Among the dozens of young students the reader meets, there are three main characters. Sean Bateman is a senior who has changed majors multiple times. To say he is non-serious would be one a considerable understatement. He was surprised when his mentor advised him that he was failing only three of his four classes. Sean is constantly in search of the next girl, drink or drug that he can use and abuse. He is a self-described financial aid student who supplements his cash flow acting as a small-time middle man for a townie drug dealer. Sean perpetually owes money to Rupert the drug dealer, who is constantly threatening Sean to pay up. In reality, Sean is from a wealthy family and and experienced an upper-crust lifestyle including a tony boarding school education. Sean conceals his wealth from his classmates. He could easily pay off the menacing drug dealer but refuses to do so. 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. When asked in an interview in 2002 whether he was gay, Ellis explained that he did not identify as gay or straight, but was comfortable being thought of as homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual and enjoyed playing with his persona, identifying variously as gay, straight and bisexual to different people over the years. [26] In a 1999 interview, Ellis suggested that his reluctance to definitively label his sexuality was for "artistic reasons", "if people knew that I was straight, they'd read [my books] in a different way. If they knew I was gay, ' Psycho ' would be read as a different book." [27] In an interview with Robert F. Coleman, Ellis said he had an "indeterminate sexuality", that "any other interviewer out there will get a different answer and it just depends on the mood I am in". [28] The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 2002. Ellis has remarked that among film adaptations of his books, The Rules of Attraction came closest to capturing his sensibility and recreating the world of his novels. [1] Plot summary [ edit ]

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.) The Shards by Bret Easton El Bret Easton Ellis (June 2010). Imperial Bedrooms. Publishers Weekly. ISBN 978-0-307-26610-1 . Retrieved August 24, 2019.

Success!

Popular Is Dumb: Sean is highly sought after as a sexual and romantic prospect by other characters. He's also both Book Dumb and almost fatally Street Dumb, and in general just not a very bright guy. Yale Daily News Staff (2011). The Insider's Guide to the Colleges, 2012: Students on Campus Tell You What You Really Want to Know, 38th Edition. St. Martin's Griffin. p.101. Bret Easton Ellis on Talking Porn With Kanye, a New Novel, and (Yes) Trump". Vogue. April 16, 2019 . Retrieved September 8, 2019. One weird thing is that I would’ve Jessica Biel to play Lauren and not Lara. She’s described in the novel as an All-American beauty, which I thought implied something conventional about her. Shannyn Sossamon does a solid job, but it feels like she’s a collection of several characters in the novel. Clifton Collins Jr. is a brilliant choice as Rupert. He’s often described as unthreatening by Bret Easton Ellis even if he constantly threatens Sean and Collins is exactly it. It’s very unfortunate that no one remembers that Bret Easton Ellis wrote The Rules of Attraction. It’s a solid (albeit dark) novel and the Roger Avary 2002 adaptation is one of the most fun and daring pieces of indie cinema no one actually remembers.

McDowell, Edwin (November 17, 1990). "Vintage Buys Violent Book Dropped by Simon & Schuster". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved September 3, 2019. The Loins Sleep Tonight: When Sean attempts to bed Kelly in the film, he discovers that he's not as interested as he usually is because he's not drunk. The characters were all unique from one another. While a lot of their drug and relationship habits were similar, each character had their own individual voice. I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed Lauren’s moments. I found her a little annoying and not that interesting. There was just something about her that I wasn’t very fond of. I felt a little indifferent when it came to Sean. He started out interesting, but as the story went on he started to feel a little redundant. Paul however, was my absolute favourite. He felt real and relatable. While he seemed the most sane out of the three main characters, I think it may be possible that he was the most insane. Like I mentioned earlier, I still can’t tell if his relationship with Sean ever even really happened. Cluster F-Bomb: In the film, a drug dealer goes on a tirade against Sean (who owes him money), and he manages to utter the f-word 9 times in 16 seconds (plus a "shit"). Probably helped by the fact that he was high on cocaine himself.Well, like, the dude was totally depressed because, well, the dude turned into a bug and freaked out. Paul Denton: A bisexual who seems to favor men over women. He's probably the most intelligent and eloquent of the narrators. Considering how many people compliment him on his looks, he's apparently quite foxy. Paul used to sleep with Lauren... He loves her, but used to do it with him, who used to do it with her, who is still pining away for a different him who is currently in Europe thinking about a different her, or is she still really hung up on the him who used to do it with her current him????? Told in a free association style of rambling diary-like entries, Sean, Lauren and Paul talk about the hits and misses in their respective love lives while attending college in New England. One-Hour Work Week: The story follows students at a college campus during a Fall semester, but none of the characters ever seem to attend any classes or do any coursework. Even more remarkable, the one professor who makes an appearance had cancelled his class at the beginning of the story, when Sean and Lauren first meet, and is never seen teaching, but he is seen attending his students' college parties. From the New York Times bestselling author or Less Than Zero and American Psycho—a startlingly funny, kaleidoscopic novel about three students at a small, affluent liberal-arts college in New England with no plans for the future—or even the present—who become entangled in a romantic triangle. • “An extraordinary writer.” — LA Weekly

Apple Computer, Inc. (March 26, 1999). "Pro/Film – The Rules of Attraction". Apple. Archived from the original on November 6, 2005 . Retrieved July 24, 2011. The Australian version of the film is uncut, retaining 22 seconds that were removed in the R-rated US version. [ citation needed] Martelle, Scott (February 1, 1999). "The Dark Side of a Generation". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved September 10, 2013. For his original screenplay for the Paul Schrader-directed film The Canyons, Ellis won Best Screenplay at the 14th Melbourne Underground Film Festival, with the film also winning Best Foreign Film, Best Foreign Director and Best Female Actor, for Lindsay Lohan.Another detail that bugged me and that (I think) betrayed the original intent of the novel is that Avary makes a choice about Paul and Sean’s relationship. You’re never supposed to know whether it really happened or not, but in the movie you do. That was no fun. For a time, he uses a split screen to illustrate the dual realities. I would’ve loved to have this split screen on whenever Paul and Sean were together on screen. It would have accentuated the dislocation of reality, which really is the topic of the film. The DVD was released on February 18, 2003, by Lions Gate Entertainment. The DVD includes trailers and an audio commentary by Carrot Top, despite having nothing to do with the making of the film. He often comments on the attractiveness of each actress, begs Eric Stoltz for work every time he is on screen, and even occasionally sings along with the songs in the film, all the while making a number of self-deprecating jokes. Bret Easton Ellis later admitted on his podcast that Carrot Top was called in to replace his own commentary, which had been made under the influence of cocaine and tequila and merely observed the action onscreen. [21] The DVD also features other commentaries from the cast and crew, including adult film performer Ron Jeremy speaking on one of the commentaries (one of the characters in the film mentions Jeremy's name in passing). The B.E.E. Podcast - 9/6/21 - The Shards Finale - Timewarp - SILVER". The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast. Patreon. September 6, 2021 . Retrieved December 20, 2022. It is definitely no secret that the 80’s were a wild decade, but holy shit does this story ever make that time period sound completely over the top and insane. I have always been slightly disappointed that I didn’t get to experience the 80’s, mainly because the music during that decade contains some of my favourite songs and artists of all time. After reading The Rules of Attraction however, I’m wondering if I would have ever been able to survive going to college during this era. Ellis, Bret Easton. "The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast". patreon.com. Patreon . Retrieved April 18, 2018.