In 1998, Bret Easton Ellis (Less Than Zero, American Psycho) published Glamorama. Probably. I read it, I think, but I find certainty difficult. There is something here on the desk next to my PC that looks like a book and has 543 pages bound between the covers. My state of mind, though, says don’t be so sure. In other words, the very model of Post Modernism.
In this book(?), we follow Victor Ward (nee Johnson), model, club proprietor, son of a US Senator, terrorist, actor. But is he doing all that we read or acting in a film? And is he even him, or an actor playing a role, since throughout we encounter other characters who claim to have been in Victor’s presence at times and places Victor has not been. Takes awhile but eventually our protagonist refers to a script and later to a film crew and director with whom he actually talks. The chapters are numbered but,, unlike most books, count backwards, and later sections of the book just move to different points in time and disregard all that has gone before (unless we’re suddenly seeing the other Victor).
A good read, though I had trouble reading more than, say, 20 pages at a time until nearing the end. In this mirror world, in New York City, London, Paris, celebrities and designer brands mingle with high fashion models using their careers as a cover for launching terrorist attacks with no underlying philosophy. The terrorism is as empty as a Calvin Klein underwear ad, in other words. The actors consume mass quantities of alcohol and drugs at party after fashion show after dinner at trendy restaurant, then have sex, or sometimes argue or have their passion frustrated, before heading off to destroy a landmark Paris hotel or sadistically murder someone whose only sin is love. An interesting contrast, stylistically and mileu-wise, from American Psycho.
Recommended if you can take it
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