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 figure out what's going on - who's doing what to whom exactly - but the longer you get in the book, the clearer it gets. That is, as clear as it can get for people who are constantly on something and doing somebody.
For me, the strongest point of the book is how the different persons experience totally different things -although they are at the same party or even in the same bed - and how they put different value on the things happening. And how misconceptions arise due to the heave drug intake, most of them are constantly on.
But mostly, they just don't really care. About anything.
No wonder that these characters could possibly grow up and become Patrick Batemans, of American Psycho fame, and not only little brother Sean Bateman could be heading down this track. None of them really sober up long enough to think about what's actually going on and why that girl tried to kill herself. All they care about is how to get the next lay or the next fix.
The story is so well crafted - with an open beginning and an open end - when you finish the book, nothing have really moved or changed but still you feel different, you have caught a glimpse into these people's life and although none of it was pretty, you still care for them even though they are completely self-absorped...
Highly recommended for those who can stomach it!

50th book of 2020.

This is probably the worst time to read Ellis, as he's so damn depressing. Disaffection is the perfect word for his books, the way you feel when you're reading them. (I must say, also, how great is this cover? Not sure why it is, but I think it's great.)

Despite this, by Goodreads standards, has the same rating as Less Than Zero, American Psycho and Lunar Park, I think this has been the best Ellis yet. Let me try to explain. American Psycho is just Less Than Zero on some serious, serious drugs - but bad drugs, the ones that give you the worst trips, like nightmares. This, funnily enough, actually being the novel between the two, is a nice middle-ground. There isn't too much violence, and though it's everything I expected, drugs, sex, depression, suicide... it's not quite as bad as what comes next for Bret Easton Ellis - though nothing is.

There's quite a nostalgic slope coming out of my University library; that's a funny way of describing it. But, I couldn't fathom the number of times I've walked down that slope talking to someone about books, or classes, or food, or money. In that respect, it's a nostalgic slope. The other day, I was speaking to a woman I've never met before. Middle-aged, quite quiet, so the conversation always required a lot of attention, and gentle. She was nice. She told me that she loved Bret Easton Ellis, which surprised me. I gave a spiel about my thoughts on Ellis (hearing how it sounded as I said it, and felt sick at myself) and she agreed with me. You don't want to look but you can't help yourself, was my main point. It's a window into another life, too. And I think Ellis gets flak because what he's writing isn't romantic. He's writing about a lost generation, like Fitzgerald and Hemingway did, but their generation didn't have copious amounts of sex, or do enough cocaine to kill an elephant, or wave machetes around. It's a difficult relationship with Ellis, it's awe, but also disgust. I guess that's what makes him so interesting.

Rules of Attraction is more obviously scathing. It's ironic. It's even playful. Here are some quotes... They aren't nice. I'll say that now.

A boy's thoughts on Kafka in a lecture:
'Well, like, the dude was totally depressed because, well, the dude turned into a bug and freaked out.
(He's not wrong, credit to him. Though maybe 'freaked out' is a little generous of Samsa's reaction.)

Norris pays and ask the shy, acne-scarred cashier if she knows who wrote 'Notes from the Underground'. The girl, who's so homely you couldn't sleep with her for money, not for anything, smiles and says no, and that he can look in the bestseller paperbacks if he'd like. We leave the store and Norris sneers a little too meanly, "Townies are so ignorant."

A particularly crude quote, from a poetry group:
'Yeah, I've been working on this concept that when Man fucks animals, He's fucking Nature, since He's becomes so computerised and all.' Stump stops and takes a swallow from a silver flask he brings out of his pocket and says, 'I'm working on the dog section now where this guy ties a dog up and is having intercourse with it because He thinks dog is God. D-O-G. . .G-O-D. God spelled backwards. Get it? See?'

Most interestingly are the character crossovers. One of our protagonists in this is Patrick Bateman's brother, Sean Bateman. Of course, Patrick Bateman is our American Psycho. He even has several pages from his perspective, though the voice doesn't quite match what we get later on, so Ellis maybe hadn't quite found out what he would become. The other interesting one, is Clay's several pages, who was our protagonist in Less Than Zero - he was the only voice we heard in that novel, compared to the many in this one. So all in all, a good Ellis book.
Does that make it a 'good' book? I'm not sure. Yes and no.
Do I like Ellis: yes and no.

It has recently come to my attention that Bret Easton Ellis considers Joan Didion and influence on his writing. I wish he had let Didion's writing influence him more. This kind of book could have been good if Joan Didion wrote it. She would have devised a way to make the unlikeable characters compelling despite their negative qualities, and the plot would have been cut with a razor to its most important parts. But Joan Didion did not write it. Bret Easton Ellis did, and as a result this is not a very compelling book.

My original review below:

Amazingly bad. No plot. No interesting characters. Just college students partying and being assholes. No depth or meaning. Maybe the point was to show the unmeaningful lives of people who are not deep or interesting? Why devote an entire book to that?

