while some may write this book off as “just trying to be shocking” or “horridly shallow,” in glamorama ellis weaves a story that is much more complex than one may first notice. while, yes, there is a superfluous amount of brand-naming, that part’s of this book’s charm.

unlike american psycho (ellis’ most well-known book, i would guest), however, which shows what happens when one becomes consumed by brand and image, glamorama goes a step further to explore the construction of reality—do these brands and images reflect the world we live in or do we reflect them? he even takes the brand/image theme a step further by using models-slash-actors to question the distinction between “acting” and living, “real life” and a movie.

ellis masterfully constructs a story that is part-character study, part-spy novel, part-softcore porn, part-shock fiction, part-new york style guide, part-screenplay, part-terrorism how-to… glamorama is by-far ellis’ best work.