Selected Book
The Rules of Attraction
- Paperback
- Author: Bret Easton Ellis
- Publisher: Vintage
- Release Date: June 1998
- ISBN-10: 067978148X
- ISBN-13: 9780679781486
- List Price: $13.95
Price Comparisons
E-mail these Cheap Book Prices to a friend!
| Store | Price | Condition | Free Shipping? | Online Coupons and Deals | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half.com | $4.50 as of 1/8 8am EST | Used | NO, $3.49 to $3.99 |
| |||
| Amazon | $5.95 as of 1/8 8am EST | Used | NO, $3.99 |
| |||
| Half.com | $7.00 as of 1/8 8am EST | New | NO, $3.49 to $3.99 |
| |||
| Amazon | $7.92 as of 1/8 8am EST | New | NO, $3.99 |
| |||
| TextbookX | $10.38 as of 1/8 8am EST | New | YES, spend $49+ |
| |||
| Amazon | $11.16 as of 1/8 8am EST | New | YES, spend $25+ |
| |||
| button not working? Click Here | |||||||
Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummarySet at a small, affluent liberal-arts college in New England at the height of the Reagan 80s, The Rules of Attraction is a startlingly funny, kaleidoscopic novel about three students with no plans for the future--or even the present--who become entangled in a curious romantic triangle. Bret Easton Ellis trains his incisive gaze on the kids at self-consciously bohemian Camden College and treats their sexual posturings and agonies with a mixture of acrid hilarity and compassion while exposing the moral vacuum at the center of their lives. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
What a let down
Rating:
After reading American Psycho and Lunar Park I was keen to read this particular novel. I found it repetitive and meaningless - a series of anecdotes and empty characters. I guess that was what it meant to portray - the bankrupt youth living on alcohol and drugs. But what does it all mean ? Nothing.
One of best fiction books I've read
Rating:
Rules of Attraction is a first-person narrative that alternates between a few egocentric, hedonistic college students as they become intertwined in a love triangle. There isn't a dull moment in the book in large part due to the story and Ellis' provocative style of writing. The characters are quite shallow and far from morally inclined, to the point where some will readers get sick to their stomaches. This is Ellis' intention though as the underlying message of his writing is a critique of the moral state of modern culture. Unfortunately, his themes tend to split his critics often due to misunderstanding. The book is amazing and important. Read it!
Did the Eighties Ever End?
Rating:
I bought this book almost exactly 20 years ago, back in 1988. The first time I read it, my reaction was: this is a real piece of trash. On the surface, it appeared that Ellis put almost no effort into this book, that it was just a stream of consciousness regurgitation with little or no cohesion or substance. What a difference 20 years makes! TROE is perhaps the most well worn book in my collection--one I've read over and over and over. Despite its relative thinness, TROE is a masterpiece in multiple literary dimensions: setting, characterization, social commentary, and (yes) even plot. One of the most overlooked (underrated) aspects of his book is the different spin each character puts on the same event. This makes it one of the only books that realistically illustrates how we all see the world through our own prism--especially as young adults. As a college professor, I have some insight into how today's students think and act. Aside from a few references to the Internet, this book would describe college life today just as well as it did in 1986. Well done, Mr. Ellis, well done.
Both excessive and tepid
Rating:
If you were a WASPy, spoiled, vacuous student of a liberal-arts college in the mid-'80s and you jumped from one empty relationship to another and mulled obsessively over every mundane detail in your aimless life while thinking in run-on sentences, this book was written just for you. But I can't imagine possibly being interested, much less intrigued, by The Rules of Attraction. Ellis' second novel is only notable for being almost entirely unexceptional.
Most of this story is recounted in a first-person narrative by central characters Paul, Lauren and Sean, among a handful of other friends, relatives and acquaintances. They spend most of their time ingesting all manner of drugs, legal and otherwise. They jump into bed with whoever looks good at the moment. They usually avoid anything resembling responsible behavior by habit. And when they aren't whining over every minor misfortune that befalls them, they're trying desperately to fool themselves (and us) into believing that the few positive aspects of their lives are so much more engrossing than they actually are.
In terms of accuracy and structure, there isn't anything particularly objectionable about this story. What exists of the plot was cunningly conceived, and the dialogue is entirely authentic. Ellis possesses a very keen wit, but it's utilized far too infrequently; for every hilarious incident that's depicted here, there are a half-dozen that very nearly put me to sleep. These characters are realistic, decadent, impulsive and thoroughly boring. The story moves along at a lively pace, but these people are so self-absorbed and their respective tellings of each sequence are so pedestrian that slogging through this rather short book is quite a chore. Even contradictions found in comparison of any two self-serving, entirely subjective accounts of a common episode aren't terribly engaging.
The most frustrating aspect of this story is that the only interesting characters here are confined to its periphery: flighty Victor, fastidious Patrick (Bateman, the titular antagonist of the much more entertaining "American Psycho") and Eve, Paul's emotionally estranged mother. If these characters had been afforded a greater share of the narrative, this book might have been a much more engaging read.
Setting aside the minutia of this critique, it must be noted that this entire genre of popular fiction has been rendered obsolete by the Internet. At any time, I can access a wealth of blogs scribed by self-obsessed wretches who are every bit as dysfunctional as the spoiled brats of this banal, miserable volume, most of whom have much more intriguing exploits to relate. I can read about and laugh at their pathetic lives for free and this book doesn't convey anything profound either, so of what use it it?
Perfectly Written
Rating:
After reading "Less Than Zero" I was excited to give another Bret Easton Ellis novel a try, and this turned out to be one of those books I never wanted to end. Every page was full of something interesting and thought provoking and what at times seemed shocking also seemed like the harsh, honest truth. And this has become one of my favorite novels that I know I'll read over and over again.
The events are intriguing, the use of different narrators is great and very effective, and the writing style is perfect. Ellis really knew his characters well and had me believing these were real people.
And as always in the three Ellis novels I've read (Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, Glamorama), I felt some disgust towards the characters' actions yet admired them at the same time and part of me wanted to live their wild and eccentric lives.
BROWSE BY SUBJECT
- Audiobooks
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Health, Mind & Body
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel