Rating: 
Summary: The Sam Fuller of American Literature
Review: Many people have tried to justify Ellis as a serious literary figure to those still skeptical by comparing him to everyone from Jane Austen to Norman Mailer. But more illuminating cross media comparisons tend to be ignored; how about Ellis's work compared to the work of Sam Fuller, Sam Peckinpah, Jim Thompson, Roger Corman, or Brian de Palma? Kitsch and genius, violence and cold beauty, trash and epiphany, all living in the same space at the same time?
Rating: 
Summary: Ellis is the psycho
Review: I wouldn't spend a minute alone in a room unarmed with Ellis.Can you say "foreshadowing"? The book is horrible, a disgrace to the publishing business, and quite possibly a cry for help from a serial killer in the making. Think Littleton.
Rating: 
Summary: Glamorama......A bowl of satire
Review: Having in mind the aspirations to begin this review with position comments about "Glamorama." I will say that I thought Ellis' keen eye for the trivial details of the lives of yuppies and wannabe celebs was accurate and undeniably clever. Apparently seven years in the writing, this latest novel from the mind of B.E. Ellis is of a group of model/terrorists who kill people and use a computer program called, "PhotoSoap for Windows 95" to change and create havoc on the world as we know it. Victor, the main character and son of a U.S. senator, is a man indulged in Manhattan's fame and nightlife. This indulgence causes his life to cave in on him when he comes to realization that he is caught in a world of terrorism covered by the allure of the glamor and glitz. Indulging oneself in the endless persuits of one's own surreality gives one insight in reading this novel, yet when the writer takes you into the underworld of the fashion nililism it is all but surreal. It's just plain boring. Given that a supermodel could have the audacity or intellect to organize a terriorist ring, "Glamorama" could make many astonished readers into true believers. I am inclined to think otherwise. Indeed, I take this position on the account that a writer of Ellis' stature should produce more tangible and well-grounded material. At 482 pages of extreme satire, this book was more of an intake of tidbit facts that surround the surreality of the celebrity culture. For while the author does a excellent and clever task of beating information into your head ever so mercifully about how much he detests celebrity culture, perhaps he should stick to writing about coke-heads and indolence of the rich, it is the two topics which made him known. If humans can master being boring in very funny way, then Ellis would be the first to do it. I didn't hate reading this novel, but I don't think I'll pick it up and read it again.
Rating:
Summary: There was confetti everywhere.
Review: What is *Glamorama* about? It is about the entertainment industry, not specifically fashion as many critics have said, but all the beautiful people melted together...models, rock stars, actors, politicians, terrorists. It is about the pervasive destructiveness of immorality. And the vulnerability (and general cluelessness) of the amoral. It is about the overwhelming power and ultimate ineffectuality of pop culture. What kind of a writer is Bret Easton Ellis? He is a satirist and a provocateur who draws us in with humorous, drug-addled tales of superficial rich brats, numbs us with litanys of products or famous people (what's the difference?) and then shoves in the knife of grotesque violence when we least expect it. Welcome to the end of the 20th century, baby. Pull up a pipe bomb and sit down. Or drop a Xanax and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. My only criticism of this novel, as other readers have pointed out, is the general fuzziness of some of the more surreal plot elements--like the film crews and the doppleganger. My theory on the film crew is that it's a hallucination/misperception that Victor uses to interpret his reality. The doppleganger...I have no idea. But, whatever, baby. It's only rock 'n roll, and I like it.
Rating: 
Summary: An excessively wordy compilation of celebrity
Review: It would appear as if the primary research for this work was to peruse the pages of People, Vogue and other celebrity magazines solely to make sure no one got left out. While Ellis does indeed capture the artificiality of the nightclub and fashion world, his plot borders on the surreal and the final chapters are evident to a sophisticated reader in the first section of the book. While the path to the ending is sometimes exciting, the ending is no surprise and if you know what's going to happen, why finish the book? As a fan of Ellis, I was sorely disappointed in this work, characterized by some as his "most agressive". Here, I interpret those words as "over the edge". Ellis has a penchant for the rougher edges of sex, snuff, and the nightlife...all of which do reflect aspects of the the society in which many young, sexually promiscuous, urbanites live. But it is not this aspect of this work to which I object. His reality, however, is diffused by the attempt at inclusion of body doubles, terrorism and politics of the lowest level. It is clear to me that Ellis would benefit from plot development lessons in these subjects. A reasonably fast read, because when Ellis goes into his listing of celebrities, you can just skip that chapter (or two, or three).
Rating:
Summary: Ellis rules the world around you
Review: Well, having read all of his novels so far, I must say I quite liked this one, even if it was a bit confusing. But that is what it is supposed to be - just as the dialogue is supposed to be shallow. It's just the concretisation of the psyche of the protagonist and the world he lives in. I guess. And the namedropping is also part of that. The only thing that annoyed me was that some of the names where plain wrong - if you want to use zillions of names, you'd better do your homework. For example, the Belgian designer's name is not Dries von Noten, but Dries vAn Noten. He's not german, Bret. And there are no 'Aphex twins'...Aphex Twin is just one guy: Richard D. James. In a novel like Glamorama, these details are important, am I wrong? Otherwise great, gimme more!
Rating: 
Summary: Hell Is A Place On Earth
Review: I have followed Ellis' career very closely and I think Glamorama is his greatest literary achievement to date. The growth he has undergone from his already great first book to the latest is astonishing. His first three books ("Zero", "Attraction" and "Psycho") outline the private hell of certain individuals or groups of individuals. "Informers" and now "Glamorama" widen the scope to show that our whole society is going down the drain, they depict a universal sort of hell. "Glamorama" is one of the most frightening books I have ever read, because it questions everything we believe in. Even your own identity. Together with Don de Lillos "Underworld" this is one of the most important literary works of the late 20th century. It's the "The Naked And The Dead" of our times. But whereas "Underworld" leaves you in some kind of a limbo at the end, "Glamorama" sucks you into the terminal darkness of human existence where you encounter nothing but lonliness and emptiness.
Rating:
Summary: is his heart in it?
Review: Ellis is a major talent, but Glamorama confirms that he is blase about his literary output. The opening is majestic, and very funny. Then he seems to bow to some direction to manufacture a 'thriller' type plot. This is so obviously against his natural impulses that what emerges is creative writing course stuff. Sadly,Ellis seems to have convinced himself that we really do live in the plotless universe that his anti-character Ward believes in,with the result that he seems to find it difficult to remain interested in his craft.
Rating:
Summary: first half - great! second half - totally out of control
Review: The first 100 pages were slick, self-mocking and very, very funny. The rest of the book descended into chaos and confusion and truly I didn't care what happened to any of them. Does anyone know what the ending means - I'd love to know!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Ellis read for 1/2 hour at Trinity College Dublin a couple of months ago. I never thought I would see the 'man' read live. Pity I didn't bring my copy for him to autograph !
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