We follow the college stories of Sean Bateman, Lauren Hynde and Paul Denton, told from both their own and their peers' perspectives. They are all messy characters, and their world involves a lot of drugs, identity crises, and sex.

I loved how we get a glimpse into everyone's head and how each experiences the same things differently. In typical Ellis style (never mind that this is only the second book I've read of his), the book is quite gloomy and dark, but it doesn't read as a heavy book per se, and the satirical tone of voice is so well done that it's almost comical at times.

Though not universal, the college experience that is depicted in The Rules of Attraction has at least a few elements that are relatable. The anonimity on a big campus, the unwritten rules of how to socialize and maintain relationships, and that the actual learning bit of college isn't even the main thing a day revolves around.

Another (definitely less sinister but still dark) highly enjoyable read of Bret Easton Ellis! Can't wait to read more of his oeuvre.

One of the best books on insight. 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 boring piece of shit. You never get attached to one cahracter, Ellis switches too fast between them, but it's what makes the book so good. You just laugh and feel sorry for all these lost assholes. I will always say "I'm sorry what did you say?" if someone asks me for quesadillas. Rock n' roll.
On a side note, if you plan on reading Bret Ellis in the full, read this first. All his characters have books of their own. The L.A. guy, he's in Glamorama. Bateman's brother Patrick, he's in American Psycho. I get upset when I read the best book first, but in this case you should.

super immersive, felt i was right there with all the college students. i love the voice too.

Bret Easton Ellis's kaleidoscope novel is frank, belligerent, and exceptionally youthful. Its preponderance of masochism, sex, drugs, addiction, loss, and love are uniquely pinpointed through various characters, each apathetic and malign to any real sense of adulthood. This novel receives three stars thanks to Ellis's fatal flaw, incorporating personal notes from an unknown character who ends up offing herself in the community bathroom - a literary addition that completely takes away from the remarkable and sublime experience of piecing together these many, many conflicting lives. By and large I recommend as a quick pleasure read but surely not a read of excellence.

n  ''He likes him. He likes her. I think she likes someone else, probably me. That’s all. No logic.''n



Hella horny college kids. Also huge cunts, huge narcissists. The movie, which i adore and own on DVD, is way better.
Love the weird BEE *Bret Easton Ellis* universe.

n  ''-I was in that class too.
-I didn't ever see u in there.
-That's why i failed it.''n
Bruh, such a mood.

Fuuuuck, i miss uni. Yes granted i went to class and then after like 1-2hours left to go to a cafe but still. Online classes ain't fun. Haven't attended any but that's because i work.

Though it bears many of the hallmarks of his great works, this was probably the weakest of Bret's novels. He's much better when he focuses on the internality of one character. Here, there are too many shifting voices, too closely packed together, and they all blended together. That may well have been the point, but it was confusing to follow at times and the voices weren't distinctive enough.

Dopo meno di zero continuo con il secondo romanzo di Ellis. Stavolta siamo in un college, a Camden, nel New Hampshire, la voce narrante non è più una sola ma le vicende vengono raccontate da più personaggi, in modo a volte contraddittorio a seconda del punto di vista (“nessuno conoscerà mai nessuno”).
Stessi temi di Meno di zero (protagonisti ricchi, droghe, alcol, anni 80, sesso, assenza di limiti), stessa atmosfera soffocante, amplificata dallo spostamento di location (non più Los Angeles ma un claustrofobico college della costa atlantica), stessa ironia, stesso cinismo, stessa penna geniale.

Appunto: fanno una comparsa anche il Clay del romanzo precedente e un certo Patrick Bateman, fratello di uno dei protagonisti, che qui sembra quasi normale...

In some books nothing really happens, but it doesn't make the book any less appealing since the characters or situations are so engaging. This, to me, is unfortunately not one of these books. The book is told from the perspectives of various protagonists in a diary-like style on their lives in college over a relatively short period of time (a semester, maybe less). It seems to lean heavily on the 'shock value' of the characters' lives filled with casual sex and drug use. To me, it does not succeed in inducing this disturbingly depressing feeling of (the reader's) lost innocence like Easton Ellis' Less than Zero did, nor does it offer any alternative. For the readers who are not easily shocked you are simply left with annoying, priviliged characters lacking any depth and a lackluster story without a purpose.

My friend lent me this book and I was super excited because we're trying this new thing where we lend each other a book to read every month... and this was the first one of our new little reading adventure.

I was bored. Insanely bored. It felt like someone was literally yelling gibberish so fast into my ear that I almost couldn't understand them at all.

I tried to enjoy this. I did. I read 50 pages the first day and then I just decided to read the rest of it in one sitting because I knew if I put it down I would never pick it back up. I felt like I owed it to my friend to at least complete the first book that she was loaning me.

Not much else to say. I didn't like it. Not even a little bit. It didn't captivate me. I feel harsh saying this but... I would quite literally watch grass grow.

Rido anch'io, apro la porta, guardo Masur, che sta ridendo, ancora stupito, e poi chiudo la porta, programmando un'overdose.
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- Voglio conoscerti, - uggiola Sean. - Cosa? - Conoscerti. Voglio conoscerti. - Mi supplica. - Cosa significa? Conoscermi? - gli chiedo. - Conoscermi? Nessuno mai conosce nessuno. Mai. Tu non mi conoscerai mai.

In questo romanzo, "Le regole dell'attrazione", si sente forte e chiaro l'eco di Joan Didion (la scena dell'aborto di Lauren, quel brano in cui Sean ricorda l'ultima volta che ha visto il padre, le corse in macchina ...), c'è questa disperazione ricca e stonata e i personaggi sono sempre così "stoned" - dall'alcol, dalle droghe, dal sesso inutile e aspro.
Avrei voluto sottolineare decine di passi, soprattutto quello dove parla Victor, verso la fine, degli stupidi problemi di quei giovani borghesucci del college, ma lo dico sempre senza astio. Mi piacerebbe pensare ancora, come ai vecchi tempi di Meno di zero: "salvate Clay, salvate Blair!", ma poi lo sappiamo tutti che chi si vuole salvare si salva sempre da solo. La passione va nutrita e i rapporti umani che ci salveranno li dobbiamo costruire giorno per giorno; forse anche questo significa diventare adulti, non solo scoprirci fragili ma imparare a volerci bene interi, fragilità comprese. Senza più abbandonarci al piacere sadico di autodistruggerci, che è così "facile" e così poetico.

(Non ho detto una parola sugli anni Ottanta, perché solo attraverso i brani musicali ascoltati dai protagonisti mi ricordavo che stavamo parlando degli anni Ottanta e non della mia generazione. Immagino che comunque un buon romanzo tenda a "parlare" al di là del tempo)

4,5 ⭐