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chromiumboron's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
"When you talk to me you're really talking to yourself, dude."
This book is fucking brilliant. I was content to never pick up another Bret Easton Ellis novel, having read American Psycho and Knowing BEE has a penchant for causing visceral reactions. Even though there is still descriptive language that instigates a slow burning anxiety with sprinkles of the very shocking, we have fictional Bret to be on the same page with us about how disgusting the events are. It's brilliant to have yourself be the good guy who is reacting to the horrible things the real Bret is writing! "When you're talking to me, you're talking to yourself."
Overall, the descriptive language and level of detail in this book is what makes it. It honestly reminds me a lot of David Chase's work on The Sopranos. Did we need the level of detail that we got? Did I need to know about Tommy Tutone playing at the Pirates of the Caribbean Blue Bayou restaurant in Disneyland for Grad Nite? Did I need to know that Bret's aunt's house's foyer light was a Sputnik chandelier? Did that add anything to the plot? No. But BEE is genius at painting such a vivid picture, and it makes the slow anxiety burn more real.
Here are some other notes I made throughout my time reading, most of them just appreciation for the descriptive imagery and level of detail:
All the boys in our class were wearing Ralph Lauren Polo shirts in bold Easter-egg colors - pink and blue and green and purple . . .
- Really enjoyed this because it was something I used to say when I worked in Baker Systems at Ohio State to my coworkers. "You look like an Easter egg today." Polos abound.
- The mention of Dominique Dunne's murder was a nice little add.
Matt had never felt about me the way I'd felt about him, which would be a recurring theme for the rest of my life though, of course, I didn't know this yet on that September afternoon in 1981, when I was seventeen and still navigated on hope. - This got me good. It's so relatable. BEE does a great job at reminding us that these characters are in high school but, perhaps because it's narrated by older Bret, making sure we're still invested in them/aren't going to just brush them off because they're teenagers like maybe we normally would.
"What do they do?" Terry asked, glancing up at me as he kept eating. I didn't know how to answer this because it didn't matter to me what the characters did. They existed, and I just wanted to convey a mood, immerse a reader into a particular atmosphere that was built from carefully selected details. - Man oh man, this is so meta! It's exactly what BEE is doing to us with this book. He's conveying a mood through a curated set of selected details.
- When Terry is trying to get Bret to admit he's gay: "Well I'm not limited," was how I answered with what I thought was the right touch of diplomacy. "I mean, it depends." I tried to appear casual, offered a little shurg, and then nervously sipped my ginger ale in the gayness of Trumps.
- This got me good, too! I have also been in a situation where I'm trying to be chill about my queerness, and then felt EXTREMELY OBVIOUSLY GAY. This book is so queer and drops little hints about the queer experience, especially the beginning of reconciling with it, and I really appreciated that.
- BEE did lose me for a little bit when he said that Stevie Nicks looked hungover and puffy and then went on to talk about how hot Lindsay Buckingham is (several times!). I know he's gay, but in this house we are team Stevie.
- When Ryan says to Bret, "Dude, really? You were offended?" He sat up and looked at me, confused. "I'm sorry you're so sensitive." And then: "I'm just a guy." He smiled: dimples.
- This makes me SO ANGRY but is so well-written! This is exactly the kind of line that I would let a man say to me when I was seventeen. If someone talked to me like this today, I'd punch them in the throat.
This is the first moment that I can look back on in my life when I can locate the cluelessness of heterosexuals about gay men.
- This is also painfully relatable. Straight men don't know shit about shit, and it often makes them homophobic, even if they don't actually mean to be.
And none of this had anything to do with Robert Mallory because, according to Thom, maybe Robert was gay, without realizing you had to be gay to understand that Robert Mallory most definitely wasn't gay . . .
- Hilarious and relatable in a very similar way.
But then, I thought, as the fear started overriding my sadness: Who deserved anything? We get what we get.
- I don't really have a lot to say about this one. I was a little high when I read this book, and this stuck with me because I've been thinking a lot about the next steps for my life and what should I do etc etc etc, and who really does deserve anything?
Lastly - and this was something I enjoyed about American Psycho, as well - BEE is clearly a huge pop culture fan: Music, movies, books, essays. Again, the level of detail and helping to paint a more vivid picture for the reader. (Note to self: I made a playlist for the book here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0qzH120HnidiyGrTgrcJ7J?si=6768432d542c4ba5 ) The setting of this book - the time period, SoCal, the canyons, the music - is EXTREMELY my shit. I have been on a real Joni Mitchell/Crosby, Stills, & Nash/Roman Polanski/Mulholland Drive/Jack Nicholson & Angelica Huston/quaalude-era LA kick for the past year or so, and this fed right into that.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Suicide and Antisemitism
kim_lommaert's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Gore, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Stalking, and Alcohol
Minor: Rape, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Car accident
corruptednatz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Suicide
seanamcphie's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
aceofknaves88's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
amebarre's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
emouemi's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
callmeamelia's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
mdvltwnk's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
I did not like any of the characters, the writing was disappointing, some sentence that were supposed to make you want to read it more made me cringe so hard because of how bad and abundant they were and the book didn't needed to be that big.
Yet i still really like this book, i don't know, i had fun reading this for some reason. Maybe it's because ive been waiting for a while a book that like feels like gossip. And this very much felt like gossip, but with like unlikeable characters (which makes it even better actually, i just love reading about insufferable people (my next read might be the secret history after this))
Graphic: Rape and Violence