A string of superlatives benefits no one, but I did enjoy this immensely. Ignore the reviews that pan this because if you enjoy Ellis' work you'll enjoy this. Pick it up, pour yourself a drink, and dive on in. ( )

En mycket bra och spännande thriller/psykologiskt drama. En bladvändare man läser ut på en kväll eller två. Hollywood dekadens och hela Bret Easton Ellis paletten. Man får vad man förväntar sig, på gott och ont. Jag gillar det dock väldigt mycket. ( )

Ellis's best book in my option. It's neo-noir and the writing is fast, buoyant, comprehensive, and exciting. It sucked me in. The scenes move fast. There are no lulls. ( )

Question the narrator of Imperial Bedrooms - Bret Easton Ellis's follow up to his cult novel, Less Than Zero - because you've been duped before. In Less Than Zero, we're led to believe Clay's the one at the helm. He's writing the story as it happens. Imperial Bedrooms, on the other hand, opens with Clay - once again - narrating: "They had made a movie about us. The movie was based on a book written by someone we knew." Clay describes the book and the movie and the differences between the both. "The book was blunt and had an honesty about it, whereas the movie was just a beautiful lie," he says. We share the same feelings for the novel and its cinematic counterpart, "The movie was begging for our sympathy whereas the book didn't give a shit."

And the book still doesn't give a shit. Adapt that, Hollywood!

Less Than Zero is to first year of college as Imperial Bedrooms is to mid-life crisis. Is that accurate? In Less Than Zero, we're forced to see that things change. People change. And college is the enforcer of this change for many of us. Some of us become nostalgic, others become cold and jaded. And those who become come cold and jaded grow up to be Hollywood producers, writers, directors, actors, pimps, schemers, executives, and whore mongers. They use people for their own sexual gratification, whispering - not sweet nothings - spectacular promises that one can never hold on to.

Has Clay grown up? Has he matured? No. Not in the least. Rather than evolving, he's become less than he was in Less Than Zero. Has Julian learned from his time as a hustler, working for Finn? No. Instead, he becomes the pimp. Has Blair learned not to pursue Clay? No.

And much like the film of Less Than Zero, Rip plays the villain. Julian owes him a ton of money. Julian is his little project. And Clay is forced to realize that he has been given the same opportunity that his fictional counterpart was given on the big screen. He has the power to be a friend. To bail Julian out of troubled waters.

The novel shines a light on our darker selves, examining the people we can be and the people we choose to be. ( )

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Ellis-Suitesimperiales/198756

> Un bijou littéraire, noir comme la nuit.
—Nicolas, le 28 sept. 2019 (Amazon.fr)

> Encore une saillie pénétrante gorgée de violence et de paranoïa, maîtrisée à la perfection, signée par l'un des auteurs les plus doués de sa génération.
—Marine de Tilly, le 23/01/2012 (Le Point)

> « Suite(s) Impériale(s) », de Bret Easton ELLIS. Septième roman de Bret Easton Ellis, Suite(s) impériale(s) est la suite de Moins que zéro, paru en 1985. Clay, maintenant dans la mi-quarantaine, est devenu scénariste à New York et retourne à Los Angeles pour procéder au casting de son prochain film. Il reprend contact avec ses anciens amis et se retrouve confronté aux aspects Les plus sombres de sa personnalité lorsqu'une sordide histoire de meurtre vient le troubler. Dans ce roman noir moderne, sexe et violence se côtoient dans un style dénué d'émotion, propre à l'auteur, qui tend vers une représentation pessimiste de la nature humaine. Et c'est ce qui fait qu'Ellis non seulement choque, mais est aussi l'un des auteurs les plus efficaces et les plus essentiels de sa génération. En librairie le 5 octobre. Ed. Robert Laffont, 234 p., 29,95 €. Pénélope JOLICOEUR, Verdun
—Numéro de Oct.-nov. 2010 (le libraire)