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Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE B10 August 2010 `Less Than Zero' sequel fails to live up to original Mitch Sears STAFF WRITER THE AUTHOR OF LESS THAN ZERO j1111111 The year is 1985. MTV has hit its stride and is completely changing how music is experienced. Ronald Reagan has just been sworn in for a second term. Bret Easton Ellis, then a 22-yearold unknown college student, rocks the bestsellers list with his disturbing and blunt exposé on the lives of the Hollywood elite—Less Than Zero. Flash forward 25 years. Texting and social media have made the world into a narcissistic, self-aggrandizing microcosm where every person has his or her own personal brand to uphold. Ellis attempts to deconstruct this brave new world by revisiting his Less Than Zero characters in the original novel's sequel Imperial Bedrooms. Less Than Zero was a shocking read, following the narrator, Clay, into a world fueled by sex, drugs and a good tan. Despite being a bleak, sometimes depressing exploration, the novel was refreshing, even to today's readership. The journal-like style offered a personal window into an alien world of the spoiled children of Los Angeles royalty. Ellis would later write a series of unique and successful novels such as Rules of Attraction and American Psycho—both made into feature films, each exploring a different facet of the new pop-culture of America and the hedonistic apathy spawning in its populace. Unfortunately, Imperial Bedrooms lacks any of the pomp or thematic range of any of Ellis' other works. The story returns to Los Angeles with Clay, who is a screenwriter now in his 4os. He returns to the West Coast to help cast his latest film and inevitably runs into all of his old acquaintances from the first book. He falls for a young, struggling actress willing to do anything to be in his next film. As Clay becomes more entwined with her, he finds himself wrapped up in a complicated murder mystery that, despite all of its twists and turns, falls flat. Most readers will know what happens a good ioo pages before the book ends. Imperial Bedrooms starts out with promise. The work is self-referential, having Clay muse on his story in Less Than Zero, written by "the writer"— Ellis. The original cast members actually go to the premiere of the film adaptation of their own story. It's an interesting and effective way to not only allow Ellis to muse on his own successes and failures, but also to create a more realistic framework for the story. Ellis also does a good job modernizing his critiques of society. Imperial Bedrooms is one of the only books that successfully captures texting and all its influential nuances. A few chapters actually have the narrator caught between both the real world and a separate narrative interjected via texts. Unfortunately, these small glimpses of classic Ellis never really take hold. Imperial Bedrooms is Ellis' most mundane work. The story drags and the characters are hollow, but not in an interesting way. With age, Ellis' shocking, nearnihilistic bite that once embodied his style now feels as dated as his middleaged characters. m.sears@ chronicle.utah.edu . 11.1111111111( you may need a crystal ball to see the uture. • 1.400 40110" 4-;i:0 7 :: • +6 but for current, breaking new s , look into www.dailyutahchronicle.com INCOME ACCOUNTING & STUDENT LOAN SERVICES FALL'10 TUITION DUE 9 2010 All students who fail to pay tuition by September 7, 2010 may have all their classes deleted from their academic record for the Fall 2010 Term. m r. perch sez: come in and hook up with a chrony |