cover image Less Than Zero

Less Than Zero

Bret Easton Ellis. Penguin Books, $11.95 (208pp) ISBN 978-0-14-008894-6

Written when the author was 20, this first novel tells the story of Clay, a New Hampshire college student who returns home to Los Angeles for Christmas vacation. Vignettes show Clay and his friends aimlessly traveling from party to party, doing drugs, having sex with one another. PW noted that Ellis ""brilliantly conveys this crowd's delirium as well as the lack of fulfillment they cannot remedy.'' (June)