The Rules of Attraction

I hope that the students at my son’s new school or NYU (although NYU is referenced in the book) are nothing like the experiences in the first person voice of The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis.  The book was written right at the time I was in college and heck, I don’t remember stories like the ones written by Ellis, though I am sure they exist.  Ellis shares the college experience at a fictitious college “Camden College” (a liberal arts college) in the Northeast.  Hmm what school could it be, the author went to Bennington??? The main characters are sexually active and the reader is left wondering whether each one has sex with each or is it in the mind of one or two of them?  Male on male, male on female, etc.  Throw in some drugs, yes, even a drug dealer who is hunting for his money from one of the main characters, and you have one messed up college.  Between the sex, the drugs, and the self-destructive behavior (yes, even suicide) you have a bad college scene.  1987? Could be 2010.  Talking to some of my colleagues on the book, yes, it happens, but this story line is pretty overdone.  The twist is the first-person story telling.  Ellis is well known for other books, Less Than Zero (another RA favorite) and American Psycho.  50 years from now this might be a great period piece and seen as the 1980s' Catcher in the Rye... well maybe not as big as that, but it will get some play.  Worth a read.