Less Than Zero

[Gavin Luper]

I just borrowed Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis from the library and zoomed through it in a couple of days - unusual for me. It was by far one of the most disturbing books I've read, and yet it still held my interest even if it did shock me and freak me out.

Anyone else read it? Or if not, has anyone else read a book or fic before that's disturbed the crap outta them??

[mattbcl]

I can't recall any books or fics that have really seriously disturbed me, but I can say I've written one or two that readers found disturbing. The close I've come to feeling particularly bothered by books is when I encounter stream-of-consciousness writing... be it good or bad, the disjointed trip through someone else's head tends to trouble me a little because I never know where I'm going to land.

It's worth noting that the aforementioned works I authored which people found disturbing were written in that format.

[Becky]

Oh, I love this thread! I read a lot of books and I would like to talk about them.

I'm currently near the end of XVI (90%, according to my Kindle app on my iPad), a dystopia fiction about a world largely controlled by the government (think 1984) and where girls are branded when they turn 16, essentially to become sex objects. The premise starts off interestingly enough, but as I near the end of the books, I feel like I still lack a good sense of what the world is like...it's not as developed as I would have liked to see. At the same time, the characters are interesting, and if there's a sequel, that could actually really be good.

I would hesitate to say the book has disturbed me, though.

A series of books that were both fun to read and somewhat disturbng is the 'Uglies' series. Excellent books! It's been awhile since I've read them, but again, if you enjoy a really engrossing story and dystopian fiction like me... You provbably will like these.

[Gavin Luper]

I agree that stream-of-consciousness can be disturbing, Matt. I've written in that kind of style before and although I know what's inside my head, clearly other people really didn't, so it came across as somewhat subversive and disturbing. But I think there's artistic merit in that kind of impact, along with the pure cathartic release of letting your inner voice go nuts for a bit. You should post your pieces here maybe? Or are they too disturbing?

Becky, I love that kind of fiction ... That story's premise sounds something like 1984 or, indeed, like Logan's Run, where everyone has to die when they turn 30. Have you read/seen that?

Less Than Zero was disturbing because, quite aside from the depravity of it, there was just this emotional deadness to all of the characters, including the protagonist. No sense of emotion or warm feeling or love, it was just grey and detached and dead. It was an exceptional effect and it made for a great book, but I think that's why it got to me, because it seemed to argue that there is no warmth or love in the world, and that's pretty chilling.

[Drago]

When I first read the thread title, I got it mixed up with Sex is Zero.


...Yeah, I think I missed the point.

[mr_pikachu]

Less Than Zero was disturbing because, quite aside from the depravity of it, there was just this emotional deadness to all of the characters, including the protagonist. No sense of emotion or warm feeling or love, it was just grey and detached and dead. It was an exceptional effect and it made for a great book, but I think that's why it got to me, because it seemed to argue that there is no warmth or love in the world, and that's pretty chilling.

Wow, that's a tough effect to successfully execute. I can't count how many books and fanfics I've read over the years where the characters were emotionally dead, but in those cases it just served to make the world feel flat and the story dull, not tickle your psyche. I'd be interested in reading it just to see how the author pulled off that one.

To be honest, it's hard to think of a book that really disturbed me. Battle Royale was great, but it was more thought-provoking for me than outright disturbing. Actually, Dragonfree's "Curse" did more to that end than any book I've ever picked up. (You can also read her original version here; that's the first one I read, and it still gives me shivers to this day.) Other than fics, we'd have to venture away from the print media for something that really disturbed me... maybe the anime Death Note, for example. Or the news over the past few years. I can't even bring myself to watch that stuff anymore. Terrifying.

[Gavin Luper]

Tony: XD

I don't think you missed the point - aside from being hilarious, that was fucking disturbing, true or false?

Brian: Wow, I had never read Curse before - that is frightening and indeed chilling. I think you will be summarily disturbed if you read Less Than Zero. It's extremely graphic and extremely dysphoric and ... well ... fucked up to the point of being illegal, then crosses that line. It's not pleasant but it is a powerful experience.

[Gavin Luper]

A friend posted this on facebook today - it's an excellent article that perfectly evokes the mood of the novel/parodies the hell out of it. Worth a read even if you haven't read the book!

[mistysakura]

Well, I read American Psycho by the same guy. For uni, funnily enough. It was the first (and last) book that I have seen shrinkwrapped with an R18+ warning on the cover. I remember wondering whether I could get out of reading the book for the course if I were under 18.

But anyway. Much like Less Than Zero, it's graphic, it's revolting, it's misogynistic, it's bland, it's emotionally dead, it makes you skip to the gory bits and feel incredibly horrible for doing so. And it's riveting because the narrator is so mentally unstable, you never know whether he's telling the truth or whether he's making it all up.

Battle Royale was actually a bit of a letdown after all the hype. Just, you know, you hear about the Milgram experiment and how real-life people can be so terrible to each other under the command of authority, and Battle Royale suddenly becomes almost uplifting. Although I did find the scene where the girls killed each other in the lighthouse chilling, just because that was actually a terrible accident. I find it much easier to be jaded about deliberate violence...

Yep, Curse is good.