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Jan 31, 2012

mark rated it:

Ellis is one of those authors that seems to grow in stature as time marches on. i see him on so many Favorite Author lists and i just have to roll my eyes a bit. personally, he'll always be the author i laughed at on a regular basis: hilariously pretentious and embarrassingly convinced that pretension equals depth. American Psycho? sorry, the film version was a better portrait of capitalist consumerism and had the intelligence to re-route the author's misogyny so that it existed solely within th More...

29 comments like (19 people liked it)

Jun 12, 2007

Brooke rated it:

Although I've always intended to read Ellis' American Psycho, I read this book today in an entirely unintended way (my Little's fiance brought two books with him to Ohio State University's graduation ceremony and he let me borrow the one he wasn't reading). It's definitely a very interesting book, from its purpose to the way it's executed.

The Rules of Attraction mainly follows three members of a love triangle - Lauren, Paul, and Sean - while fleshing out the story with some interject More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 20, 2007

John rated it:

Another reader mentions that this book has no center, I'd say he's on target and that it may have been intentional. I enjoyed it. I reads like 20 somethings who are trying hard to be everything they aren't as they try on different attitudes, life philosophies, designer drugs, sexualities. High school and college years tend to spin by too quickly and are remembered in spurts like the friendships made, the crushes that came and went, the crisis of the moment that pales in comparison to anything More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2009

Joe rated it:

This was my introduction into the world of Bret Easton Ellis, and I fell hopelessly in love.
I couldn't believe that someone could put together a written work, which not only emanates the characters hyper-sexed-over-zealous-self-conscious-unaware-searching-for-love-not-knowing sadness, but uses language to reinforce its themes. It would seem confusing, but at my first read, it was what I was feeling at that moment (minus the drugs, those came later). Rules of Attraction, at its base, is a More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2009

Christina Stind rated it:

And here I thought all New England had to brag about is the Patriots - turns out they have some really happening colleges - or at least had in the 80s, where Brett Easton Ellis' story of sex, drugs, rape, abortion and suicide takes place.
The story is told from a lot of different perspectives, but mainly we follow Lauren, Paul and Sean. Lauren, who has dated Paul but after Paul and Sean are no long dating, dates Sean - but still they all 'see' other people. In the beginning, it's hard to fi More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 16, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

The following is a true story.

I was staying over at the boy's house. We were post-coital and all of a sudden he remembered he had to go to a friend's house and party with him for four hours. I opted to wait for him in his bedroom. This was uncommon because whatever, it was just sex, we didn't wait around for each other. But I was in between places, so I didn't have much of a choice. I went down to the kitchen and found The Rules of Attraction on the stove. I opened it up in the middl More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2008

Catkinson82 rated it:

This is the most depressing, nasty book I've read in a long time. I read it all in one go last night, since I have a hard time not finishing books once I start them, but I couldn't stand the thought of having to come back to it. There may be some literary merit to the book that I can't appreciate it because I'm so repulsed by the characters, but I rather doubt it. The book certainly captures the complete lack of affect and total self-absorption of the characters, as well as the compulsive, en More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 18, 2011

Antonia rated it:

my particular edition came with several quotes from reviewers on the cover and back. one of them said it was inspired and a wonderfully comic novel and another that the book was a tour of the heart of darkness.
let's say i lean more toward the second quote. i found it deeply disturbing. the mindlessness and vacuousness of the characters makes me very unsettled and unhappy indeed. their lives revolve around sex and drugs. period. nothing more. stuff just happens, it just flows... life, death More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 24, 2008

H.nauen rated it:

I admit it. I first saw the movie version of Rules of Attraction because I had a thing for Ian Somerhalder. I know, I know. But now that I've seen it, and consequently read it immediately after viewing, I love it for its true literary qualities! I'm one of you now =]

Anyway, I still love and read this book constantly. The characters inspire such mixed feelings of disgust, annoyance, and pity. They're not perfect (far from it) but whenever you think that Sean can't get any more shallow More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 10, 2008

Patrick rated it:

I loved the Roger Avary film version of this book, so I felt like I owed it to myself to read it. That said, the two are very, very different, and as much as it pains the book snob in me to say it, the movie was far superior. Maybe it's because the setting of the book (the mid-80s) feels so obviously dated, or because the characters seem so schizophrenic, but I just felt like the movie was a little more...real.

