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The Shards
The Shards: Bret Easton Ellis. La, 1981. Buckley College in Heat | Bret Easton Ellis
24 posts | 21 read | 19 to read
A sensational new novel from the bestselling author of Less Than Zero and American Psycho that tracks a group of privileged Los Angeles high school friends as a serial killer strikes across the city. His first novel in 13 years, The Shards is Bret Easton Ellis at his inimitable best. LA, 1981. Buckley College in heat. 17-year-old Bret is a senior at the exclusive Buckley prep school when a new student arrives with a mysterious past. Robert Mallory is bright, handsome, charismatic, and shielding a secret from Bret and his friends, even as he becomes a part of their tightly knit circle. Bret's obsession with Mallory is equalled only by his increasingly unsettling preoccupation with The Trawler, a serial killer on the loose who seems to be drawing ever closer to Bret and his friends, taunting them with grotesque threats and horrific, sharply local acts of violence. Can he trust his friends - or his own mind - to make sense of the danger they appear to be in? Thwarted by the world and by his own innate desires, buffeted by unhealthy fixations, Bret spirals into paranoia and isolation as the relationship between The Trawler and Robert Mallory hurtles inexorably toward a collision. Gripping, sly, suspenseful, deeply haunting and often darkly funny, The Shards is a mesmerizing fusing of fact and fiction that brilliantly explores the emotional fabric of Bret's life at 17 - sex and jealousy, obsession and murderous rage.
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VRM1975
Pickpick

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nomadliterary
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Current read

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Brooke_H
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I bought this damaged book in a blind date with a book situation a few months ago and just now see that it is signed. 😳 I‘m not excited about reading it, so I really hope it‘s not terrible! 😂

marleed Something kept me going with this one and I liked it all the while thinking why do I like this book! 12mo
Brooke_H @marleed I‘m feeling my Gen X today, I guess! 😂 12mo
21 likes2 comments
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Victoriahoperose
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Mehso-so

Love this author so much but this book was just okay to me. It felt like it was just pages and pages of description which I‘m used to with Ellis, but I felt like we knew so much in the beginning that it really didn‘t build up for me like I had hoped. Maybe it was a stylistic thing for me, but this one really was drug out, in my opinion. I think he could have accomplished the same thing with half the pages.

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Jbbuick
Pickpick

Pretty classic BEE. Rich teenagers left unsupervised and on quaaludes, fixation on records and clothing labels, blood and guts.
Was expecting Mr Bateman himself to make an appearance but then he‘s probably too East Coast for this scene.

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plemmdog
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Pickpick

It‘s meta, it‘s mash-up, it‘s Less Than Zero, Gatsby, American Psycho—dare I say there‘s even a dash of SNL‘s “The Californians”—I‘m still trying to decide if it‘s intentional (“I took Mulholland to the 405…until I reached the 10). You‘ll love it or hate it, and yes, it‘s violent. But here‘s the thing: Ellis‘s nostalgia for the Eighties is also surprisingly tender. Long and drawn out, but I relished this, right down to the last Quaalude.

Leftcoastzen Love your review 😂👏pushing up the pile! 1y
marleed Totally agree. You say it best! 1y
batsy What @Leftcoastzen said! 1y
17 likes3 comments
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marleed
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Pickpick

Well, this is weird! As I write here, I can‘t tell you a single thing I liked about this except being somehow drawn to Brett‘s fictional self and his untrue crime story set in 1981 LA. Everyone is 17 except one creepy closet-gay dad. Fictional Brett‘s many sexual encounters are overly described. Drugs are rampantly available to this privileged pack of teens and maybe one of them is a serial killer to both man and beast. And yet, it‘s a pick.

Krdugan This sounds awesome! 1y
TheHeartlandBookFairy Awesome👍 1y
See All 6 Comments
Tiffiney I loved all the music he mentions...there's a Shards playlist on Spotify that I listened to in between reading this book. Very nostalgic for me. 1y
marleed @Krdugan @TheHeartlandBookFairy @Tiffiney How I liked a book I didn‘t really like is a complete quandary to me. I do think it helped that I completed related to the era. Oh, the joys of reading! 1y
CoverToCoverGirl Now I‘m curious. Your review is the first I‘ve heard about this book. Stacking, I‘ll give it a go if I come across it somewhere. 1y
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ImperfectCJ
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Mehso-so

This is the first I've read from Ellis, although I saw the movie version of American Psycho, so I had an idea what to expect. It's definitely a page turner, but I don't feel like I quite connected with the over-privileged nihilistic prep school cast. It's certainly clever, just perhaps more self-consciously clever than I prefer. It feels like a (raunchy, gory, violent) commentary about wealth, responsibility, and emotional vacuousness.

Ruthiella I‘ve only read his debut but it sounds like it has a lot in common with 1y
ImperfectCJ @Ruthiella That's the impression I get, too, just based on this one and the reviews for/descriptions of Less Than Zero. He mentions that debut frequently in this novel, too (this is kind of autofiction, in which the narrator is Bret Easton Ellis, author, which is part of the self-conscious cleverness). 1y
50 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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BookLineNSinker
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#Authorwiththreenames #MayMontage @Eggs
#Brett Easton Ellis
Favorite book this year so far!! And the first author that popped in my head!

