Stalking Bret Easton Ellis: A Novel in Two Parts [Paperback]

Caroline Weiss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2009

Stalking Bret Easton Ellis is a novel comprised of several vignettes detailing the lives of a handful of young college students in New England and Los Angeles. They are living the life that we all dream of-or maybe it's the life that we think we want to live. They struggle to find their way and yearn for acceptance and meaning in their superficial, empty, post-modern lives where money and beauty call the shots and indecency and nonchalance run rampant. Despite living on opposite coasts, the central characters' lives intertwine in "that way that people with million-dollar houses" have lives that intertwine. They are connected by an unspeakable code of skewed ethics and a lifestyle that dictates the necessities of the high life - a life they all struggle to belong in, whether already there or not. The fight to be part of the in-crowd is undermined by the pure emptiness of the lifestyles of the rich.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Caroline Weiss and Margaret Wallace met in 1998; the time and the place are lost to history. They were doomed from the start: they both suffered from a crippling lack of hardship. In her youth, Caroline dreamed of better days as the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story; sadly, these dreams were not to be realized. As a small child, Margaret wrote lengthy and involved stories about glamorous women staying at elegant hotels in Detroit while other kids her age were playing outside. They share an open disgust for the banality of the workaday world and the people who inhabit it. In 2003, Margaret was living a gingham dream in Amherst, Massachusetts, and Caroline was drowning away failures of adolescence in Los Angeles. In between Pilates classes and closed discourses on terrorism and genocide, Caroline began crafting a tale. Similarly, between gin & tonics and strands of pearls, Margaret's genius began to unravel from within. This novel is the result of that remarkable long distance collaboration. The authors respectfully request all potential stalkers apply through the William Morris Agency.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (April 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1440120730
• ISBN-13: 978-1440120732
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,356,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A poor imitation, February 13, 2010

By 

M. Frank (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Stalking Bret Easton Ellis: A Novel in Two Parts (Paperback)

Just because the book is titled "Stalking Bret Easton Ellis" does not give the authors carte blanche to blatantly plagiarize his style.

"I'm hungover on the red-eye back to L.A...I buzz the stewardess and ask her to bring me some more red, she says they're out. Sighing, I lean back in the oversized leather seat, musing...how first class isn't what it used to be. I flip down my new Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses and stare out the window, anxious for some Xanax. I daydream about the last time I was in L.A. something, Christmas, maybe, a party with Zeigler..."

This reads like a passage lifted from "Less Than Zero" only without the believability. When BEE writes about the ennui of youth, drugs, sex, and decadence it has an authenticity to it, like the writer has lived and seen it. This novel just reads like an 18 year old thought BEE wrote some really cool stuff and they're just trying to modernize it (i.e. replacing Way Farer sunglasses with D&G). The plagiarism of BEE's style is made more flagrant and egregious by the copious use of song lyrics and footnotes which expound on trivia about that song/artist. If you're interested in this novel, please do yourself a favor and skip this cheap imitation and read Less Than Zero instead.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible, January 25, 2010

By 

Terri Bastedo "terri bastedo" (Birmingham, al) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stalking Bret Easton Ellis: A Novel in Two Parts (Kindle Edition)

Although the authors attempted to "stalk" Bret's style, they missed by a landslide. This was honestly the biggest waste of $1.00 I've ever spent. The writing is below average, and the storyline is discombobulated and uninteresting. Save yourself the horror. I couldn't bear to finish reading it.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An imitation for imitation's sake. Please don't support this., January 21, 2010

By 

Alex Carraway (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stalking Bret Easton Ellis: A Novel in Two Parts (Paperback)

There have been a lot of Bret Easton Ellis novel rip-offs, especially in the past 5 years, but this one has to be the most blatant. The authors of this novel have a knack for imitating and have essentially re-written Ellis' first two novels -- same locations, themes, apathetic drug-fueled with trust funds, characters, dark staccato writing style -- and have just updated the pop culture references to modern times. I cannot believe someone would be spineless and egotistical enough to publish a carbon copy of somebody else's work with their own name on it. Wow, I'm sure these two authors have an amazing career ahead of them, considering they just made it public that neither of them have any original thought, nor have the talent or ability to contribute anything new.

If you are considering reading this, why not just read an actual Ellis novel? This book just takes a piss on any self-respecting, earnest writer. Please don't waste your money and support this mockery of a novel.