- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Picador Paperback (8 July 1988)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330301861
- ISBN-13: 978-0330301862
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 259,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Rules of Attraction
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Inspired. A wonderfully comic novel." --Gore Vidal
"Ellis is, first and last, a moralist. Under cover of his laconic voice, every word in his [novels] springs from grieving outrage at our spiritual condition." --"Los Angeles Times Book Review"
"Serves to establish Mr. Ellis's reputation further as one of the primary inside sources in upper-middle-class America's continuing investigation of what has happened to its children." --"The New York Times Book Review" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
"Ellis is, first and last, a moralist. Under cover of his laconic voice, every word in his [novels] springs from grieving outrage at our spiritual condition." --"Los Angeles Times Book Review"
"Serves to establish Mr. Ellis's reputation further as one of the primary inside sources in upper-middle-class America's continuing investigation of what has happened to its children." --"The New York Times Book Review" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
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.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read all of BEE's work, I believe this is the best example of his misunderstood genius. A complex, subtle and strangely poignant account of American college life in the 1980's, played out through three first-person narrators who show us the world through disillusioned, disaffected eyes. The characterisation is expertly done, and in the end we are left feeling a strange empathy with these hollow lives. It begins in the middle of a sentence and ends in the middle of a sentence, and true, nothing much happens in between, but this is a book about characters, not plot. Style truly reflects content, and the effect is to immerse you totally in the world being portrayed...
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ellis' second novel, sandwiched between scathing debut "Less than Zero" and the hard-hitting "American Psycho", was always going to be somewhat overlooked. However, it is just as involving and affecting , albeit subtler than A.P. It is the literary equivalent of creeping up on someone, tapping them on the shoulder and putting a mirror up to their face the instant they turn around. For a few seconds they are shocked by their own appearance... This novel is not about "them", the characters, the situations, it's about you. People you know, things you've done, or thought, or thought you've done but can't remember. An examination of a generation so bored with itself and its preoccupations that it's forgotten it was bored at all, and is simply floating from one pointless event to the next, one partner to the next, one drug to the next. It works on so many levels - outwardly shallow, but it's the superficiality that leads you to look deeper into the characters actions and motives. I personally would not criticise either the novel itself or Ellis style, but it has been mentioned elsewhere that he has been criticised for leaving a page blank, with accusations of pretentiousness for this. However, for me this was one of the most powerful moments of the story - the absence of Lauren's contribution for that day says more about her feelings then than she would ever spell out herself...
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I just wanted to put all of the bad reviews of the book because it has no plot to bed.
The book is a satire, which means that the purpose of it is to convey the life of the characters in question to the reader in a way that highlights how shallow they are and ultimately meaningless there lives are. that is the point of the book and why some people say that it doesnt have a plot.
The book is a satire, which means that the purpose of it is to convey the life of the characters in question to the reader in a way that highlights how shallow they are and ultimately meaningless there lives are. that is the point of the book and why some people say that it doesnt have a plot.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Either you relate or you don't: no inbetween
You have to admire Ellis' ambition here. He's writing a novel that will frustrate many and offend even more. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Alexander Lindsay
id give it 10 stars.
I was introduced to Brett.E.E through American Psycho. I saw it lying on top of a pile in a charity shop and thought id read it. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Madmarshall
Ellis expands on Less Than Zero
The Rules of Attrction (Brett Easten Ellis's second novel) is a richer and deeper expression of the nihilistic, satirical themes he covered in his stark debut. Read more
Published 12 months ago by ric03
Ellis's inessential second novel
'The Rules of Attraction' is Ellis's second novel. Like all young artists who enjoy tremendous success with their debut, he faced a challenge: more of the same, and be accused of... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Paul Bowes
fascinating, but ugly picture of youth completely empty of meaning
I understand those who say it is a completely meaningsless book, because it really is a book about nothing and I completely get those who say that it is absolutely brilliant,... Read more
Published 17 months ago by AnnaS
You must read this.
If you haven't read this book already, then you must. Easton Ellis' portrayal of the strangled hedonism in 80's Camden is subtle but ground breaking. Read more
Published 18 months ago by CasualPsychosis
Takes a while ...
The book doesn't really have much of a plot, but there is some storylines which are discussed by each of the books characters. This is what makes the book worthwhile. Read more
Published 22 months ago by N. Swan
The monsters who invented milking the bubble economy
We all know the masterpiece of that author, viz. American Psycho (please watch the uncut unrated video version: the extra five minutes make a real difference), and I was curious to... Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2009 by Jacques COULARDEAU
Genius
This book is a brilliant social commentary. It's not a story with a beginning, middle & and end wherein every event causes another and so on. Nothing's strategically placed. Read more
Published on 15 July 2009 by Sara
Good portrayal of youthful insecurity and infatuation
Doesn't have the same 'wow' factor as 'American Psycho' but Ellis does give us the same astute observation of a particular social set. Read more
Published on 7 Jun 2009 by noc
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