Kad sam kupila ovu knjigu, kupila sam ju isključivo zbog imena autora jer mi se jako svidio Američki psiho, a ovo mi je bila savršena prilika za doći u još veći doticaj s ovim piscem. Mala opaska na početku - nisam upoznata s bibliografijom pisca niti sam znala da je ova knjiga napisana prije Američkog psiha, stoga sam se poprilično razveselila kad sam trijumfalno zaključila da je lik Seana Batemana ustvari baš taj brat Patricka Batemana (to sam shvatila otprilike na 3/4 knjige) i odjednom je sve imalo više smisla - i ova knjiga, i druga knjiga, i ostale knjige će imati smisla. Mislim da sam previše pažnje posvetila ovom detalju, no poprilično mi je jasniji Patrickov odnos s bratom i zašto ga nije baš podnosio i zašto Sean nije podnosio njega i zašto imaju poprilično konfuzan i primaran odnos s ocem. Uglavnom.Knjiga mi se jako svidjela, koliko se jedna knjiga ove tematike može svidjeti. Iako mi je na prvu djelovala dosta plitko, kao još jedna priča o onim bogatim klincima koji studiraju humanističke znanosti na jednom od fakulteta u SAD-u, mijenjaju glavne predmete na fakultetu, seksaju sa svima i drogiraju sa svačim, Ellis je uspio kroz tri glavna lika, koji su glavni nositelji radnje i par sporednih likova prikazati kaos što bi mogao biti fakultet i samo studiranje. Sve uvijek ide na sličan sistem, no ovdje je dana nova dimenzija - radnja se odvija u 1985. Meni potpuno nepoznato područje, pogotovo iz ovakve perspektive. Obrađene su poprilično teške teme poput ovisnosti, spolnih bolesti, pobačaja, psiholoških problema, nerazjašnjenih odnosa između roditelja/djece, nerazjašnjenih odnosa između svih njih općenit s osobnim komentarima likova. Iznenadilo me koliko jedan lik može biti indiferentan prema svemu tome da sam se zapitala trebam li se ja osobno zamarati s takvim stvarima. Naravno da trebam, isto kao što su se zamarali i Sean, Paul i Lauren na jedan diskretan i nonšalantan način.Od ta tri lika, nekako sam se najviše zbližila, ako se to tako može reći, s Paulom. Njegov iskaz emocija i razmišljanja su me najviše podsjetili na mene - on priča o stvarima, želi znati stvari, bez uljepšavanja, direktno, ali uvijek s malom dozom straha. Zanimljivo mi je kako je njegov odnos sa Seanom opisan samo s njegove strane, dosta slikovito. To nas dovodi do Seana, koji bi po meni trebao biti prototip neke vrste umjetnika sredine osamdesetih. Možda sam u krivu, no takav je moj dojam. Voli jednu djevojku, druga se ubije zbog njega, spava s ostalih 20. Rekla bih - tipično, ima tek 21 godinu. Ali u uvodu sam rekla da mi je njegov odnos s Patrickom dosta toga objasnio. Lauren ni u jednom trenutku nisam mogla osuđivati, niti nakon prve ispovijesti na prvoj stranici, niti na kraju knjige, gdje bi se sveukupno skupilo par važnih događaja u njenom školovanju. Za nju najvažniji, Victor, je meni osobno najiritantniji lik u knjizi, no bio je potreban da poveže radnju i objasni njeno mijenjanje smjerova, pušenja dvije kutije cigareta dnevno i često mijenjanje seksualnih partnera. Ostali likovi su... samo likovi, koji su se pojavljivali mjestimično, s nekakvim ili nikakvim važnim utjecajem na fabulu. Osamdesete su bile divlje na jedan način koji neću moći nikada shvatiti. To prečesto spominjanje Reagana, tih prokletih hipija, te zgodne hipijevke, ta mržnja prema Beatlesima i ta fascinacija Europom će uvijek biti i ostati nešto karakteristično za Sjedinjene Američke Države.Stil pisanja je dinamičan, s kratkim odlomcima na čijem početku stoji samo podebljano ime osobe kojoj priča pripada. Sviđa mi se završetak knjige, gdje priča nije dovršena, a priča ju Sean. Pisac je jednostavno 'odsjekao' rečenicu na pola. Isto tako je početak knjige započeo malim slovom, kao nastavak neke rečenice, a čiji protagonist nije naveden. Taj prvi odlomak pripada Lauren. Dalo bi se prodiskutirati je li početak ove knjige njen pravi početak. Što ako je početak knjige baš taj zadnji odlomak? Početak bi mogao biti bilo gdje, a to bi znatnije utjecalo na priču. I situacije i osobe bi se uvijek ponavljale i djelo bi postalo cikličko, kao što i uvodni citat na početku i navodi. Također mi se jako svidio jedan jedini odlomak koji je pripadao Bertrandu, Francuzu koji dijeli sobu sa Seanom. Cijeli odlomak je napisan na francuskom, bez da sam ijednu riječ razumjela. Zgodan detalj. Ça va.Djelo je puno kompleksnije no što bi čitalac pomislio na prvu. Ako se ova knjiga krene čitati s predrasudom nakon prvih par rečenica, nikad se nikome ne bi svidjela. Na mahove smiješna, cinična i ironična, na mahove depresivna i turobna, ovo je knjiga koja zaslužuje 5 zvjezdica. Ne bih ju preporučila svima. To je knjiga koju ćete nasumično kupiti na kolodvoru jer nešto morate čitati i prepustiti joj se - ili će vas oduševiti ili ćete ju dati rođaku kojeg ne volite za rođendan.
