Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis

98 reviews

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Mr. Bret - that was fucked up.
I'm saying this after having also read American Psycho.

I had so much fun in this drug fuelled hazy LA bubble!! I had a feeling this would hit the mark for me and wasn't disappointed. 

The fact that Ellis is depicting himself as the MC was a trip in itself. It took some getting used to because it added such a strong personal layer of intimacy. I didn't initially know how to take it.

At times the happenings were completely ludicrous and not rooted in any kind of science or probability, but it suited the story. There are so many issues with substances, homophobia, inappropriate behavior, isolation, loneliness, yearning, lust, mental anguish and keeping up appearances anyone would go bonkers. It's not sustainable. 

I was happy to have everybody slayed (wink wink) or whatever Bret wanted to do with this tome. 

This was fantastic.

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dark mysterious slow-paced

 Listen, this book could have been a great coming-of-age murder mystery where the main character is a gay teenage boy in a world where that isn't accepted yet. Instead, this ended up being very badly written gay erotica that existed for no reason whatsoever. I really have nothing against smut in a book (I grew up with fanfiction, alright?) but this was ridiculously unnecessary. I get that teenagers are horny, but this was off the charts. Bit of a spoiler, but Bret (the protagonist) looks at a picture of his dead friend but then thinks about how horny their naked body makes him???

I'm an English major, and we recently talked about Ellis as an author, so I get that his books are supposed to be a bit provoking and morally confusing, but this was just weird and uncomfortable and ruined most of the book for me. Especially because some passages were definitely enjoyable and intriguing; you never knew what was going on because Bret became gradually more unstable and was a compulsive liar, even to his friends. But it was just way too long. I've read Sanderson's Rhythm of War recently, which had 1400 pages, so it's not like I can't deal with long books. But The Shards could have been heavily edited down (maybe cut the p*rn next time).

Also, as immersive as the descriptions made the book, even those just felt like pure nostalgia, which is uninteresting for a reader who wasn't even born at that time. It just made me skip over a lot of it.

Oh, and the characters? Didn't like any of them. Robert was kinda interesting, and I liked Thom well enough, but even they're pretty forgettable. Book-Bret was an arrogant, annoying rich kid who lied to his friends and cheated on his girlfriend with several guys. The fact that this was supposed to be autobiographically inspired just makes me even more uncomfortable. Obviously, the real Ellis might not have done these things, but it also wasn't something I've ever wanted to wonder about.

Last but not least, the ending's ambiguity (which I understand is also an Ellis thing) just pissed me off. After going through all that you don't even get a solid answer to anything

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i don't think i ever hated a book more.
the main character (which i guess is just the author) is insufferable to say the least: self-absorbed, selfish and delusional, i get it, he's supposed to be an unreliable narrator but damn it, make it FUN at least. he just treats everyone like shit and acts like he's this misunderstood genius whom everyone should bow down to. i felt sorry for everyone around him, those poor guys he fucked and his oblivious girlfriend. 
about the plot, basically NOTHING happens for at least 400 pages, just bret fantasizing and being sorry for himself ft. useless descriptions of every single car drive he goes on (am i supposed to care if he turned left or right onto Santa Monica in whatever car he was driving ? i don't think even people who actually live in LA and know the streets do). just an unnervingly SLOOOOOW build up (to nothing essentially) filled with annoying sexual fantasies about any adult man bret even gets a glimpse of. 
i guess the only fun i'm having is by writing this review. what a waste of time lol.

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Explicitly sexual and gratuitous violence. The story read like a reality tv show set in  80’s Orange County but with graphic details of murder, violence, drugs, and sexual activity. 

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