Honestly, it probably hurt to have gone into the book having seen the fil More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 11, 2008

Charity rated it:

Hmmm. I'm not sure what I expected from the book, except that I had seen the movie a few years back and that the intertwining of the characters was very interesting. However, the movie veers very far from the book.

The Rules of Attraction is more or less an homage to the 80s. It is set at a small liberal arts college (Camden) in New England and centers around three main characters, Lauren, Sean, and Paul, with occasional side character POV used to flesh out the story. The characters a More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 17, 2009

Ashley rated it:

One of the best books on insight ever written. The setting makes this book even more pleasurable-a college campus in the 80s. We've all contemplated simple questions like "Does my best friend secretly hate me?" or "Does my boyfriend think about someone else when he's sleeping with me?". This book makes your insides squirm with embarrassment in the most hilarious form. There's so many great things about this book-the ending, the graphic sex scenes and how Victor is really a bo More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Taimi added it

On aika kammottavaa, että vuonna 2007 käännetyllä mutta vuonna 1985 kirjoitetulla (? tai ainakin 1987 julkaistulla) Breat Easton Ellisin kirjalla on sama suomennettu nimi kuin sillä inhottavalla komedialla jota Julianne Moore ja Pierce Brosnan aikoinaan tähdittivät. Ja hitot... Onko se edes inhottava leffa, en ole nähnyt. Mutta onkohan rinnakkaisuus nimien välillä jotenkin tarkoituksellista? Kenties ironista? Vai vain sattumaa? Kirjan alkuperäinen nimi on kuitenkin "The rules of attraction" More...

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Sep 18, 2011

Amanda rated it:

Ellis is known for his satirical writing and dark sense of humor, both of which are present in The Rules of Attraction. In this book we follow the point of view of three college characters, Sean, Paul, and Lauren. It’s nice that Ellis switches off between characters because it gives the reader some fresh air from the troubled actions we learn as we read deeper into each section of their college lives. Each character wants something more out of their life but they all go about it in a self-destru More...

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Jul 27, 2011

Neil added it

I'm still unsure of what I thought of this book; however during the few days I spent reading it I did feel engrossed, and now, upon finishing, I am haunted by it. For that reason - the fact that it has emotionally affected me - I have to rate it highly. I guess I'm just not used to reading adult fiction. :)

As other reviewers have mentioned, the book tells the story from the first-person perspective of the three protagonists Sean, Lauren and Paul, with occasional cameos from minor characters. More...

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Jul 05, 2011

Allison rated it:

It took me awhile to get the hang of this book because there are a lot of narrators, and many of them seem similar (in the way that college kids are, so I suppose it's realistic). Some sections are straight story, some are stream of consciousness, but all tell a lot about the characters and the environment they live in. It's hard for me to review this book without comparing it to everything I've read lately. I just read Ellis' American Psycho, and while many of the characters are in both books, More...

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May 17, 2011

Pam rated it:

http://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/2011/...

Brett Easton Ellis packs his backs and heads east for a little coed action in The Rules of Attraction. Keggers and Kant fill the hallways and dorm rooms far away from his usual L.A. sunshine, as he delves into college life in chilly New England. No less sparkle than his other books, however, Rules of Attraction has the making of every other Ellis book in the twisted relationships, inner monologues and, oh, yes, the substance usage. Written in More...

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Apr 13, 2011

David rated it:

Published in 1987, Bret Easton Ellis’ The Rules Of Attraction is his follow up to his wildly successful debut, Less Than Zero. As in keeping with his style, the novel is filled with sex, drugs, MTV, sporadic bloodletting, and run-on sentences. Told from multiple perspectives, the story is a mosaic of self-absorbed people running amok a fictional university in New England. There is no redemption in these characters, and yet, the novel is still an engaging read thanks to Ellis’ multiple narratives More...

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Feb 23, 2011

Vani added it

There is literally nothing redeeming about this book. Sure, you can write a book about vapid, idiotic, directionless, selfish, pointless, drug-and-alcohol-addicted people, and it can still be good, but that would require being a good writer. I always thought this writer was overrated--without having read any of his books-- so I forced myself to get through this to see if there was any point to it. There wasn't. Here's what's wrong with it. 1. The characterization is so bad that it's actually More...

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Feb 10, 2011

Alex rated it:

This one really took me back to my freshman year of college. It should be required reading for anyone who wants to go to a small private liberal arts school. This is the first book I've read that really understands the mindset of the spoiled sociopaths who comprise the student body of many universities around the world.

