Editing Less than Zero (novel) (section)

==Plot summary==
The novel follows the life of Clay, a rich young college student who has returned to his hometown of [[Los Angeles]], California for winter break circa 1984. Through [[First-person narrative|first-person narration]], Clay describes his progressive alienation from the culture around him, loss of faith in his friends, and his meditations on events in his recent past.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ellis, Bret Easton.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11650489|title=Less than zero|date=1985|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=0-671-54329-6|location=New York|oclc=11650489}}</ref>

After reuniting with his ex-girlfriend Blair, and friends like Trent, now a successful [[model (person)|model]], Clay embarks on a series of drug-fueled nights of partying, during which he has [[one-night stand]]s with both sexes. While partying, he tries to track down his best friend from high school, Julian, with whom he hasn't spoken in months. In between descriptions of his days and nights, Clay recounts a vacation spent with his parents and grandparents, during which he seemed to be the only person concerned that his grandmother was dying of cancer.

Over time, Clay becomes progressively disillusioned with the party scene as he witnesses the [[apathy]] of his friends towards the suffering of each other and those around them. At one party he watches as the revellers joke and take [[Instant film|Polaroids]] of his friend Muriel while she injects [[heroin]]; at another, he and Blair are the only two who exhibit revulsion when Trent shows a [[snuff film]], which sexually excites several partygoers.

Clay ultimately tracks down Julian, who borrows a large sum of money from Clay. At first Julian says the money is for an abortion, but Clay doesn't believe him. Later when Clay asks Julian to pay him back, Julian brings him to meet his abusive [[Procuring (prostitution)|pimp]], Finn. It is revealed that Julian has become a heroin addict and turned to [[prostitution]] in order to pay off a debt to unnamed drug dealers. Believing what he has been told, yet still feeling an empty desire to witness this awful scene for himself, Clay accompanies Julian to a rendezvous in a hotel room with a married [[closeted]] businessman from Indiana, where he is compelled by the [[john (prostitution)|john]] to watch the man and Julian have sex for several hours.

After attending a concert with his friends, Clay accompanies them to an alleyway where they stare fascinated at the corpse of a young man, presumably dead by overdose. Afterward, Clay follows the group back to the home of his drug dealer Rip, who wants to show off his latest acquisition: a [[sex slave]] whom Rip has been keeping drugged in his bedroom. When Clay tells Rip, "I don't think it's right," Rip says, "What's right?" Clay leaves, but Trent decides to stay so that he can participate.

Now feeling completely isolated and with winter break coming to an end, Clay reflects on the brutal nature of his surroundings as he returns to college in [[New Hampshire]].