The Rules of Attraction: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"No one ever likes the right person."''}}

 

 

Though it occasionally detours to other people, the story switches mainly between the points of view of three different characters:

* '''Paul Denton''': A bisexual who seems to favor men over women. He's probably the most intelligent and eloquent of the narrators. Considering how many people compliment him on his looks, he's apparently quite foxy. Paul used to sleep with ''Lauren...''

* '''Lauren Hynde''': A painter/poet who's pining for [[Glamorama|Victor]], her boyfriend who's off traveling in Europe. Not that that's stopped her from sleeping around a little bit. She finds herself dating ''Sean...''

 

 

The book explores a [[Love Dodecahedron]] or two amid a thick mire of substance abuse and seemingly endless parties. The story is told through three distinct voices and though this book fits the Ellis mold, it offers up some great twists and does intriguing things with the narrative device of POV-switching. A must-read for anyone who likes Ellis' work. Given its subject-matter, it isn't nearly as gruesome as Ellis' other works, though it is still dark. As such, most events - including the suicides of background characters - are played for laughs as college students being melodramatic.

 

 

=== Tropes in both works: ===

* [[A Party - Also Known as an Orgy]]: Played more or less straight, so much so it's [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] with the "Dress to get Screwed" party.

* {{spoiler|[[Bath Suicide]]: Sean's admirer.}}

* [[Book Ends]]: The film begins and ends at the "End of the World" party; both the book and the film begin and end mid-sentence.

* [[Boy Meets Girl]]: Sean and Lauren. Sean is surprisingly sweet about it.

* [[Bungled Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Sean tries to off himself because of Lauren; the book does it semi-dramatically, but the movie plays it for laughs with Sean trying ''three different times'' and waking up with damp trousers.}}

=== Tropes found exclusively in the book include: ===

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: The book very briefly follows the thoughts of Sean's roommate [[Politically Incorrect Hero|"The Frog"]]; since he's French and the book follows the interior monologues of its current protagonist, [[Don't Explain the Joke|the chapter is naturally written in French.]]

* {{spoiler|[[Good Girls Avoid Abortion]]: Tragically subverted with one of Lauren's friends, and later Lauren too; both go through with it, and are distraught by it.}}

* [[Gossipy Hens]]: In a unisex example: ''everyone''. It's like a Greek chorus made up of slutty co-eds. Nearly every chapter has a handful of minor characters gossiping about everyone else.

* [[Get Back in the Closet]]: Despite [[Word of God]] and {{spoiler|Paul's account (as well as a comment from Lauren)}}, the whole {{spoiler|Paul and Sean relationship is severely downplayed in the movie by comparison, and Paul and Mitchell's relationship is completely cut.}}

* [[Playing Against Type]]: Everyone in the movie except Ian Somerhalder, simply because he didn't have a type yet. Best example is Fred Savage, who turns up for one scene as an almost-naked clarinet-playing heroin addict.

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Sean''': I started driving faster as I left the college behind. I didn't know where I was going. Someplace unoccupied I hoped. At first I thought there were things about ''her'' that I would never forget, but in the end, all I could think about (beat) was--}}}}

* [[Throw It In]]: The George Michael dancing scene (involving Paul and Dick) was done in the hotel the pair were staying in; apparently, after doing it for fun, it was decided it was too good to leave out of the movie.

[[Category:Lit Fic]]

[[Category:The Eighties]]