The Rules of Attraction

Rating:
Summary: I don't think you get it
Review: This is one of the books that will be "refound" later as one of the best works of fiction in the 1980s. I suggest you read the book aloud while driving cross-country with some friends. There's a certain gossipy nature Ellis captures throughout the novel that is stylistically refreshing and intense. Furthermore, for all those who claim this book is one big cliche ... they're right. And I think that's the point. That despite the myriad of different perspectives, sexual preferences, drugs, and majors, these kids are all pretty much the same. I think that's a fairly accurate depiction of college life. A chilling anti-utopian look at our future as a society. Faults: Lauren's character is particularly weak, but then again, Ellis seems to have no particular ability to write interesting females. I also thought the characters are a bit too negative. I thought their lack of love could have dealt with more sympathetically a la Sun also Rises. But nevertheless, a fun, enjoyable, and all to insightfull look at life.

Rating:
Summary: The Rules of Writing a Stellar Novel
Review: Bret Easton Ellis has written a wonderful, dark, humorous novel about teenagers at college. Ellis brings the eighties out for everyone to enjoy, laugh at, and thank that they didn't experience them first hand. His characters are true to life, he doesn't make you feel sorry for them, he simply let's us enjoy them for what they are, spoiled richies with nothing to lose. The novel was for sure a fast read, I couldn't put the thing down. Ellis creates a tone that is at times almost too hard to handle, his wording without chapter breaks can be a little too hard to manage at first, but when the novel kicks in you don't care, you just want to find out what's going to happen. Ellis makes no apologies about his characters, he simply wants us to enjoy their evil ways. I loved how the book flowed, everything ran together very smoothly. A lot of people say the "American Psycho" was his best novel, I firmly believe that "Rules" knocks it off it's platform. "Rules" is more down to earth, more identifible with the audience, believe me that when you read this you'll remember something you've thought, said, witnessed, or even experienced for yourself, nothing is safe within the novel's covers. Ellis brings a flat out satire for all of us to enjoy, and trust me this book is worth picking up. You'll never forget it. It rings true to life.

Rating:
Summary: It's the 80s
Review: This book is good, for an undergrad. You can plainly see when you read Ellis' later work the progress that he made. It does have traces of feeling, but it's a bit strained. Why would any care about these people? They're all self-centered and shallow. There are also portions of the book that are too pretensious for its' own good (the blank page comes to mind) and some of the dialogue is too cute for its' own good as well. That being said, it's still better than other young adult novels. The humor and structure are great. You could do far worse.

Rating:
Summary: Absorbing satire of the college life in the 80's (1st read)
Review: Wow. After having read 'The Rules of Attraction' by Brett Easton Ellis, that word popped into my mind.
I have never read anything like this novel. The characters are hardly likable, pretentious and lost. Sean (the brother of Patrick Bateman from 'American Psycho') is hedonistic, apathetic, and coasting through college with drugs as his loyal companion. He's promiscuous, but in love (or at least he thinks he is) with Lauren.
Lauren is a girl who can't make her mind up about a major & the affections of her boyfriend Victor, currently backpacking through Europe.
Paul completes this triangle. Once the boyfriend of Lauren, he has his eyes set on Sean.
The novel chronicles the fall term of 1985 at Camden College: pseudo-Bohemian, liberal arts college on the East Coast.
The novel contains other assorted characters meant to function as playthings for the three main characters.
Instead of chapters, we read point of views from Sean, Lauren, and Paul leaving us with unprotected entry into their thoughts. Different P.O.V.s leave some questions unanswered like to what degree are these relationships imaginative or truly real?
Ellis has written a funny and shocking story about the death of romance and the beginnings of lust and apathy. The story is raw and unflinchng leaving the reader to make its own decisions about what the point of this book may be.
It raises questions about not just these select groups of college students, but also about America during the Reagan 80's. Ellis is a moralist, in an indirect way holding up a portrait of ourselves and a decadent 80's America, demanding us to look at it, accept it, and either laugh at its nostalgia and history or cry for its moral vacancy.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting little book
Review: After seeing the film version of "American Psycho" I was compelled to read the book. I became almost obsessed with AP--a funny, frightening, daring book. Since then I've been meaning to get my hands on more of Ellis's work. I was trying to decide between this and anotehr Ellis book, and since I'm in college myself decided to go with Rules of Attraction. A great, fun, interesting, thought provoking book. Now, I believe AP was probably Ellis's masterpiece, but Rules was very much the college, early 20's version of the world Patrick Bateman lived in.
The character I felt most for was Paul, who seemed the most genuine of the three main characters. Sean was frustrating and entertaining. Lauren was an interesting character, but her obsession with Victor became somewhat tedious at times.
However, the book was great, and oddly enough I hadnt' realized that Sean was the infamous Patrick's brother till the end. Sean was so different from Patrick (well, for one he wasn't psychotic) it never occured to me until he mentioned Patrick. And I did get a quick smile out of the brief appearance by Patrick--acting sane, oddly enough. I may have to go back and read Sean's appearance in AP.
A good book I read in 2 days! Not as "funny" as AP, but very good nonetheless!

