adangr0ss's review against another edition
4.0
I love loosely connected collections of stories. People enter and leave other people's lives all the times and are part of more than one story at a time--fiction should reflect that.
I always feel motivated to write after finishing a BEE book b/c I realize your characters don't have to be heroes or villains or even conflicted to be completely interesting.
I always feel motivated to write after finishing a BEE book b/c I realize your characters don't have to be heroes or villains or even conflicted to be completely interesting.
rachatkin's review against another edition
4.0
The fourth thing I've read from Bret Easton Ellis, and probably the one I've liked the least. That's not to say it isn't good, but it was genuinely to do with the fact that it was a short story collection and other parts I liked a lot more than others. I'd already previously read a couple of the stories and it was good to revisit them, and the collection I think got a lot stronger near the end. The themes of disconnection, depression and nihilism are so poignant in his work, and this was another text that dealt with the stagnant nature of privileged personalities in LA.
The prose and dialogue was wonderful as always, and I loved the little references to his others works in this. Definitely up and down for me though, but the ones that were up there I liked well enough to push this up to four stars.
The prose and dialogue was wonderful as always, and I loved the little references to his others works in this. Definitely up and down for me though, but the ones that were up there I liked well enough to push this up to four stars.
litdoes's review against another edition
3.0
A wasteland of the young and disillusioned fill the cast of this nihilistic novel. The landscape is set in LA, the City of Angels, Hollywood, and the time sits squarely in the mid-eighties at the height of MTV, where tanned and synthetic looking blond boys and girls hang. Names of rock stars and actors, movie, music and other pop culture references are generously thrown in for good measure.
Valium is the choice antidote to partied-out hipsters and coke the designer drug used by the early twenty-somethings as well as their parents and stepparents. Rich, privileged and promiscuously bisexual, a main character that is related in some way to the others elsewhere in the book is featured in each chapter . They are callous, even in the face of death and destruction and the party never stops - not for a minute. There is something chillingly familiar yet fantastical about the stories, as one character says near the end of the story, "it's like a movie I've seen before and I know what's going to happen... How the whole thing's going to end."
The stories get decidedly more hopeless and bleak as you read on, like a journey down the abyss of all that's base in human nature. Families are dysfunctional; parents and children have little in common except getting wasted on alcohol or using the same party drugs and getting high, and sleeping with the same partners. For the most part, the stories are realistic and chilling, except when vampires and kidnappers/murderers join this cast. While still in keeping with the decadence of the other stories, I felt that the narrative in these segments spiralled into a kind of gore and violence that seem a little misaligned with the rest of the novel. I felt the same way with the author's other novel, "Lunar Park", when supernatural elements appeared in the story and took over the rest of the narrative.
That said, the tone of the novel is consistently detached and matter of fact, which is something that the writer excels in, making the appalling events and the characters' responses to them all the more chilling.
Valium is the choice antidote to partied-out hipsters and coke the designer drug used by the early twenty-somethings as well as their parents and stepparents. Rich, privileged and promiscuously bisexual, a main character that is related in some way to the others elsewhere in the book is featured in each chapter . They are callous, even in the face of death and destruction and the party never stops - not for a minute. There is something chillingly familiar yet fantastical about the stories, as one character says near the end of the story, "it's like a movie I've seen before and I know what's going to happen... How the whole thing's going to end."
The stories get decidedly more hopeless and bleak as you read on, like a journey down the abyss of all that's base in human nature. Families are dysfunctional; parents and children have little in common except getting wasted on alcohol or using the same party drugs and getting high, and sleeping with the same partners. For the most part, the stories are realistic and chilling, except when vampires and kidnappers/murderers join this cast. While still in keeping with the decadence of the other stories, I felt that the narrative in these segments spiralled into a kind of gore and violence that seem a little misaligned with the rest of the novel. I felt the same way with the author's other novel, "Lunar Park", when supernatural elements appeared in the story and took over the rest of the narrative.
That said, the tone of the novel is consistently detached and matter of fact, which is something that the writer excels in, making the appalling events and the characters' responses to them all the more chilling.
ryan_not_pc's review against another edition
2.0
I normally love B.E.E for his style but this was at times dull. That's not to say his writing style is drastically different in "The Informers", if anything it's a low-rent mirror of "Less than Zero", but I just don't dig on low-rent versions of talented writers. I think he just didn't have much to say with this. A collection of interwoven stories that have no huge effect on each other meander through his typically nihilistic image of Los Angeles. Pointless is the word that comes to mind. I will admit though, I am a big fan of his so I still enjoyed the read, I just don't think I took much away from it that he hadn't already offered me in his other novels.
jayishino's review against another edition
3.0
So I pretty much couldn't put it down until "The Fifth Wheel" chapter when I wanted to put the book down to throw up.
I love BEE's style and the fact that none of his characters are particularly likable. Informers is no different and it's a compelling read.
I can't wait to see the movie...
I love BEE's style and the fact that none of his characters are particularly likable. Informers is no different and it's a compelling read.
I can't wait to see the movie...
bookwormlukas's review against another edition
5.0
Less a novel and more a collection of extremely loosely connected short stories set in L.A. The movie based from the book is pretty terrible, but from watching that it makes certain aspects of the connectivity between characters more easy to see and understand, especially in comparison to my first attempt reading it years ago. Glad I gave it the re-read, I've always enjoyed Ellis yet this was the only one of his i felt I didn't really 'get'. Happy to see my understanding has changed.
avanews04's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
arthuriana's review against another edition
2.0
ellis is one of those authors that i feel you have to be in the right mentality to ‘get’. there’s loads here about consumerism and superficiality and the shallowness of the relations we establish with one another in the context of a highly publicised yet never once earnest society that we’ve come to establish, but all i could say is that it falls flat and off the mark for me. is this a critique or is this just an excuse to write the same themes expounded much more brilliantly in american psycho?
there are moments where it seems unfailingly earnest, but the moments are few and far between, so that it seems much more content in wallowing in its supposed brilliance rather than actually spend the time in trying to say what it wants to say—if, indeed, this book even wants to say anything.
the blurb at the back of this book tells me it is “chillingly nihilistic”. there is nihilism abound in this book, yes, but there are none of the chills that were promised. all in all, it reads rather blandly. there’s a social phenomenon known as affluenza where rich people are shown to just not be able to comprehend the consequences of their actions, and it’s in full display here. i don’t really know what else there is to say about this book, because that’s all that’s present here. it’s as superficial as the relations that the characters have in this book with one another. some might call that methodical writing and a stroke of brilliance, but the experience of reading it and having to slog through its narrative immediately extinguishes any sort of ‘brilliance’ that can be found here.
there are moments where it seems unfailingly earnest, but the moments are few and far between, so that it seems much more content in wallowing in its supposed brilliance rather than actually spend the time in trying to say what it wants to say—if, indeed, this book even wants to say anything.
the blurb at the back of this book tells me it is “chillingly nihilistic”. there is nihilism abound in this book, yes, but there are none of the chills that were promised. all in all, it reads rather blandly. there’s a social phenomenon known as affluenza where rich people are shown to just not be able to comprehend the consequences of their actions, and it’s in full display here. i don’t really know what else there is to say about this book, because that’s all that’s present here. it’s as superficial as the relations that the characters have in this book with one another. some might call that methodical writing and a stroke of brilliance, but the experience of reading it and having to slog through its narrative immediately extinguishes any sort of ‘brilliance’ that can be found here.
boundin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25