"The way the pool looks at night."

Bret Easton Ellis has a new book out. This is of note because the quote at the top of this blog comes from his last novel, and because I like him a lot. I think he's long past his hey day, though, which peaked with American Psycho and tapered off soon after with the brilliance that is Glamorama. This new book, Imperial Bedrooms, is a sequel of sorts to everyone's favorite debut novel, Less Than Zero. Honestly, I'm not that excited about it, because LTZ wasn't my favorite, and his last work, Lunar Park, left much to be desired in the end*.

I've read few reviews of this new novel, but what Bill Eichenberger says about it at Cleveland.com only makes sense:

At the end of "Less Than Zero," the narrator, Clay, leaves the debauchery of Southern California and all his entanglements with boys and girls for a fresh start on the East Coast. The move may save Clay's life, though it's hard to care one way or the other...

The brilliance of "Less Than Zero" was in Ellis' control and economy as a writer. He never let Clay (or any character) say too much, think too much or feel anything at all. For four weeks, Clay wandered through the desolate, beautiful landscape of Los Angeles in a stupor, his emotions atrophied by drugs, booze and his own sadistic inclinations.

"Less Than Zero" is a mesmerizing novel about repulsive characters, an interesting place to visit. "Imperial Bedrooms," on the other hand, is an ordinary noir tale.

Clay returns to Los Angeles ostensibly to help cast a movie for which he's written the screenplay. But it's difficult to know why he does anything. His is the unexamined life.

Ellis's bent for brutal self-referential fiction was original in the 80s and unique through the 90s, but the more he places himself in his novels, the more he becomes a caricature of himself. I don't want to know what Bret thinks Bret should want out of life, I want to know how Bret can bring his signature social satire to the twenty first century without resorting to the same characters and desolate plot lines that got him noticed in the 80s.

Out of loyalty, I will read this book. Out of skepticism, I will hope that one day Ellis will look in the mirror and see himself, not some contrived personality living in a pseudo-fictional world he created. As Janelle Brown of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, "Ellis should stop worrying and start looking for the exit of his own personal rabbit hole." I agree.

*Apparently Jay McInerny feels differently: "The last few pages of that book are among the most moving passages I know in recent American fiction...And I think that’s something you wouldn’t have predicted you would say about Bret Easton Ellis. There’s no question Bret was coming to terms with his relationship with his father in that book.” Moving passages my ass. Ellis needed not take out his unresolved emotions regarding his father's death on his readers by making them the central, sappy conclusion to a book about his alter-ego's supernatural dissatisfaction with suburban Los Angeles.