Previous Comments

[1] On Jun-16-2010, BENSONG wrote:

I GOT IT WHOWAOHAH

[2] On Jun-16-2010, Nathan wrote:

Rock 'n' roll.

[3] On Jun-16-2010, Mike wrote:

Got copy for myself and best friend. Can't wait. Have seen the usual comments about it being horrible, so definitely looking forward to another excellent book by BEE. Dustjacket photo, by the way, is superb!!

[4] On Jun-16-2010, Johannes wrote:

Totally different from Less Than Zero and, as Ellis said himself, not a sequel in the traditional sense. It reminded me more of Lunar Park, Glamorama and American Psycho.

[5] On Jun-16-2010, Anonymous wrote:

Saw him speak last night, he was very funny. (usually he kinda just sticks to the questions, but he went on so many tangents, it was pretty cool actually) He said he didn't have a new novel in mind yet but wants to possibly re-visit sean bateman.
He was in a very good mood and talked a lot about the process of writing his novels, and how the outline of Imperial Bedrooms was much longer than the novel itself.
I'll be reading it this week, too bad its so short, but thats kinda the point - to be more minimalistic than the last 2 or 3 novels..

[6] On Jun-16-2010, jack wrote:

woops, that last post was by me...

Reviews have been very mixed, curious how this sells.
Are people still interested in the Less than Zero characters?...are people still interested in buying the new Easton Ellis novel in 2010?

[7] On Jun-17-2010, James wrote:

You're lucky that you got to hear him speak. His tour is fairly small. Finished the book in one sitting. Its really good. Very intense and dark, but has those abrupt tonal shifts to humor. Reminds me of American Psycho, as well as of Less Than Zero of course.

[8] On Jun-17-2010, Miles wrote:

Bought it on Tuesday, read it all that day. Ellis has been my favorite writer for the past ten years, and I have to say, Imperial Bedrooms seemed like his least inspired book ever. I felt let down at the end like none of his others novels have left me. More typically, I feel curious enough to re-read his books after completing them, but this one just felt like a gyp. Am I simply missing the point of the "return to minimalism"? I just felt like the book had less going for it than any of his previous books. I did enjoy the scenes in which Clay is trying to put the mystery together by talking to Rip, Trent and Blair. I also enjoyed noting the details which strongly resembled scenes from detective fiction I've read, as well as scenes from my favorite film, Chinatown. Aside from that, the work seemed almost wholly derivative (nothing wrong with that, but please). Every element had already appeared in one of his previous books. Lunar Park was enchanting and genuinely haunting. American Psycho was a tour de force. Glamorama was so complicated and crazy that it was endlessly entertaining. Imperial Bedrooms felt like it was thrown together in a few weeks. I'm happy to hear anyone else's declarations to the contrary, of course...

[9] On Jun-17-2010, AF wrote:

I agree with Miles. Let's tell it for what it is: this was a subpar performance from a literary great. And if it's not going to be a "traditional" sequel, then why bother? To just drag in names like "Clay," and "Julien" and "Rip" and have this kind of weak love triangle between all of them (which is kind of absurd if you think about it) just felt very forced and gimmicky... One of the posts says BEE wants to revist Sean Batemen. I heard another person comment that his next one will be a YA book on Patrick Batemen. I am much more hesitant about revisiting such great characters now after the weak, and quite frankly uninspired effort show in "Imperial Bedrooms." Someone should tell BEE to keep going forward, longer back.

[10] On Jun-17-2010, James wrote:

This definitely was NOT a sub-par Ellis novel. It had a very strange and vague narrative structure with beautiful decorative prose. It has this insidious and seductive quality that only a few of his books have had. I also found the few instances of violence in the book to be depicted more realistically than his previous, it sent chills down my spine. I think this book is better written than Less Than Zero, and actually has a plot. This and Lunar Park are the only Ellis books that have a coherent plot. I thought it was great, my only let down is that its rather short.

[11] On Jun-17-2010, Kevin L. wrote:

Not impressed at all. Ellis is my favorite writer, easily, and found this to be flat-out his weakest book. Have to agree with some of the others here... Will always read him, will always look forward to each (hopefully) new book. But I don't consider IB anywhere close to his others, and I found (at the risk of starting a war here), Ms. Rain Turner to be, without question, the worst character Ellis has ever created. Dry, dull, and just all around uninteresting.

[12] On Jun-17-2010, Grady wrote:

On one hand I can see how people think the book is subpar, but on the other I really believe that it shows the evolution of Ellis as a writer. I found the violence and even the overall depiction of society in the novel more chilling than almost any of his previous novels, especially the ending. The violence here is more bleak and nihilistic than American Psycho even, which is tempered by the humor throughout. There isn't much or any humor at all in Imperial Bedrooms. I also think that the blackness of the last few chapters are some of the most personal Ellis has ever written.
"I now want to explain these things to her but I know I never will, the most important one being: I never liked anyone and I'm afraid of people" (168 in advanced readers copy)
I think this statement might just be one of the most personal and true statements Ellis has written.

