Cover of Less than Zero

Less than Zero

  • 1985 first published
  • 208 pages
  • ★ 3.4 (15 ratings)
  • 31 editions

Published in 1985, Less than Zero is an angel fiction novel by Bret Easton Ellis and Christian Rummel. The story is set in Los Angeles, Calif. and Los Angeles, in the 1980s. Key subjects include drug addiction, friendship, Generation X and young men.

Open Library readers give it an average of 3.4 out of 5 from 15 ratings, and 100 more have it on their want-to-read list. It has been published in 31 editions across 5 languages.

It runs to roughly 208 pages — 3–4 hours of reading at an average pace.

About Less than Zero

Set in Los Angeles in the early 1980's, 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 Porches, 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.
Description from Open Library

Themes, setting & tropes

Genres

Setting

Era

Subjects

  • Drug addiction
  • Friendship
  • Generation X
  • Young men
  • Los Angeles, Calif.
  • Coming of age
  • Los angeles, Calif.

Quick answers

Who wrote Less than Zero?

Less than Zero was written by Bret Easton Ellis and Christian Rummel and first published in 1985.

What genre is Less than Zero?

It is usually shelved as Angel Fiction.

How long is Less than Zero?

The median edition has 208 pages, about 3–4 hours of reading at 250 words per minute.

What books are similar to Less than Zero?

Readers who like it often enjoy El Plan Infinito, Post Office and DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS (Easy Rawlins Mysteries).

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