Less Than Zero

By: Bret Easton Ellis

Narrated by: Christian Rummel

Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Set in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, this coolly mesmerizing novel is a raw, powerful portrait of a lost generation who have experienced sex, drugs, and disaffection at too early an age, in a world shaped by casual nihilism, passivity, and too much money – a place devoid of feeling or hope.

Clay comes home for Christmas vacation from his Eastern college and 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.

As an added bonus, when you purchase our Audible Modern Vanguard production of Bret Easton Ellis' book, you'll also get an exclusive Jim Atlas interview that begins when the audiobook ends.

This production is part of our Audible Modern Vanguard line, a collection of important works from groundbreaking authors.

©1985 Bret Easton Ellis (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

" Catcher in the Rye for the MTV generation." ( USA Today)

"A killer - sexy, sassy, and sad.... It's a teenage slice-of-death novel, no holds barred." ( Village Voice)

"One of the most disturbing novels I've read in a long time. It possesses an unnerving air of documentary reality." ( The New York Times)

Makes you feel Hopeless

I think this book is really well written - every "negative" about the book seems to be intentional as if that's the point. None of the characters are particularly unique or memorable, but that's kind of the point. Not much action happens, but that's kind of the point. Some of the things that DO happen are shocking and disturbing, but that's kind of the point.

Not my kind of book, but admirable craftsmanship nonetheless

It’s hard to listen to a book when you can’t really care much about most of the characters, even the narrator. It’s a book with no heroes and possibly no point, either. That said, even though I didn’t exactly find this book enjoyable, I can admire the strange artistry and skill needed to evoke the superficial and casually violent L.A. landscape. The narrator does a good job of inhabiting a weak, detached character who cares about nothing of importance and sounds like he has a really punchable face.

A classic BEE novel.

Of course it's dark. It's Ellis. A mix of the apparent nihilism of the "latch-key" generation set in Hollywood. Beautiful wealthy teens with nothing to believe in. The hell of a constant paradise.

Its funny that he wrote about this in the 80's because I went through something very similar in the late 00's with the punk scene in NM. Angry teens with no parents in site. everyone fucked up on something and always getting in trouble I guess it took a while for the mindset to spread. Now there almost seems to be a puritanical rebound after 08. Everyone strongly believes in something and is angry. I've always been so curious to know what it would be like to be a beautiful wealthy person living amongst the elites. I think Ellis makes you see yourself for who you really are. The frustration with passivity amongst "evil" people. Yet, you're confronted with your own sick voyeuristic curiosity. "Why am I here? Why am I still reading?" Because you want to see how bad things can get. Yet, you know right from wrong. You're not that bad.

Also glad they got the same narrator from American Psycho. I think he adds style to the reading. Even makes voices for when the characters are smoking joints and holding in while talking.

Listen to his podcast if you like his books!

Rich kids rape and trick for drugs

Didn't really care for this book, very overrated and disgusting book. All the characters are useless, wastes of time with no morals or real loyalty to each other or themselves. Clay the main character is the worst of them all cuz he just watches all this sodomy and rape go on, including a 12 yr old girl! and never does anything! Hell he even goes out with one of the guys later after the rape! shocks just to shock with no real value.

Great debut novel, big fan of the author

It's really cool to discover an author so far into their journey, then go backwards and read their earlier (and first!) novels. You can totally see where his style initially developed. Easy read, entertaining, love how this set up his future books. Big BEE fan!

Full of atmosphere of a certain time and place

Any additional comments?

First of all, the narrator was fabulous. He was just right for this. The book does not have a false word in it, and the author succeeds in making the characters, rich wastrels though they are, into people I cared about. But, you'll be glad they don't live next door. Less Than Zero held my interest all the way through.

4 stars

Te middle of the book seemed a little slow. The narration suited the story well.

Read with 1.5 speed

Good book. I understand what he is doing with the characters. The life portrait he paints is unbelievably soulless and narcissistic. This dude invented desperate house wives and Paris Hilton, or at least shined a light on them. All that being said it gets repetitive after a while and makes you feel like you have spent the last hour reading about nothing. Pretty amazing to think this guy wrote this book when he was 19

Don't Hear It.

I grew up with these people and the performance completely misses the mark. I don't understand why people try to act books instead of just reading them, because every book suffers for it. There is nothing worse than hearing someone read a line and then hearing inflection stated in the text and realizing how the performance and text don't match.

This is not an exit

Less Than Zero remains an 80s classic. Maybe some of his later books weren’t as good but Zero holds up. It’s a short listen that packs as much punch as reading it does. Well worth it!