Less Than Zero: the 40th anniversary edition of Bret Easton Ellis' cult classic debut novel
Mar 2019 · Pan Macmillan
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8 reviews
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208
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About this ebook
In 1985, years before American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis shocked, stunned and disturbed the world with his debut novel, Less Than Zero.
This 40th anniversary edition of the cult classic novel contains an introduction by Rachel Kushner, the Booker Prize-nominated author of Creation Lake and The Mars Room.
‘Unstoppable . . . The impeccable timing captures the banalities of Clay’s life in a way that both disgusts me and breaks my heart’ – Ottessa Moshfegh, author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Eighteen-year-old Clay has come home to LA for Christmas break after his first term at college. Clay is three things: rich, bored, and looking to get high. Reacquainting himself with a world of privilege and limitless indulgence, Clay steps back into the hedonism and moral depravity of his life in California.
With its relentless scenes of grotesque brutality, Less Than Zero is an unflinching portrait of a lost generation in revolt.
Published when he was just twenty-one, Less Than Zero held an excoriating mirror up to the culture of excess and vapidity of 1980s Los Angeles and made Bret Easton Ellis an instant literary sensation.
‘One of the most telling and striking chroniclers of the void beneath our consumerist society’ – The Guardian
‘Deadly serious social satires masquerading as generic pulp workouts’ – Esquire
‘He is the model of literary filial piety, counting among his parents Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nathanael West, and Joan Didion’ – The Washington Post
This 40th anniversary edition of the cult classic novel contains an introduction by Rachel Kushner, the Booker Prize-nominated author of Creation Lake and The Mars Room.
‘Unstoppable . . . The impeccable timing captures the banalities of Clay’s life in a way that both disgusts me and breaks my heart’ – Ottessa Moshfegh, author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Eighteen-year-old Clay has come home to LA for Christmas break after his first term at college. Clay is three things: rich, bored, and looking to get high. Reacquainting himself with a world of privilege and limitless indulgence, Clay steps back into the hedonism and moral depravity of his life in California.
With its relentless scenes of grotesque brutality, Less Than Zero is an unflinching portrait of a lost generation in revolt.
Published when he was just twenty-one, Less Than Zero held an excoriating mirror up to the culture of excess and vapidity of 1980s Los Angeles and made Bret Easton Ellis an instant literary sensation.
‘One of the most telling and striking chroniclers of the void beneath our consumerist society’ – The Guardian
‘Deadly serious social satires masquerading as generic pulp workouts’ – Esquire
‘He is the model of literary filial piety, counting among his parents Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nathanael West, and Joan Didion’ – The Washington Post
In 1985, years before American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis shocked, stunned and disturbed the world with his debut novel, Less Than Zero.
This 40th anniversary edition of the cult classic novel contains an introduction by Rachel Kushner, the Booker Prize-nominated author of Creation Lake and The M...
Ratings and reviews
8 reviews
DarthShafique
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July 6, 2025
A well narrated novel set in the 80s depicting the lifestyle of mega-rich teens living in LA. I'm just getting into books just now so I didn't really know what to expect but I would definitely say Brett Ellis really captured the shallowness and one-dimensional mind of how wealthy teenagers living in Los Angeles at that time would likely be. I would say it was missing somewhat of an overall plotline which I gave the book 3 stars.
Brian Hillesdon
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September 15, 2026
Poor. Nowhere near as good as Lunar Park. Unnecessarily morbid, no real plot, boring. No wonder it was only £0.99!
Alexander Kirkup
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April 23, 2026
relaxing
About the author
Bret Easton Ellis is the author of The Shards, American Psycho, Glamorama, The Informers, Less Than Zero, Lunar Park and The Rules of Attraction. His work has been translated into twenty-seven languages. He lives in Los Angeles.
Bret Easton Ellis is the author of The Shards, American Psycho, Glamorama, The Informers, Less Than Zero, Lunar Park and The Rules of Attraction. His work has been translated into twenty-seven languages. He lives in Los Angeles.
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