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Glamorama

Glamorama

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: What's is happening???
Review: I have to say this is one of the most confusing novels I've read to date. I loved American Psycho but have felt all of Ellis' other works just aren't at the same level. Same for this one. I didn't "get" what Ellis was trying to tell us. There was no fluidity in the unfolding of the story- half the time I couldn't tell if what was happening was really happening or if it was in Victor's imagination, or another character's imagination, or Ellis' imagination. But the first part of the book was humorous and the ending was a little shocking, in a good way. It was overall pretty interesting if you don't try to make sense of it all.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: To those who just don't get it...
Review: here's some blocks, you simpletons. Go play while the rest of us devour this amazing work. Anyone who doesn't see that the camera crew doesn't exist, that they are an extension of Ward's lessening grip on reality, just isn't trying hard. Like all of Ellis's books, he makes you earn this one, but it's all worth it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A horrible, self indulget literary mess.
Review: If you saw the Bravo Profile on Ellis you will find him almost as unlikable as the characters he writes, and adamantly professes to be nothing like--which has much to be desired after seeing the documentary,(It's like he's trying too hard to come across as a fun loving normal guy red blooded American.). Ellis continues to storm pop culture, slewing out hundreds of celebretity names and pop icons, and once again showing his audience how good an eye his characters have for fashion (Didn't he do that in "American Psycho" already?) This time his main character, Victor Ward, is a model/would-be-actor and Senetor's son. He's boring and sad, just like every character Ellis has ever written about in his writing career. Ward gets involved in a nonsensical terrorist scene where all the terrorists are models,(Oh! How profound!). The novel get's nearly as graphic and gory as "American Psycho," further displaying Ellis' bloodlust; and as you read on you might find yourself wondering: "What in God's name am I reading? And Why do I continue." Well, I'll tell you why I read on. A) I paid twenty bucks for the book (Which I returned after reading) B)I wanted to see if anything interesting would actually occur C) I thought Ellis was suppose to be the contemporary wunderkind of American literature. This, of course, to me, is unfound. In fact, Ellis has become so bad that if you combined all his books into one compilation you might find it hard distinguishing one book from the other. It's all the same, like a porno film, and a bad one at that. In the Bravo Profiles Ellis says that writing the novel has become to laborious for him (I'll say!), he adds, that he thinks he will turn his head to writing screenplays for Hollywood. The perfect place for Mr. Glamorama himself. Don't buy this book, take it out at the library and have a laugh, (Because, honestly, some of it is funny.) and you might actually enjoy it if you have never read an Ellis book, or didn't see the Bravo Profiles on him. This review coming from a one time fan of Bret Easton Ellis.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: weak, insipid
Review: How is it that THE SIMPSONS manages, every week and for free, to do a smarter job of lancing America's boils than this "novel," allegedly 8 years in the writing? Pass.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Solid Contemporary Fiction
Review: For fans of contemporary fiction, this book is a winner although it tails off at the end and does not live up to the level of Less than Zero. Still, Bret Easton Ellis maintains his status as one of America's best contemporary writers. I would rank him and D.M. Roman (the author of Fried Calamari) as the best contemporary writers today.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Pulp fiction and polyester make an interesting ensamble
Review: Ellis once again emerges from the haze, to unleash a novel that seems almost schizophrenic in prose. Glamorama is a book about everything, its a book about nothing, it's a book that battles for the title of surrealism, but falls short only behind the now infamous,"The Crying of Lot 69". How any one author can mange to paint a picture, that manages to change from angle to angle is puzzeling. Book one is chocked full of humor, paranoia, and interesting prose. You feel like you're on to something that's solid and stable-a characteristic often missing form Ellis's novels. Ellis even becomes a bit snarky when Patrick Bateman, Mr. "American Psycho" himself, makes a brief appearence. It's only at Book Two that everything we came to acknowledge as smart and quirky, is now dulled by a painfully awkward storyline. Supermodel terrorists? Come on, Mr. Ellis! You had it right the first time. The now infamous phrase, "Disappear Here" seems somehow fitting when we read it again in this novel. Glamorama has the attitude, but not the whole-hearted integrity to back it up.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Terribly disappointed!
Review: After reading 'American Psycho' I was excited to read 'Glamorama' and I was so disappointed by the book. The book (so far) is 200 pages of names in the movie and music business - there is no story at all - I am trying so hard to push on in the book to see if something happens at all, but it is getting more and more difficult to do.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Sharp, funny, clever . . . but--
Review: I love this author and the first section of this book is some of the funniest stuff I've read in a long time. The rest of the book is starkly different -- same character, still interesting, but decidedly not as fun. The inclusion of a ridiculously implausible terrorist subplot serves a purpose I'm still straining for. And after defending the blood and guts of American Psycho, which was, after all, about a serial killer, I was taken aback by yet more horrifying pornography -- the kind that would make a pathologist vomit. Luckily for the human race, I've never heard of terrorists, sickos, or ANYONE torture and kill others like Bret routinely pulls from his imagination. He's obviously gifted -- the scripts, camera crews, confetti -- but his fascination with acid and intestines is beginning to make me wonder.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Three and a half, actually.
Review: From Victor Ward's, um, dim-witted encounter with Patrick Bateman to his "relationship" with a more mature (if still imperfect) Alison Poole (the main character from Jay McInerney's "Story of My Life," if I'm not mistaken), Ellis seems to be acknowledging that he has matured as a writer. While I have enjoyed most of his other works, in my opinion this is the first time the guy has managed to tell a coherent story, even if his notion of "plot" is still a bit disjointed.

What amazes me most about Ellis, though, is the power of his prose. Criticize him all you want for his chillingly caustic portrait of trans-Atlantic '90s pop-culture, but you'd be hard pressed to think of another author who has the ability to make a reader feel physically ill. There were times while reading "American Psycho" when I actually thought I was going to vomit. "Glamorama" inspires similarly extreme feelings of emptiness and despair. For this and this alone I would read anything the guy chose to write.

In the end, "Glamorama" is humorous and worth the read, although it's probably not for everybody. You will find yourself thinking and struggling to place all of the pieces of the puzzle and realizing that some of them just don't fit. Let's just hope that Ellis continues to grow as a story teller by the time he finishes his next book. At that point, I'd guess we'll have a novel worthy of unconditional recommendation.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Tremendous Disappointment!
Review: Being a "Rules of Attraction" fan, I was genuinely looking forward to this book. After 10 years, the prospect of reading about the Camden gang (Victor, Lauren, etc) in action again seemed like fun. Unfortunately, this book was a tremendous disappointment. Ellis has essentially written his own version of "The Truman Show", and a demented one at that. Even the plot (which always complements the nihilistic tone of his books) has less of a point than usual. The violence seems to have no other purpose except to shock and take up space. Speaking of taking up space, I read in an interview that Ellis took 8 years to write this book. Its hard to believe considering that about 10% of this 482 page book is exclusively devoted to celebrity name dropping. Thats less than a paragraph a day. Hmmm...


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