This novel offers a satirical yet bleak vision of the modern world - a world devoted to conspicuous consumption and consumer-as-king culture - and highlights the feelings of futility and superficiality that mark an entire generation.
The Rules of Attraction (Vintage Contemporaries)
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From Publishers Weekly
This tale of privileged college students at their self- absorbed and childish worst is the very book that countless students have dreamed of writing at their most self-absorbed and childish moments. With one bestseller to his credit, Less Than Zero author and recent Bennington College graduate Ellis has had the unique opportunity of seeing his dream become a realityand all those other once-and-future students can breathe a sigh of relief that it didn't happen to them. Through a series of brief first-person accounts, the novel chronicles one term at a fictional New England college, with particular emphasis on a decidedly contemporary love triangle (one woman and two men) in which all possible combinations have been explored, and each pines after the one who's pining after the other. Theirs is a world of physical, chemical and emotional excessan adolescent fantasy of sex, drugs and sturm und drangwherein characters are distinguished only by the respective means by which they squander their health, wealth and youth. Despite its contemporary feel and flashy structurethe book begins and ends midsentencethe narrative relies on the stalest staples of melodrama and manages to pack in a suicide, assorted suicide attempts, an abortion and the death of a parent without giving the impression that anything is happeningor that any of it matters. Major ad/promo.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Two years after his debut best seller, Less Than Zero ( LJ 6/1/85) , Ellis returns with a very different novel. Though still about college students (Ellis graduated only last year), this story is told through numerous student diaries, illustrating the "accidents" that often form the basis of modern relationships. Here, misunderstandings, differing perceptions, and often just bad hearing cause pairings to begin or end, proving Ellis's implied thesis that there are no "rules." Ellis has his pretensions (the book starts and finishes in the middle of a sentence, and one diary entry is in easy French), but he successfully fleshes out his characters and creates involving situations. This should be a hit like the last, especially with college students. For public and academic collections. Susan Avallone, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Paperback
As with all of Ellis' books, save for American Psycho, 'The Rules of Attraction' is filled with good and interesting writing (stream of consciousness this time around)and little to no substance. All of Ellis' book seem to say the exact same thing: hedonism and materialism is, like, bad. This would be fine if only there were other themes going on, but there isn't.
By M. A. Miller
Format:Paperback
this book isn't for everybody but I thought it was awesome. ROA does a great job of showing life from the point of view of everyone involved just like in real life. One character might be in love and think they are loved but in reality they are just a good time in the other person's eyes and Ellis does a great job of showing this.
Format:Paperback
Sean.
Then, Paul, Lauren, Victor, etc...
Following in the footsteps of 'Less Than Zero', Ellis brings us to another dark area, college. The lavish lifestyles, if that could only be so true, of Hollywood are much different here, in Camden.
The book contorts with drugs, sex, homosexuality, etc. The writing is that of an odd collection of journal samples and interviews. Continuing with the first person, references to culture, etc...Ellis has us wanting more and more. Looking to the next page, to find out the differences in one character or another. We become addicted, not too far from reality television, as we need to know what each character is doing next. Using risque sequences, Ellis pulls us in, even further.
But, in a way, as we read, we become victims ourselves. The book's central purposes are gossip, lust, anger, and self improvement. In a way, self improvement is the key measure, but with a twist. I won't reveal, that's for the reader.
I did enjoy this book, a lot better than Less Than Zero, but not as much as American Psycho. I have yet to read The Informers or Glamorama. Anyway, this book is a fine production. In the realm of teenage angst, or should I say, youth problems, this takes the cake. You see people read sappy novels day after day, well, this is one of them, but realistic in a sense that, every bad thing that could happen, is pulled together.
If I haven't convinced you, then I succeeded, because this is a book you don't just pick up and want to read, to read. It's a book you need to take the time to read, because you really do become in depth with the characters and there are so many things happening, you need to correlate, well.
Rules of Attraction is very odd, and the movie is a mild exposure.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular in a most superb way
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. Read more
Published on May 19 2004
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's the 80s
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. Read more
Published on May 11 2004 by Rich
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bret's the man
The first book i read by Bret Easton Ellis was American Psycho, although shocked by the violence, i loved his dark humour. Read more
Published on April 27 2004 by "chemical_burn"
4.0 out of 5 stars
depressing food for thought
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. Read more
Published on April 5 2004 by writer and music junkie
2.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointing tedious novel
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... Read more
Published on Mar 10 2004
4.0 out of 5 stars
Ellis is hereby enthroned as both moralist and antimoralist
Ellis' work continues to stand out in large part because he allows his characters to formulate the environment they populate in their own terms. Read more
Published on Mar 7 2004 by viveapple
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Unique Novel....
The Rules Of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, is his second novel, and definitely one of my favorites (the other being American Psycho). Read more
Published on Feb 11 2004 by Eric
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Novel From One of the Best Modern Authors
The Rules of Attraction, set at a fictional New England college very similar to the author's alma mater Bennington, chronicles a few months in the lives of two young men and a... Read more
Published on Jan 10 2004 by T. H. Pine
5.0 out of 5 stars
INCREDIBLE
Oh my god. After seeing the movie based on this book, I was immediately left with an unsettled, almost unsatisfied feeling. Read more
Published on Dec 24 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars
I always knew it would be like this.
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... Read more
Published on Nov 22 2003 by E. Kim
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