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular in a most superb way
Review: This was the first Bret Easton Ellis book that I had ever read. It initially caught my eye after hearing of the movie, and that made me interested in the book. It is well written with an interesting way to start and end a book. It starts and ends in mid sentence, which is quite hard to start off with since knowing what is going on is hard to do. The book then progresses in small sections where each character has their own section. This is good and bad. It is good because it makes it easier to read, though it gives it a soap opera feel. Since it changes character lead every couple of pages, following the story is rather difficult and confusing, because sometimes there is a need to flip back to the beginning of the section to see who is supposed to be talking. This is really the only bad part to the book. The rest of the book is quite entertaining and keeping interest in the book is not hard to do. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a book that follows the lives of several college students through the last year of college.

Rating:
Summary: Bret's the man
Review: The first book i read by Bret Easton Ellis was American Psycho, although shocked by the violence, i loved his dark humour. Glamorama was a step down from that, still violent but hilarious. When i read this one, i couldnt help notice that i'm actually facing the same characters but in a different age and how each book slowly relates to each other. If you've read any of Bret Easton Elli's books but havent read this one, definatly try!!

Rating:
Summary: depressing food for thought
Review: The way in which this book began and ended left the reader with only a snippet of these peoples' lives. What we see has a clear message of moralism. This book left me feeling slightly depressed and hopeless even though I did enjoy reading it. It is an interesting take on perspective in storytelling and that alone makes it worth the read. It left me feeling a little down but I enjoyed the book and think that many would as well.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointing tedious novel
Review: The rules of attraction is not a book up to par with ellis' usual quality. Although the writing remains consistently good the characters are so melodramatic about seemingly unimportant issues and rather nonchalent about issues, which one would think actually matter. The "kaleidoscopic" approach to the novel one would think is clever but ends up being simply annoying. The characters are not realistic, lauren who spends half her time lamenting over her lost love victor, also sleeps with half the campus, she changes too suddenly too fast, goes from being virginal to being the campus hoe, highly unbeilvable. Sean is just a douche with little to no personality, and in a narrative story that'll put you to sleep. Paul is an overly dramatic queen, and the ease with which he sleeps with seemingly straight men is re god damn diculous. This is nothing like college really is, yes college is filled with overly dramatic romances with a lack of any feeling and ellis' characters are involved with that, however the reader simply does not care. The characters are simply too boring to care. I love ellis' work and I love post modern fiction but save yourself some time and don't bother with this one.

Rating:
Summary: Ellis is hereby enthroned as both moralist and antimoralist
Review: Ellis' work continues to stand out in large part because he allows his characters to formulate the environment they populate in their own terms. In The Rules of Attraction, perhaps his most subtle work, Ellis accomplishes this masterfully through the absolutely disciplined, even ascetic distance he maintains from their world and values. The true testament to this is that baby boomers and college students alike both embrace Ellis as elucidating their own moral responses to the environment he creates.
Structurally, the book may come off as slightly sophomoric because of its position in Ellis' oeuvre, but the devices of radical subjectivity employed do all arguably add to the pluralistic ideological protagonism Ellis manages to achieve. The plot follows the romantistic relations of a few of the disaffected students of the elite liberal-arts Camden College in New Hampshire with some original linkage of linguistic and sexual confusion, and also substantially Less than Zero. All Ellis' work is ultimately salient if only in his capture of the dearth and excess of emotional energy his characters exquisitely possess.