My review of the controversial author's new book of essays. Does he have anything to say? Or is it all just hot air? Read on to find out what I thought! I was drawn into White, the first work of non-fiction from the acclaimed and provocative novelist, by its opening . In it, Ellis talks passionately about the increasing anxiousness he had started to feel when venturing onto social media - that he was somehow going to slip up, make a mistake in some way, just by voicing an opinion. This point is something which I was very much on board with. Having myself previously taken a break from social media late last year (after reading the insightful and thought provoking Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now) for similar reasons, I could see where he was coming from. In fact, I still haven't got a Facebook account, and hope to avoid having one unless absolutely necessary.
Like I say, I could see the point he was trying to make. When so many people seem to exist in bubbles, in which questioning the groupthink results in derision or, potentially, exclusion, it's laudable to stick your head above the parapet and say that certain things need to be questioned. And at least some of his points would appear to be borne out by the general reaction White stirred up on Twitter. I was unaware that the book was even coming out, but started seeing posts about what a terrible person Bret Easton Ellis popping up on my Twitter feed. It was with some surprise that I realised he was in fact trending. The publicity and marketing around White seems to mainly revolve around riling and trolling exactly the sort of people he's so fiercely critical of in this collection of essays. And I felt, whilst reading White, that somewhere he would be reading all these comments, whilst smirking and saying "Told you so." Every bit of misdirected rage at this book and its author only lends him more credence, or at least lends his main point credence - that his opinion is just that. An opinion. Take it or leave it, no need to try and dispute it or change it. All that being said, the fundamental problem I had with White was the innate hypocrisy at its core. It's all very well to point out that others are being overly sensitive, but to write an entire book about that over-sensitivity and how much it winds you up merely serves to make you complicit in that mindset. As a supposedly disaffected Gen X-er, the way Ellis calls his critics to task is sadly reminiscent of their own actions. He might be less vitriolic than they are - at no point does he suggest that anyone should be "deleted" or "cancelled," for example. But his approach, which frequently focuses on recollections about "That time somebody said a mean thing on Twitter/at dinner," dilutes his meaning. Too often it's as if he's merely wallowing in in the same mire that he seems to pity his millennial detractors for creating. Too much of the book is taken up with these recollections of events and reactions - which we the readers of course weren't privy to - in which Ellis always comes off as a paragon of reason and cool logic, while his lefty or liberal friends and acquaintances are portrayed as swivel-eyed loons, frothing at the mouth at the mere mention of Trump. Now, never having met Bret, perhaps this is the case. Perhaps his friends and boyfriend are exactly the way he portrays them too. But it smacks of almost tattling to me - it's like the story that the first kid home tells its parents about why both their offspring are covered in cuts and bruises, that leaves them blameless and bemused at the protestations of their sibling. It actually made me wonder if Ellis himself was deliberately playing the role of unreliable narrator, as Bateman did so many years ago in American Psycho, even in this supposedly autobiographical work. The genuinely searing criticisms and comments that are present do make the book worth reading, even if they frequently aren't particularly revelatory. Of course, those who Ellis would say most need to read them never will, because by his own explanation they are exactly the kind of people who won't even entertain his ideas. This does raise the interesting idea of exactly who the book is actually for, of course - if the people who he thinks need to read it aren't prepared to, then all he's doing is either preaching to the converted or shouting into the void. Which is something of a shame, because beneath all the bile, baiting and bitterness, it does feel like - perhaps - Ellis is coming from a place of very justified frustration at a growing inability for some individuals to tolerate even a fairly minor difference of opinion, and that he has a genuine desire to openly and reasonably debate issues. All in all, White is a surprisingly lukewarm take rather than an especially hot one. Ellis writes eloquently, if not all that efficiently, and this is one that might have benefited from a lower word count to get its point across more like a guided missile than a cluster bomb. Currently listening: Retaliation, Carnivore
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AuthorOllie - BA English and Creative Writing, MA Publishing. Archives
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