I had seen the movie years ago (and watched it over and over again) but just now got around to reading the book. Of course, Ellis exaggerated his days at Bennington Coll More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 23, 2010

Amy rated it:

The Rules of Attraction is about students, but also about sex and drugs and apathy and teenagers and America and more drugs and suicide and indecision and AgOnY (two decades pre-emo) and morals/no morals and, occasionally, about the idea of love. And it's good. Ish.

I liked it, but I'm not sure that blurb is right - or even close. 'Moral vacuum', sure, but The Rules of Attraction is not really about a romantic triangle; or, at least, the word romance is a misnomer. It's not really abo More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 14, 2010

Paul rated it:

This was definitely my favorite of the Ellis books I've read. It felt like an authentic account of college life, at least in terms of the characters you meet from various backgrounds, the obsessions that turn into fleeting romances, the anticipated weekend parties that, ultimately, somehow all seem to sort of melt together. Of course, there were aspects I couldn't relate to- if you really need me to be specific, sure, I'm talking about the rampant drug use and the bisexual experimentation- but h More...

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Jul 25, 2010

Jessica rated it:

People who did not like this book simply did not understand it. While this book has the ability to stand on it's on, the real genius is how it acts ad a platform that allows ellis's characters (from all other works) to interact with one another outside the narcissism that confines their own stories. Those who complain that this book lacks plot or character growth, have failed to ask why that is. This book is an introspective account, told in first person narrative, from various (mainly three) pe More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

May 06, 2010

Lindz rated it:

This review is coming from my 19/20 year old self. Because that is when I first read it, and when it had the most impact on my tender brain.

I guess this was my first big lit read. Jodi Picoult, Marian Keyes (whom I still love), Pauline Simmons, a little bit of Michael Connelly and Patricia Cornwell were my main diet. These are 'nice' authors,they write about love, drama, family, murder, all very plot driven. You read it once put it away and forget about them.

'Rules More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 27, 2009

Miss May rated it:

This is the third of Ellis' books I have read, and definitely my favourite. I love his grungey style, but there has always been some element to stop me completely loving his books. American Psycho was too full of Patrick's lists of stuff. I completely understand it, it perfectly set Patrick's consumerist nature up, but it made for tedious reading. Lunar Park's story just didn't interest me at all, but The Rules of Attraction I loved despite my slight objection to it.

The Rules of at More...

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Dec 03, 2010

Billy rated it:

The characters in this book may not be likable, but they're certainly interesting. In one moment they're extremely passionate and the next they couldn't care less, many times on the same subject. They let their emotions run their lives without regard to the people around them or even their own health and safety. Though I disagree with their outlook on life, its freeing to read books like this, injecting yourself into lives and situations you'll likely (hopefully) never experience. My favorit More...

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Jan 24, 2010

Adam rated it:

Summary

The Rules of Attraction takes place at New England's Camden College - the starting point for many characters in Ellis's later novels. The novel is written in the epistolary fashion - each segment is a different character's journal-type entry. Sometimes these segments match up with what other characters are saying and sometimes they don't (intrigue! mystery!). The novel begins in the middle of a sentence and ends in the middle of a sentence, the author intending to mak More...

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Jan 06, 2010

Nicole rated it:

This book is written from a first person perspective of a few different characters, concentrating mainly on Lauren, Sean and Paul; who seem to have nothing in common but the fact that they go to the same College, until their lives seem to collide during one semester. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I'm pretty sure its not the type of book everybody will enjoy. These characters are lost, they seem to have no clear goals in life and seem to pass their days in school skipping classes, do More...

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Jan 31, 2012

Dan rated it:

From reading Less Than Zero you'd almost think that Ellis had let himself get sentimental; these characters, while being just as emotionally damaged as Clay's friends in Los Angeles from Less Than Zero, actually seem to offer reasons as to their serial apathy, interspersing long sections of emotionless anomie with sudden bursts of extremely emotional misinterpretation. The book even offers up something of a thesis for the generation Ellis captured in such graphically disinterested detail, so it More...

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Sep 20, 2009

Maya rated it:

In keeping with Ellis' "Less Than Zero" this novel too, focuses on apathy, substance abuse, and young people disassociating themselves from reality. This time, the protagonists are not escaping the luxury of Los Angeles, but rather gathering in a liberal arts college in New Hampshire where it is protocol, even amongst the average students, to party, play, and snort. The focus in this book is the death of romance, which if you still believed in at the beginning, will surely fade upon co More...

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