Bret Easton Ellis Has Calmed Down. He Thinks You Should, Too.

Bret Easton Ellis had one thing to say, and it had been said by 1992. Sure, he can troll with the best of them, but there's nothing new there. He's a tedious bore.

As much as anything else, Mr. Ellis' latest book appears to be a collection of gibes directed at his younger and less cynical boyfriend.

I’ve never been a fan because I think he’s extremely overrated and he got very lucky with his first novel. He is certainly no Donna Tartt from the same gen and a friend of his from Bennington. I would argue that even Jay McInerney is overrated, as is Tama Janowitz. What BEE has been able to do is to shock through his “provocative” essays and writings since his first novel. He is not a good writer and he’s basically a hack, but he lacks the introspection to see that. I will agree with him though that the liberal left is getting way too politically correct. We do have a threat to freedom of speech and ideas and it’s on the liberal side. Take that to the bank and smoke it.

American Psycho was a great movie and a terrible book. (And I'm a pretty avid horror fan.)

I've always found myself more entertained by Bret's persona & perspective rather than his literary output. (Which I have enjoyed FWIW.) Anyone looking for droll assessments of the zeitgeist should check out his reports during the Lindsay Lohan/Paul Schrader/porn star James Deen debacle "The Canyons". That it even snowballed to fruition is a fascinating entertainment all on its own. Worth checking out past articles regarding it.

Yet another piece about a guy who tried so hard to not be boring that he became--wait for it--boring. Never been a fan of these people. Who cares? Of course, Ellis is a member of a longstanding club of white guys who tries to be edgy by creating morally bankrupt (mostly young) characters who struggle against the system. It worked in the 1950s with "On the Road" because struggling against the system could get one called before HUAC and blacklisted. Today, there is little downside to writing in this genre. It's been done, over and over and over. And it's boring.

The great thing about Bret and his novels is that he really doesn't care what you think. And in today's hyper-triggered twitter-savant world, that's just simply beyond the pale. I just wish he had stuck to his metafiction guns and peddled this memoir/collection of essays as a work of fiction... "a book of non-fiction about a guy named Bret Easton Ellis, by a guy named Bret Easton Ellis." Etc. Keep writing Bret... I'll be picking up White on its release date.

I never read his fiction, but his non-fiction looks interesting. I look forward to checking out "White" to read more of what he thinks of these times, especially as he doesn't seem to be following a herd and has some skepticism of using technology to communicate .

Thus yawned Zarathustra

Talentless and indeed boring. I got totally bored with the endless repetitive narcissistic violence of American Psycho. It really was banal and very boring.

Nothing worst than a performance artist who imagines himself a mashup of Andy Worhol and Sylvia Plath (who said, “I think writers are the most narcissistic people. Well, I musn't say this, I like many of them, a great many of my friends are writers.”)

Easton seems to have inherited the Gore Vidal mantle. By that, I don't mean he's a scofflaw liberal; I mean he's an intellectual traitor to his own class interests. With occasionally interesting, though not always valid points to make. And "American Psycho" is a brilliant book. DIFFICULT to read—I'm not surprised that Ottessa Moshfegh is an Easton fan!—but brilliant. Brand names & murder!

Writers writing about writers. They don't realize how old this gets.

Bret was always way more sizzle than steak, but one or two of his books made him famous, and that's more difficult than winning powerball. The man was also iconically of his time. Who among we peasants can come close to saying that? He comes across agreeably grumpy. I like the guy now

I am always amazed at the mix of love and hate for Bret, and it is usually those who hate who have wildly missed the point of both his work and his personality. And yet he has succeeded where so many others have failed, amassed a huge fan base, and always lived his life on his terms, which is more than I can say for most people today. His writing is uniquely his own and will remain long after he's gone to be examined and in some of the more open-minded schools, taught. It's all I can do but laugh at those who throw shade at what they fail to understand. I am greatly looking forward to this new book and grateful to the writer Lauren Christensen for "getting it."

Each new Generation takes itself all too seriously. The day to day struggles that filled the lives of most humans seemed to have vanished for the top 10 % and so the struggle to find new and entrancing indulgences becomes their art. The narcissism of his main characters has become the norm as the comments give evidence of.

Stumbled into fame and noteriety, galloshed his way through it and now crafting some sort of nobler exit, all told amounts to not much of anything which may be the point of the whole excursion.

I admit he seems to rip aside the veil. His opening of A. Psycho seems remarkably a prediction of the Internet as I remember it. The snuff murder in Less Than Zero seems completely real and the truly terrifying thing about those people though at the time it was removed from the film likely because the moral enemy was drugs at the time. Murder was perhaps too close to the truth. "This is not an exit" still sticks with me. He is not as easy to imitate as W. S. Burroughs or even Charles Bukowski -the other two popular literary tough guys that dominated my youth. His attitude towards Trump is refreshing and offers hope I think that not all of the coastal elite is in lockstep. However, the film of A. Psycho is perhaps the most brilliant critique of his work as it shows one did not need all that gore to make essentially the same points.

I don't recall seeing any of the movies, and I never read his books, but after this Times article I am driven to read "White" and will get it at my first opportunity.

Less Than Zero was so boring I only got about 20% of the way through. It was utterly boring, too. I never saw what anyone saw in this guy as a writer. But I find it a bit fitting his life appears to have been as empty and vapid as his characters are. Sad but common. Modern life lacks no greater challenge than to keep one's ridiculous job and await your turn to die.

It's about time Ellis publishes a new book. His novels got me through my first year at college (after reading Less Than Zero I picked up a copy on tape read by Kevin Bacon. It became my go-to listening while driving home on breaks from Knoxville to DC). I'm eagerly awaiting his spin on non-fiction!

Judging by the lack of response to this piece, I will assume Mr.Ellis is no longer of any interest. Having read one of his books many years ago I am surprised it took this long.