Less Than Zero

'Disappear Here', 'People are afraid to merge on the freeway.'

I don't know why this novel is tagged as The Catcher In The Rye for the MTV Generation. I really don't. The amorality depicted in Less Than Zero unnerves me. It really is, very disturbing. 

The novel revolves around Clay who comes home to L.A for the winter break during which he spends his time with his friends at parties and clubs doing drugs and such. The way it is written, you'd find it hard to believe it is fiction. Other than that, the moral depravity of Clay's friends is astounding. 

I got pretty incensed while reading two particularly horrifying bits of the novel involving Clay's friend, Julian who prostitutes himself to support his drug habit and this other bit where Rip, Clay's dealer, has a 12 year old girl tied to his bed. In both events, Clay did NOTHING. Absolutely NOTHING. With Julian, he just sits there. While with the girl, he just left! He didn't stop Rip or call the police. Who in their right mind would allow such things to happen? But then again, Clay's a junkie. I don't know, it's just, well, 'fucked up'.

What I do like, is the 'Disappear Here' and the "People are afraid to merge on the freeway.", when Clay glimpses the reflection of his eyes in the rear view mirror, when he saw his House from the hotel and thinks that maybe his dad can see him, and other such bits. Don't know how to describe them, part of Clay's psyche I suppose. I think they're brilliant.

If Clay is in a rye field, he wouldn't be catching the kids that are approaching the brink, he'd probably 'cut a line' and just watch them with apathy. 

I've downloaded the film version of Less Than Zero (1987). Planned on watching it tonight but now I'm not too hot on the idea. Because RDJ plays the character Julian. That'd be much too depressing. I'd probably get upset. Also, because of this:

"Ask him (Robert Downey Jr.) when the problems started and he says, "You'd have to go way, way back." Though, after a moment's deliberation, he cites 1987's Less Than Zero as a point where the ante was substantially upped. "Until that movie, I took my drugs after work and on the weekends. Maybe I'd turn up hungover on the set, but no more so than the stuntman. That changed on Less Than Zero. I was playing this junkie-faggot guy and, for me, the role was like the ghost of Christmas future. The character was an exaggeration of myself. Then things changed and, in some ways, I became an exaggeration of the character. That lasted far longer than it needed to last." 

Source: More Than Skin Deep, 2003

Urh. Anyway, here's a song by Bloc Party dedicated to the main character of this novel, Clay. Awesome song.

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P.S: I'm reading Nelson Algren's A Walk On The Wild Side next. Now that I've read Less Than Zero, why not eh? It can't be any worse.

P.P.S: Aite, UPDATE:  Saw the film. HATE it. Nothing like the book & Julian DIES? Wtf.