[13] On Jun-21-2010, K wrote:

Yeah, sorry, but this book is pretty awful. He has become a parody of himself, mining his old work for inspiration instead of coming up with something narratively or stylistically original. I'm glad I decided to forgo buying this one and got it from the library instead. $25 for a 169-page book that I read in a single afternoon? What a rip off.

[14] On Jun-22-2010, ds wrote:

read it in one sitting... the plot grips, the writing is fine... still, I'm not enthusiastic about this... first of all, the love trangle is a little bit forced and the role blair plays at the end is puzzeling. what is this all about?

[15] On Jun-22-2010, Paul Du wrote:

I love Ellis' writing, so maybe I was expecting too much of it, but it didn't really work for me. I don't know... it's very repetitive (I know it's supposed to be, but still), the dialogues aren't as bright as they used to be, the "plot" didn't convince me at all (oh, he gets weird anonymous texts! oh, there's a car following him everywhere!), and apart from a few great typical Ellis observations about the shallow, the young and the riches, to me it's just not very good (and the gore ending didn't help) (come on! like, Clay is suddenly turning into Bateman? What?). Anyway. Sentence by sentence, to me The Informers is far, far more superior.

[16] On Jun-27-2010, Calvin wrote:

I still cannot get over how terrible this book is. Take the style of Less Than Zero (which has always been a blatant rip off of Joan Didion's Play It as It Lays); add a contrived conspiracy ala Glamorama; a dash of the violence, misanthropy, and pornography of American Psycho; and the self-indulgence of Lunar Park; and you've got Imperial Bedrooms, the new sensationalist piece of garbage from Bret Easton Ellis, the biggest one trick pony this side of Chuck Palahniuk.

[17] On Jun-28-2010, Chrysalis wrote:

I finished reading this book today. It's still resonating in me. How the threads of the plot are left open.

As always, I enjoyed the sex scenes in this work. Ellis has a unique ability to not describe the vanilla and describe that which could revulse the reader and yet the reader is transfixed into continuing.

In some ways I enjoyed Less Than Zero more, it took on an attitude of freshness. This one was in many ways a mirror of LTZ with a more mature writer revisiting 4 weeks of a character from 1987.

Yes I would recommend it to others, but not the faint hearted.

[18] On Jun-28-2010, Miles wrote:

After further reflection, I think it was mainly the last two pages that disgusted me so much, and tainted my opinion of the entire book. Blair suddenly provides an alibi for him? After being ignored by him for over 25 years?! Gimme a break, I'm thinking. Or are we SUPPOSED to be shocked by this absurd illogical turn?
It's weird, because Ellis is the kind of artist in which, if you're a fan, you're constantly trying to explain to his detractors and critics that they just don't understand his work. I've always loved how he provides plenty of things to not enjoy about his books. The characters are usually unlikable, their humanity is not presented in a way that seems worthy of celebration.
So you constantly have to explain to people, "well, yeah, the disgust you feel with the work is what Ellis designed you to feel. he's not defending these characters." But now I feel like them. I think the book is intriguing... Maybe it's just Clay I hate, and maybe Ellis changed him into someone you absolutely have to hate. Combine this with the fact that he's the LEAST entertaining of all Ellis' characters.

[19] On Jun-29-2010, ds wrote:

absultely agree with you miles... what does blair want from clay after all this time? this ending is not very convincing and this made me enjoy the book less. the last two sentences are brilliant though...

[20] On Jul-05-2010, Lalola wrote:

Well, Blair is just like all the other characters. She wants something in exchange, she doesn't just provide Clay with an alibi, she has to stay with her to pay for the lie (which he doesn't want to do, he's trapped like one of the initial epigraphs suggests). Moreover, Blair has had Clay followed since he arrived in Los Angeles (the Mercedes and the spy boy are hers) so she is obviously psychologically disturbed and as mean and selfish as any other character in the book (she is not the moral compass of the book!). This is coherent with the general mood of this dark, depressing novel.

[21] On Jul-07-2010, Niall wrote:

I'm loving it. Bout 20 pages short of the end.

Seeing Bret in Ireland on the 19th of July. Can't wait.

[22] On Jul-26-2010, M wrote:

The publishing industry is dead. And prints nothing that should be read.

[23] On Jul-26-2010, Saint wrote:

read it in a few sittings throughout today. at first i really liked how less than zero existed within the book, Ellis always make interesting little wordly shifts of people, places, and things. I was expecting to be thrown into the new LA and to be surrounded by all these terrible things and ppl again, sort of a spiritual sequel to less than zero. But instead the love web and ever present stalkers kind of let me down but I could appreciate the detective noir aura the book possessed. Lunar Park was a haunted house ghost story sort of spin and I could understand IB. But like mentioned above the dialogue was off and it got too repetitive. there were dozens of the same conversation, it was getting old, and of course ellis does not present any hope at the end, I was kind of hoping for a somewhat up lifting end, but man, the whole scat scene with the two kids was just awful to read. The ending kind of got me tho, I could appreciate how he wrapped it up, she has unconditional love for him, but thats within him being with her. cuz theres always something more

[24] On Jul-28-2010, this-is-a-lame-book wrote:

don't waste your money...disgusting dribble

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