Reviews

The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis

caddiemooper's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

There were parts of it that I loved. The style was so distinct, every car make + model described every street named. It felt like reading American Gigalo. It was hard to read though, very graphic, violent, disturbing. Im not sure the payoff was worth it. 

hstrlstr's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

ebear20's review against another edition

3.0

Honestly, had he made this book 300 pages shorter and got rid of unnecessary scenes, I probably would have finished it. But the build up was taking far too long and I was beginning to get bored.

greatape's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

ribey's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

gosh everyone was so annoying and stupid and I felt so gross reading it like sir i do NOT want to Rea's these graphic sex scenes of under-age kids and adults hello?!?@

lore_r's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ichirofakename's review against another edition

5.0

Structurally reminiscent of La Chine du Nord.
Quite a gripping tell-all style highschool murder mystery told in a confessional tone with too much sex and a little too much gore and way too much self-satisfaction. Completely convincing.

vale_ns's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

sevencrane's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

this is the hardest i've had to work, mentally, to come to terms with

Spoiler

an ambiguous ending

. but the entire book was so hypnotic, just a glimpse of that section of LA in the 80s. it's interesting to see which areas changed by the time i went to middle school around that neighborhood

frekdal's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence