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A review by wolf_dealer
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis
5.0
So on the plus side, there are some great passages that felt genuinely unnerving read, and imagery that will stick with me for a while to come. It is at times very tense, and you get a really good sense of both isolation and paranoia from the perspective of the protagonist Bret.
It is however, much longer than it should or needed be. There is a general sense while reading that there are two different novels inside competing with each other. Neither one winning out over the other, leading to a rather flat ending. Any good pacing the story has built comes to a halt when characters talk to one another, as the interaction often boils down to asking each other the same redundant questions without actually saying anything of real importance or substance.
But one could argue that’s the point. It’s a story told from the perspective of an unreliable protagonist described by an unreliable narrator/author, about the horrific events that befell a group of students in the 80s. It’s not a book with answers or reasons, it is a story of guilt, lust, anger, and lies.
What you get out of it, besides the brief thrills, is based on how much you’re willing to interpret and analyse, so mileage may vary.
It is however, much longer than it should or needed be. There is a general sense while reading that there are two different novels inside competing with each other. Neither one winning out over the other, leading to a rather flat ending. Any good pacing the story has built comes to a halt when characters talk to one another, as the interaction often boils down to asking each other the same redundant questions without actually saying anything of real importance or substance.
But one could argue that’s the point. It’s a story told from the perspective of an unreliable protagonist described by an unreliable narrator/author, about the horrific events that befell a group of students in the 80s. It’s not a book with answers or reasons, it is a story of guilt, lust, anger, and lies.
What you get out of it, besides the brief thrills, is based on how much you’re willing to interpret and analyse, so mileage may vary.