kept saying, wow, he's really lost it this time. They are all pure Ellis tales that are good to read if you haven't read Ellis before. They will prepare you for what is to come in his other novels.
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