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Imperial Bedrooms Audiobook
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(3.00) - 6,262 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Bret Easton Ellis’s debut, Less Than Zero, is one of the signal novels of the last thirty years, and he now follows those infamous teenagers into an even more desperate middle age. Clay, a successful screenwriter, has returned from New York to Los Angeles to help cast his new movie, and he’s soon drifting through a long-familiar circle. Blair, his former girlfriend, is married to Trent, an influential manager who’s still a bisexual philanderer, and their Beverly Hills parties attract various levels of fame, fortune and power. Then there’s Clay’s childhood friend Julian, a recovering addict, and their old dealer, Rip, face-lifted beyond recognition and seemingly even more sinister than in his notorious past. But Clay’s own demons emerge once he meets a gorgeous young actress determined to win a role in his movie. And when his life careens completely out of control, he has no choice but to plumb the darkest recesses of his character and come to terms with his proclivity for betrayal. A genuine literary event.
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"Not as good as Less Than Zero (or the previous 3 books that I rated 4 stars). That being said, well worth a read (although not a sequel that you can just pick up, 1st book definitely necessary). The style is great, the characters are brilliant and I love the way the tension ramps up and up and up. Also, without giving anything away, I think the ending is absolutely fantastic."
— Chris (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Hypnotic…A haunting vision of disillusionment, twenty-first-century style.”
— People -
“This sequel is very much on target…[Ellis] uses the thriller framework to infuse nerve-rending unease into this look at Tinseltown mores.”
— Entertainment Weekly -
“In the same staccato prose that made [Less Than Zero] feel frighteningly fresh twenty-five years ago, Ellis paints a creepy LA.”
— USA Today -
“Enough talk of [Ellis’] literary genius, let’s call him what he really is: a terrific horror writer…An absolute creep-fest [and] a festival of panting paranoia.”
— Chicago Sun-Times -
“Taut and ultimately terrifying…In six novels, the author has emerged as one of the most gifted and serious novelists working in America today.”
— Financial Times (London) -
“Brutally conceived, and effectively done…There is no doubt that Ellis retains the ability to startle and disquiet.”
— Times Literary Supplement (London) -
“Visceral and often harrowing, Ellis delivers a work that matches such career peaks as Lunar Park and the infamous American Psycho.”
— Examiner -
“Its dirty charms are indisputable.”
— Playboy -
“Arrestingly spare…will leave you feeling bruised, guarded, and a little nervous about noises at night.”
— Time Out New York -
“A page-turning read…Ellis is showing us what has changed in twenty-five years—not just in his characters or in Hollywood but in America and maybe the world.”
— Oregonian -
“Imperial Bedrooms is a quicker, more controlled fire than its predecessor, and, like a good showman, Ellis has learned to save the best of the novel’s many tricks for last.…Devastating.”
— Village Voice -
“Reading Ellis is a thrilling and strangely voyeuristic experience, [and] you can’t look away.”
— Venus Zine -
“A book with pleasurable sentences and tensions; with pulpy twists and shivering scenarios.”
— Barnes & Noble, editorial review -
“Ellis fans will delight in the characters and Ellis’ easy hand in manipulating their fates, and though the novel’s synchronicity with [Less Than Zero] is sublime, this also works as a stellar stand-alone.”
— Publishers Weekly
Awards
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A New York Times bestseller
Imperial Bedrooms Listener Reviews
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" The Rat Pack from Less Than Zero is back in a dark continuation of debauchery in L.A. Clay returns to entangle himself in a conspiracy after he falls for an aspiring actress, Rain. And that's pretty much the whole plot. Clay runs into old companions along the way including Blair and Julian and imbibes plenty of alcohol to fuel his affair with Rain. What drives this book is the pervading sense of paranoia that Clay experiences. It creates a tangible tension as Clay's anxiety grows. While the mood is effective, I didn't find the story itself very engaging. Clay and his friends are far from sympathetic and his depravity is nothing new. The motives and consequences of his involvement in the shady scheme aren't ever fully revealed which made the conclusion a disappointment. Imperial Bedrooms lacked the originality of Bret's other books and felt rehashed. If you are a die-hard Bret fan by all means, you will like this book, but people like me who didn't get much out of Less Than Zero shouldn't waste their time on this. I received a complimentary copy of this book via the Amazon Vine Program. "
— Julie, 2/6/2014 -
" clumsy, unfocused. dissolves into last-attempt ultraviolence, without effect. "
— Rusik, 2/6/2014 -
" Not his finest work. Entertaining but lacks something. "
— Inês, 2/4/2014 -
" Not my favorite book by Ellis (I've read all but American Psycho). The best thing about it was that it only took me 2 days to read. I like his prose style, I just didn't care for the plot at all. Lunar Park was very similar but far superior. "
— Jaron, 2/4/2014 -
" This haunted me, and not in a good way. Ellis' writing always leaves me feeling like I have bugs crawling on my skin. The story is nothing like it's predecessor. The only thing that remained the same was that the characters apparently have no souls. They stay completely unaffected by all of the horror that they cause. "
