Ellis, Bret Easton _Rules Of Attraction

 

For this, our third genre x book selection, we turn to one of Generation X’s key authors,
Bret Easton Ellis. Sophomore novel The Rules of Attraction follows Ellis’ successful 1987 debut, Less Than Zero, and precedes his most controversial work to date, American Psycho. Set at a small liberal-arts college in New England at the height of the Reagan 80s, Rules is a novel about three students with no plans for the future who become entangled in a curious love triangle. The story is told through a series of monologues and contains many of the literary crossover characters Ellis has become known for. Most notable in this book is the inclusion of main character Sean Bateman’s older brother Patrick, future protagonist of American Psycho. While many people see Ellis as one of the seemingly abundant “love or hate” authors of contemporary literature, the various themes of excess in this over the top black comedy should give us plenty to discuss.