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White

By: Bret Easton Ellis
Narrated by: Bret Easton Ellis
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THE CONTROVERSIAL SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER.

Candid, fearless and provocative – the author of American Psycho on who he is and what he thinks is wrong with the world today.

Bret Easton Ellis is most famous for his era-defining novel American Psycho and its terrifying anti-hero, Patrick Bateman. With that book, and many times since, Ellis proved himself to be one of the world’s most fearless and clear-sighted observers of society – the glittering surface and the darkness beneath.

In White, his first work of non-fiction, Ellis offers a wide-ranging exploration of what the hell is going on right now. He tells personal stories from his own life. He writes with razor-sharp precision about the music, movies, books and TV he loves and hates. He examines the ways our culture, politics and relationships have changed over the last four decades. He talks about social media, Hollywood celebrities and Donald Trump.

Ellis considers conflicting positions without flinching and adheres to no status quo. His forthright views are powered by a fervent belief in artistic freedom and freedom of speech. Candid, funny, entertaining and blisteringly honest, he offers opinions that are impossible to ignore and certain to provoke.

What he values above all is the truth. ‘The culture at large seemed to encourage discourse,’ he writes, ‘but what it really wanted to do was shut down the individual.’ Bret Easton Ellis will not be shut down.

 Freedom & Security Politics & Government Social Sciences Funny Thought-Provoking
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Critic reviews

The first work of non-fiction from the American Psycho author is very good . . . the best thing he has published for years
A winning mixture of incautious autobiography and caustic polemic, with plenty of sharp social observation thrown in . . . What a timely book this is – bursting with wit and diablerie, shameless, bracing and fun.
A splenetic analysis of the culture of today . . . occasionally brilliant, often thought-provoking
Not everybody is going to like it. He doesn’t care.
For the youthful twitterati, I suppose, he’s just another old white man who hates everything
This attack on political correctness in the Twitter age . . . has all the sound, fury and insignificance of a misguided rant posted at 3am
Ellis will lose friends over this book.
Best described as a provocation . . . it’s up to you, the reader, to choose to what degree you are prepared to allow yourself to be riled.
@BretEastonEllis Your book White is staggeringly good. I’m loving it. Thank you so much for your style, your humour and your honesty. (Eric Idle (on Twitter))
All stars
Most relevant
Absolutely loved this. One thing that repeatedly occurred to me while listening was, "This was published in 2019? Bret, you ain't seen nothin' yet!"

What many of us are thinking

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An outstanding work by BEE. Terrifically narrated. I’m bemused by some of the criticism of this first class book. He has such a distinct view and is a completely honest commentator on the Culture.

Don’t miss out.

Totally brilliant.

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BEE is his usual challenging and engaging self. He makes worthwhile points (if in a deliberately challenging way), about freedom of speech in the era of Trump and Identity politics. Basically he’s reminding people that “Sticks and Stones...”, and wondering why people have become so sensitive to criticism or simple comment. He reads his own book, so couldn’t be better as a performance. Book is full of back stage stories from his career but the key points are made a too often. Feels a bit padded...

Interesting and provocative but a bit repetitive

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As a Scotsman and worn out lefty trying to keep up with the modern age of shifting moral goalposts, group think, victim olympics and the thought crime justice system that is social media, I have waited for a rational monologue from anyone with integrity and a spine. I just didn’t expect it to be the guy who invented Patrick Bateman.

I now firmly believe the most punk rock thing anyone can do is speak their own mind.

Bret, whether he realises it or not, is standing up to the cry bullies selfishly dismantling everything that makes our western culture a space where they can exist. He will go down in history as one of the few who saw true intolerance and stared it down. In his own meandering, roguish way.

Cheers Bret

The trolls have taken the centre

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Bret Easton Ellis - White

Let me begin by saying that in many ways this is incomparable to his other books just down to the concept in itself. At worst it’s an extended rambling rant, but at best it’s an intriguing insight in to Ellis’s paranoia and grievances with the culture of today.

The good:
Interconnected themes woven together in the essays, which could seem never ending and pointless if they weren’t so expertly collated.
There are occasional references to American Psycho, which in all honesty are the real insights we want to hear about. This includes an ongoing ambiguity about whether AS is about himself, as well as an ambiguity about his own experiences in that period.
He’s invariably against happy endings and resolutions in storytelling. I found myself agreeing with his to some extent, but it just pointed out how important it is for him to continue writing novels.
His unease at how the digital age has made everything disposable really spoke to me.

The bad:
I became quite annoyed with his indifference to Trump, which is ironic if you read the chapter itself. I get how it may become annoying that other people overreact to his indifference, but his preoccupation with this becomes even more annoying. I guess most people just assume that an educated writer that many look up to would be expected to be against a leader who seems to have the opposite ideals.
His work has rarely been about plot, but I do miss the times when he at least tried to construct one.

That said, I sincerely hope that his next release is a novel, because for me this was not quite worth the wait.

Not great. It's all White...

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