— Nina, 1/22/2014 -
" Sociopath American Psycho with a bit of self-reflective Lunar Park with a bit of LA satire Less Than Zero and the glam of Glamorama. Ellis has written a pastiche of his own work in order to remind us that he can write violence and violent sex well, not to mention characters so isolated from themselves and each other that they disappear here. What intrigues me about this is that he resurrects his first narrator to no effect. And it doesn't resurrect Ellis--just allows him to engage once again with 80s music allusions. Or maybe he's just being ironic--what would anyone expect of these characters but less than zero? A sequel that delivers exactly what these characters have become--versions of themselves. "
— Jill, 1/18/2014 -
" I so rarely give up permanently on a novel, but I did this one. I read Less Than Zero when I was fourteen and loved it, but I have grown since then and expect the author to have done so. Alas, it didn't seem that way to me. I was bored. "
— Heather, 1/18/2014 -
" A sequel to Less Than Zero that feels a little forced at times but was still engrossing and a nice revisiting of the Beverly Hills kids. "
— Chris, 1/11/2014 -
" Didn't enjoy this at all. Why would anyone give a shit about these hideous people. Not me so much! "
— Marsha, 1/8/2014 -
" What started out as a fun look into the lives of the characters from Less Than Zero 25 years later devolved into American Psycho level of sadism, sexual perversion,torture and ultimately complete nihilism. "
— Amy, 1/2/2014 -
" A book about emptiness, written with no soul, with no meaning. Waste of time. "
— Suzanne, 11/21/2013 -
" Like all of Ellis' books, I couldn't stop reading it. It was repetitious, depressing, and ultimately sickening, but there is something about Ellis' writing that draws you in to a world you hope doesn't really exist. It seems real and he forces you to watch. "
— Anthony, 11/13/2013 -
" Sadly, I loved it! "
— Thersea, 11/11/2013 -
" Awful and silly. But short, so it has one characteristic worth praising. "
— Jess, 10/28/2013 -
" brutal book, but classic Ellis.... characters do a total 360 from 'Less Than Zero.' "
— garret, 7/31/2013 -
" I guess like Philip Roth, Ellis keeps writing the same novel over and over. This is Less Than Zero crossed with American Psycho and Glamorama. I hope the aftertaste won't linger too long. "
— Lobstergirl, 11/14/2012 -
" Contains maybe 10 pages of good writing at the beginning and end but otherwise contains porn-level dialogue and beyond-tedious plotting. "
— Troy, 8/11/2012 -
" Decent story in this sequel to Less Than Zero, but characters aren't well-written. A pretty lazy effort by Ellis. "
— Klay, 6/27/2012 -
" gf got the audiobook so i listened to it a few weeks after i read it, Andrew McCarthy doing it was pretty great "
— hirtho, 3/29/2012 -
" Loved it. Knew I would:) "
— Jillian, 3/16/2012 -
" Didn't do it for me "
— Rnugent, 2/26/2012 -
" This novella is like watching a nasty dark art house movie. An ugly story packaged well by the oh! so cool Mr. Ellis' not sure iif m being isardonic . This is not a novel but a short story dragged out to make an average novella. "
— Robert, 10/21/2011 -
" I thought American Psycho, while at times cringe-worthy in its explcitness, was rather brilliant. This just lacked something. I still finished it, because it was a trainwreck. "
— Nicole, 10/1/2011 -
" Short novel of Hollywood life, becoming cold and disturbing by the end. Mixes in a little mystery story line. Listened on audio narrated by Andrew McCarthy - he really added to the story. "
— Jay, 6/28/2011 -
" Decent story in this sequel to Less Than Zero, but characters aren't well-written. A pretty lazy effort by Ellis. "
— Klay, 6/14/2011 -
" What can I say, I love Bret Easton Ellis. His nihilistic lyric thrills me every time. This book doesn't disappoint but it's not Less Than Zero. "
— Susan, 6/6/2011 -
" Possibly one of the worst books I've ever read in my life. Unbelievably bad. "
— Ames, 6/1/2011 -
" This is quite decent, I thought. Ellis fans - like myself - should find it worth a read, but the ending let me down a bit. I thought the final words seemed a bit obvious, like explaining why your joke is funny. "
— Ktornbjerg, 5/31/2011 -
" Not bad, quite a short book and I realise I should have probably read the first book about these characters first but didn't realise at the time, a bit gruesome in parts. "
— Mary, 5/19/2011 -
" What started out as a fun look into the lives of the characters from Less Than Zero 25 years later devolved into American Psycho level of sadism, sexual perversion,torture and ultimately complete nihilism. "
— Amy, 5/18/2011 -
" Good to see the band back together again. "
— Dafarrell, 5/13/2011 -
" Disappointing sequel to Less than Zero. Goes down some dark places. Almost like Ellis thought this was a sequel to American Psycho instead. "
— Ken, 5/12/2011
About Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis is the author of several novels, including Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, Glamorama, and Lunar Park. His works have been translated into twenty-seven languages and are read throughout the world. Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, and The Informers have all been made into films. He divides his time between Los Angeles and New York City.
About Andrew McCarthy
Andrew McCarthy is the author of three books, including the New York Times bestseller Brat: An ‘80s Story. He is an award winning travel writer and served for a dozen years as an editor-at-larger at National Geographic Traveler magazine. Best known as an actor for the past four decades, he has appeared in such iconic films as Pretty in Pink and Less Than Zero.