I admit it. I first saw the movie version of Rules of Attraction because I had a thing for Ian Somerhalder. I know, I know. But now that I've seen it, and consequently read it immediately after viewing, I love it for its true literary qualities! I'm one of you now =]Anyway, I still love and read this book constantly. The characters inspire such mixed feelings of disgust, annoyance, and pity. They're not perfect (far from it) but whenever you think that Sean can't get any more shallow or caustic, or Lauren couldn't be any more self-pitying, or Paul couldn't be more... ok, well, I still love Paul all the way through. The point is, BEE never lets them become one-dimensional or flat. They're people. Their lifestyles have caused some intense damage on their morals, but underneath it all, they are human. Camden College is an example of BEE's mastery with setting. Its so real, every detail is in place, every character accounted for in some way (in his many other books, characters I barely remembered showed up. I LOVE that). He reminds me of those people that construct miniature scenes in shoeboxes, those painstaking, intensely detailed scenes where even the books in the bookshelf are arranged by subject, or author, or something. Okay, I might have only seen that on CSI: Las Vegas, but you understand the point. He creates a setting and characters so real, you feel like they're out there somewhere, in the universe, living their fucked-up lives at Camden. And Rules of Attraction is the only easton-ellis book that I actually feel alright about that... The characters from less than zero, american psycho, or glamorama...? I try to imagine they're not out there. But I'll take a mental visit from Paul any day.
What do You think about The Rules Of Attraction (1998)?
At first glance, this book is pointless. It's an endless loop of drugs, sex, and parties. It has no plot, it begins and ends in the middle of a sentence, there are too many characters strewn about, too many labels, too many songs, too many places. You finish the book and for a moment you think 'wait - what? That's it?' but you realize yes, that is, in fact, 'it'. The apathy Ellis invokes in his readers, shows in his characters, is still masterfully done. He breezes past topics like suicide and abortion which, when you give the way they're treated some thought, make you sick. His narrative choices may seem haphazard with the shifting first person perspective, the shifting tenses (AND THE RANDOM PASSAGE IN FRENCH WHICH I STILL CANNOT UNDERSTAND AFTER GOOGLE TRANSLATE), but it allows him to show how self absorbed his characters are and how differently they view the same things, the same people. He slips in little clues that tie in with events that are mentioned in passing and if you're paying attention to seemingly random paragraphs and details, you get a greater sense of what Ellis is trying to get across to the reader. I am constantly left wanting to read more of his work.
—Misal
The following is a true story.I was staying over at the boy's house. We were post-coital and all of a sudden he remembered he had to go to a friend's house and party with him for four hours. I opted to wait for him in his bedroom. This was uncommon because whatever, it was just sex, we didn't wait around for each other. But I was in between places, so I didn't have much of a choice. I went down to the kitchen and found The Rules of Attraction on the stove. I opened it up in the middle while eating a frozen dinner and drinking watermelon flavored Smirnoff. At first I thought the narrator was a girl. What a slut. But then a chapter in I realized it was Paul Denton. The book got sadder and sadder but I loved it. The boy came home and kissed me and noticed I was reading it. The next time he came over he brought it along with him and told me I could borrow it and smiled.I finished the book two weeks later. I'd kept going, then read the back cover and raised my eyebrows when I saw that Brett Easton Ellis was a moralist. I started from the beginning. Everything changed. I finished it. I handed it back to the boy, along with a drawing I made for him. "What are we doing?" I asked him, because I thought he liked me. "Uh, I don't want a relationship right now. Maybe we should end this," he said, and I said, "No. Me neither. Yeah." He hugged me goodbye.
—Stephanie
Depressing and unsettling. Literally made me nauseous to read. The characters were selfish, unappealing, & generally bad people. I do understand why some people say this book is a comedy based on the complete idiocy of the characters, but it really is a very sad book overall. I guess the only thing I can say I enjoyed about it was that it made me that much more grateful for my own life after reading how awful these people were. "American Psycho" used to be on my list of books to read, but I don't think I could stomach anything more by Easton Ellis.
—Maura Shanahan