This book may have sounded contrived to some, but to me it was exactly the way I remember being and feeling in college. The dorm, cafeteria and party scenes are brilliant and so are the fast travel sections. When I recently read The Sorrows of Young Mike, it felt like a sequel because the characters were also nihilistic college students, horny and self-involved. It, along with The Rules of Attraction, touches on similar issues that hardly affect the main characters, as they are busy thinking about themselves.

An engaging, well written novel about a group of sexually promiscuous, unlikeable, East Coast liberal arts college students in the 1980s whose parents are generally divorced and financially well off. The book is written in the first person in short vignettes highlighting each character’s perspective. The three main characters are Lauren Hyde, Sean Bateman and Paul Denton.

Lauren is emotional, depressed, a painter and poet, who sleeps with a number of guys. The scene where she recalls losing her virginity is appalling sad. Her boyfriend Victor, is in Europe for the term. Lauren starts regularly having sex with Sean and when he isn’t available, she has sex with someone else.

Sean is 21 years old who mostly skips classes, parties, taking drugs, drinking alcohol and having sex with whoever.

Paul is intelligent, passionate, physically attractive and bisexual. He is attracted to Sean. Sean and Paul have had sex together. Paul used to date Lauren.

I liked the different character perspectives of the same scenario.

This book was first published in 1987.

I liked it. Good sequel to staple Ellis themes.

This book made me so glad to be 30…

The blurb says that this book is about the “death of romance”… But I feel this is a little bit more complicated than that. Sure “The Rules of Attraction” follows four unspeakably awful undergrads as they get tangled up in the most fucked up love-triangle I’ve ever read. As they agonize childishly over their various experiences, disappointments and mistakes, it’s hard to feel for them: none of them have any moral compass, maturity, honesty or self-awareness. They project huge, unrealistic expectations on each other, but never vocalize them, then hold bitter grudges against each other for failing tests they didn’t know they were going through…

Is this hilarious or sad? I guess that depends on how cynical you are! Ellis knows how to write, so this snapshot of college life and it’s horribly gritty and immoral details is an interesting read, but it is also repulsive. But that’s just his style: if you have never read him before, you should know that vacuous, depraved and apathetic characters are his thing. The lenses of dark humour with which he looks at the college experience can be very funny: but it is only funny because it’s pathetic, and I am not sure I feel inclined to laugh at that.

That being said, the multiple POVs of the same events is fascinating and entertaining. I'm always mesmerized by the way people interpret the exact same moment in such a wildly different ways, and these kids being unable to communicate adequately, well... you can imagine how that goes!

Several readers and critics have pointed out the realism of what Ellis describes in this book, assuming that everyone to ever set foot on a college campus fell into a bottomless pit of weed, drunk blackouts and awkward sex. Maybe I am a huge nerd, but I went to college to get a degree… If the “Rules of Attraction” is as realistic as they say, I’m very glad I was not in that crowd.

Marginally better than “Less Than Zero”, not as good as “American Psycho”. I think my Ellis-reading experiment is over.

i loved this book as i was first starting it; it felt like it was everything i was looking for. biting and candid and fast-paced, i was stunned by its honesty. but the pages flew by and nothing happened. the characters experienced events but didn’t learn much from them. everything was given the same weight, so bland, everyone was too cool to care about anything. and i know that was the point. to feel the lifestyle gnaw at you like it does them. but either way, i was left very unfulfilled and stuck with a mean taste in my mouth from the hatefulness that all of the characters carry inside them. i felt like nothing is good or ever has been good. is that really the truth, or just what sounds cool and contrarian? i liked the book, but it just made me sad.

A tale of hedonism from Bret Easton Ellis, filled with sex and drugs.

Bret Easton Ellis is of my biggest influences as an author and this is probably the Bret Easton Ellis novel that most influenced Drug Gang. It contains similar themes and social commentary. To quote from the book itself, “I think we've all lost some sort of feeling.”

This postmodern masterwork gives great insight into the possible impact and outcomes of a nihilistic mindset.

I just really love this man's books. Edgy but not sew edgy, dark, creepy, and palate cleansing.

His stuff is not for everyone and I can understand that. :)

Pretty much a cycle of debauchery

Se lo stile rende benissimo un contesto quale è quello di ragazzi scapestrati, drogati e ubriachi per la maggior parte del tempo, dall'altro lato francamente il libro lascia un po' poco.
Sembra di aver visto un film, qualcosa tra The Wolf of wall street e Paura e delirio a Las Vegas riuscito un po' male, dal momento che almeno quei film ti rimangono in mente.

Tra scopate, fumate, pippate, tentati suicidi, tradimenti, e altri "drammi", viene da dire ma che razza di sbandati che sono i liceali americani degli anni '80!

Comunque, tutto il lavoro lo fa lo stile di Ellis, che riesce a rendere piacevole leggere del caos giovanile e dell'edonismo americano.