The Leader

If you are like me, you dread each day that is passing, each day that brings us a little closer to the beginning of the school year. In my apprehension, however, I did find comfort in Bret Easton Ellis’ The Rules of Attraction, which provides an intimate look into the experiences, desperation and overtly twisted, obsessive web of lust that entangles four students at Camden University.

You may have heard Ellis’ title before, as it was adapted into a film in 1998 starring a slue of somewhat famous faces, including James Van Der Beek, Jessica Biel and Shannyn Sossamon. I hate to sound cliché, but the book is so much better than the movie, despite the amazing work of director Roger Avary, who tried to stay true to Ellis’ vision. Ellis’ novel is just much more complex and shocking.

Yet, shocking can’t even begin to describe the candid look that Ellis gives his readers into the lives of these miserably lost characters. Sean is a college freshman, the infamous drug dealer at Camden, but looking for fulfillment. He tries to fill his void with the instant gratification of one night stands and drugs—that is, until he meets Lauren. To him, Lauren represents all that is good and could become good for him, but in his attempts of wooing her, he only reveals to Lauren the depth of depravity in his life.

Lauren, however, has her eye on Victor, who has left Camden for a semester in Europe (one of the best chapters is the stream-of-consciousness style of which Victor details what he can actually remember, from doing speed with a random Italian, to spending three days on a nudist beach with Yugoslavians in the midst of an acid induced coma).

When Victor returns, Lauren launches her pursuit, which turns into failure, and thus seeks comfort in the arms of Sean…not so much the arms of Sean, but more into the cocaine he can offer. During the time Sean and Lauren spend together, the two of them become coke addicts, and Sean ultimately begins an even more diluted relationship with Paul.

Paul is the ex-boyfriend of Lauren, who is now bisexual and is consumed with Sean. To Paul, Sean is in love with him, but outside of the time that they spend together, Sean acts as if he doesn’t even know him.

These relationships seem to be real, but as Ellis reveals, nothing is what it seems to be. A former journalist, Ellis uses a lack of dramatic detail to demonstrate the empty core of his very confused characters. All are flawed, yet none seem to have a redeeming characteristic, which would make them appear even slightly good. Despite what seems to be very selfish, morally corrupt characters, one can’t help but hope that at least one of them finds some sort of path to happiness.

That feeling, I believe, is just what Ellis is hoping to offer the reader. Painting such a grotesque account of these empty souls, Ellis wants his readers to see what moral bankruptcy is capable of doing.

At about 300 pages, The Rules of Attraction is a quick read whose characters stay with you, as you continuously wonder about their condition. Ellis’ novel should be available at most libraries, as it was originally printed in 1987. If not, I found it available on Amazon.com for $10 to $13. 

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