So I just got done finishing my read on Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis. For the record, I've read three of his other books and I absolutely adored them. American Psycho, Less Than Zero, Imperial Bedrooms.
I was very very excited when I picked this book up. An Ellis novel that was 450 something pages? Hell yeah! So I bought it for £10.99 and I sat on my bed and I read the first 10 pages.
The first thing you should know is that this book is such a monumental drag.
Not even the 10 pages, the first fucking 190 pages! Just nothing but long parties and stupid drama and LONG LONG paragraphs about names I don't care about.
Listen, I've read his other novels, I get it. That's the point. But at least American Psycho did SOMETHING during its first 190 pages. Glamorama is dull in its beginning. It's nothing but dull. I really think it could have been shortened down because it was such a massive chore to dredge through those pages.
I did like the Patrick Bateman reference tho. That was funny.
The rest of the plot structure picks up pretty well after that, and it actually becomes extremely intense and terrifying. There's this overwhelming sense of pure dread that seeps through the pages. Marinas disappearance, why Jamie is acting so weird, why she's been taping Victor's voice. Then the extreme violence happens and suddenly all of that dread pays off. I think Ellis does a phenomenal job writing horror. The bathroom scene with the pentagram is the only time I've actually held my breath during a book. I'm not joking.
The characterisation in this book is interesting. Victor is very different as a protagonist from the previous Ellis novels I've read. Because… He's not really evil or malicious at all. Egotistical, sure, but not evil. He doesn't want to hurt anyone. He wants Felix to be safe and he even tries to save Bentley (who is arguably the biggest dipshit in the book. I actually wanted to punch him at times)
The slow reveal of the Victor Double is really well done. Like I said, it's very effective horror in my opinion. The idea of someone completely stealing your identity, your life, your friends.
The other characters aren't all interesting except for Bobby. I think Bobby is the only reason I want this book to be a movie. He's so fucking evil. He's the evil you love to hate, the evil you just want to beat to death. He's completely empty about what he does and has his own disturbed justifications that don't even make any sense. I would love to see a character like this on the screen. He's very interesting despite on the surface being a very basic villain.
Okay, now things I'm confused about:
1: What the fuck was real and what wasn't? Seriously. Why was there confetti everywhere? Why did it smell like shit? WHY IS THERE A CAMERA CREW??? Is half of this novel hallucination?
2: Is "6" the real Victor or the Victor Double? I always assumed it was the real Victor but I'm not sure.
3: why chloe 🙁 she was adorable
4: So is it that the father essentially sent his son to die to boost his career? Is that what's essentially happening?
5: What happened in that scene during the Victor Double chapter where he shoots someone? I keep rereading it and I'm still confused. Did he shoot the TV or something?
Those are all my questions. I think the novel does a great job with symbolism, even if it comes in the form of Celebrity Terrorism. This feels like Ellis's angriest novel in a way.
I rate this book an 8.76 out of 10.
by EmilyIsNotALesbian