Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

52 reviews

dancingwithourhandstied's review against another edition

dark sad 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

2.0

Apathetic, I didn’t enjoy this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Rape, and Alcohol

Moderate: Eating disorder and Alcohol

barbaricyawp89's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

i’m not sure what i was expecting from this book, but i was suprised by how bored i felt while reading it and i’m not really sure why. it did pick up towards the end with the more outrightly disturbing stuff, but otherwise i feel kinda “meh” about it. it wasn’t a bad book by any means, just somehow really boring despite the premise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Alcohol

adrireism's review against another edition

dark relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I had high expectations but the book is boring. The writing is sarcastic and captivating, hence the positive score, but the whole book is just a sequence of utterly boring events filled with hopelessness and personal decay that lead nowhere. Rich kids doing drugs and being awful to everyone around them. Every time you pick up the book you feel icky, but you can't stop reading because you feel a disaster is around the corner to break the stagnation. Turns out the book *is* the disaster. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Alcohol

astrono9's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Abortion, Murder, and Alcohol

longlegegg's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Antisemitism, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

elliebasta's review against another edition

sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Child abuse and Abandonment

kittiesss'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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Trafficking

Minor: Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Abortion

ro_lux's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder

sonya2828's review against another edition

dark tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Per quanto sia stata destabilizzante all'inizio la scrittura molto stringata, con l'andare avanti del libro si capisce come per descrivere personaggi così 'vuoti', alla deriva, risucchiati in droga, feste e sesso e trascinati da nient'altro che da questo, non poteva che essere se non così. 
Ho trovato alienante come, con l'andare avanti della narrazione, i personaggi nominati presentassero tutte le stesse identiche caratteristiche: biondi, abbronzati, molto spesso modelli o nel mondo del cinema, al punto tale che ho trovato difficile distinguerli tra loro, fatta eccezione ovviamente per Clay. Molto più sfaccettato rispetto agli altri, dotato di una consapevolezza maggiore, ma non così tanto forte per allontanarsi dall'abisso rappresentato da quel mondo così travolgente e devastante.
È stato altrettanto alienante notare come non sia presente un singolo personaggio nel libro che non faccia parte di questo mondo, a partire dai genitori dei ragazzi che vi sono a modo loro, come a star significare che non esiste nulla di fuori di questa realtà, che è l'unica vivibile.
Nonostante non siamo in presenza di una trama vera e propria, penso che non poteva essere fatta scelta migliore per delineare questo spaccato di società, perché ti porta a vagare insieme ai personaggi senza una meta, per il semplice andare avanti, esattamente come vivono loro.

Questi sono i passaggi che trovo i più esplicativi in assoluto di tutta la storia:

- Oh, merda, Rip, che cosa ti manca?
- È che non ho niente da perdere. 

- Ma questa strada non va da nessuna parte, gli dissi.
- Non importa.
- Ma allora cosa importa? - gli chiesi dopo un po'.
-Andare, bello mio, andare, - disse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Miscarriage

rhiannatherad's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

200 pages of rich kids doing a ton of coke and being super boring + + pages of American Psycho. Don't know why I expected anything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death and Drug use

Minor: Animal death and Abortion