The Rules of Attraction

Where "Less than Zero" lacked in direction and "American Psycho" lacked in consistancy, "The Rules of Attraction" picks up to pieces to form Bret Easton Ellis' most intriguing and important novel to date. Unlike his other novels, I never once felt the need to question the direction of the plot, I was instead lost in the unique and profound story told by the different views of these college students who attended a liberal arts school in New England. Sure like all Ellis' novels, there's drugs, sex, and a lost sense of identity. But unlike his other novels, "The Rules of Attractions" keeps fresh chapter after chapter. I think it had alot to do with how the book was written, with different commentaries by all the characters in the novel. Sometimes the diiferent perspectives of the characters contridicted the other and miscommunications with the conversations were to say the least, really humorous. This is really a touching, sad, funny, and remarkable novel. I guess there are some people who probably can't stomach Ellis' style of heavy drug use and sex. All I can really say if you are that type of reader is: Deal with it. Rock'n'Roll.

"The Rules of Attraction" is probably the darkest novel about college ever written, and it is also probably one of the most accurate. For Ellis' characters, and many real college students, college is a time for sex and partying, a 4 year farewell party before entering the responsibility of the 'real world.' Ellis' characters are so filthy rich that responsibility is not a concept they can fathom. To them, college is a formality; another status symbol that they feel defines them. It's just another place to spend their parents' money, with more peers and more party venues. Like all Ellis novels, "The Rules Of Attraction" is grossly underrated and misunderstood. It is a quick but disturbing read that stays with you long after you finish the novel. Another Ellis masterwork.

This is one of the most gorgeous books I have ever read. Ellis is a smart enough writer not to make it gorgeous in the conventional sense, one where swelling sentences and gushing adjectives are mistaken for beauty. Instead, Ellis uses sheer simplicity and straightforward dialogue to convey just how deeply jaded the characters in the novel are. Every character is longing for something more, but trying to go after it in a self-destructive and obsessive compulsive fashion. It is a dead on accurate portrayal of college life, of the religion of namedropping, gossip, misdirected desire, and the search of a place to belong. The characters are expertly drawn and given voices that have more emotion and chracter in them than those found in most films. It is funny and sad at the same time. When you finish the book, you realize it starts in the middle of a sentence and ends in the middle of a sentence, a subtle yet heartbreaking technique that suggests people have felt this way since the beginning of time and that they always will.

Okay, I realize I might be over-emphatic on exactly how much I love this book but I LOVE THIS BOOK. If you ever feel the need to read a novel depicting life in a certain lifestyle,(especially if that craving reaches to college kids in the mood), then this is the book for you. I've now read it at least twenty times, and each time I can't help but get sucked into the characters and their lifestyle. The author uses a unique method of "showing the world through their eyes" to develop the characters and allow the reader to fully understand exactly what each character is thinking at any particular time. The description provided of the plot does not do it justice. This is more than just a book about three college kids, it's about a whole generation, and how anything can be different if you look at it from the right angle. No surface characters here, this novel brings you to the heart of the matter, and once there, you never want it to end. If you like Irvine Welsh, you'll love Bret Easton Ellis.