Eggs Looks good ❤️🖤❤️ 2y
48 likes1 comment
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DavidDiamond
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Pickpick

I laughed, I cried, I was terrified!

This book has everything....1980's, San Fernando Valley (where I grew up and live), high school life, 80's music, sex, queerness and a serial killer! I mean, I can like...totally relate (minus the serial killer part).

This 1980's time capsule is a suspenseful & intense work of metafiction that kept me fully engaged throughout its 600+ page count.

(Trigger warning for extreme violence, animal death/cruelty)

BarbaraBB Ooh! I wasn‘t really interested in another Easton Ellis but your review is very tempting! 2y
DavidDiamond @BarbaraBB I think it's his first book in over a decade (the first of his I've ever read)! I'm looking forward now to reading Less Than Zero and American Psycho! If you get it, I hope you like it! 2y
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MotherOfCats
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Sleeping baby means maybe about 20 minutes of peace 🥰

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GidgetsTreasures75
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Pickpick

3-10-23: My 28th finished book of 2023! As usual, Ellis has written a long and drawn out sexually explicit and violent story. Using himself as the main character, Bret, a senior at the Buckley school in LA, tells the story of his final year of school in 1981/82, and the serial killer who hunted girls and tortured his friends. Well written as always but very difficult to read without cringing. Some of it is true just not sure which parts.

GidgetsTreasures75 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣2️⃣8️⃣ 2y
13 likes1 comment
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BookLineNSinker
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The Shards is taking the coveted favorite book of the month slot for February. I had a feeling this was going to be the case because I LOVED the book and the narration by BEE. March is going to be particularly difficult because I have a few TBRs that look amazing. #ToB #Februarypick #2down

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Twainy
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Mehso-so

🎧 I‘m not sure how I feel about this book but it took me DAYS to finish it & I needed to speed it up in the end. I was expecting a “hunt the serial killer” book. This was not that. I imagine if you were 17 in 1981 &/or lived in LA during this time you might be more interested?

The book was just not for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️👇🏻👇🏻

Twainy
It felt too long, blandly over-descriptive, superficial, unlikable characters, spoiled rich white kids with lots of drugs & obsession, lots & lots of obsession, no love or maybe just a very twisted version of it, excessive sex, obsessively thinking about sex (there are reasons for this, it‘s told by a horny 17 yr old boy but meh), no depth which is surprising as it‘s over 23 hours long. Super superficial.

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2y
Twainy
I think there was a captivating story in here but the obsessive sex & drug life of entitled 17 year olds in the 80‘s was sort of boring. Maybe it was trying to be a bit on the nose or accidentally was so?

The gore was well written, sadly I just felt it was there for shock value. I honestly feel this book has an audience, it‘s just not me.

I liked the narrator‘s voice, it enhanced the book.
2y
Megabooks Excellent review that makes me feel right that I didn‘t pick this up. I was on the fence. 2y
DavidDiamond I definitely liked it more due to the fact that I lived (and still do) in the area and was a teenager in the 80's.
Completely understand that this book isn't for everyone!
2y
35 likes4 comments
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Sara_Planz
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Pickpick

Bret Easton Ellis' new novel The Shards is a trip back to the Los Angeles of the 80s and deserves its own 80's playlist to go with it!

Clever, terrifying, dark and absolutely unique, The Shards will keep you guessing even after the book ends.

DavidDiamond Ask and ye shall receive! The Shards playlist is on Spotify!
2y
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BookLineNSinker
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Pickpick

So, What can I say about this book. First, it's an absolutely riveting page turner! I could not put it down! I read and listened in tandem, listening when I couldn't read/reading and listening when possible and I must admit I spent the last 4 days total enraptured by this book. It's my favorite book that I've read in a long time. That says, let me put out a few trigger warnings: sexually explicit content! Violence, grit, gore! But no doubt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

rachelk That‘s how I felt about it :) 2y
BookLineNSinker @rachelk I'm glad I'm not the only depraved reader to be delt away by this book! And let me say, Bret Easton Ellis narrated this story beautifully. There's something great about the author narrating because he knew exactly how he wanted the book to be consumed. I'm going to get American psycho with an Audible credit when I get them. 2y
rachelk @BookLineNSinker I went back and forth between the book and audio like you did — which I failed to mention in my review. I really enjoyed listening to him too. Especially since I wanted to know what was going to happen next when reading wasn‘t convenient! 2y
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Branwen
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Huzzah! My Book of the Month box arrived today! 🎉🎉🎉 I had to work today, so it was such a wonderful treat to come home to! 😊💕📚 While I had originally planned on starting with the Flower Bride, I've been reading so much about The Shards in the last few days that I am just chomping at the bit to start that one right away! #botm

Kimberlone I just borrowed The Shards from the library and I am also itching to get to it! 2y
BookLineNSinker I just started the Shards and I'm enthralled. I can't believe I've never read Bret Easton Ellis book before! It's gritty and very sexually explicit but it's also so engaging! I'm loving it so far. Currently on chapter 6. 2y
Branwen @Kimberlone Oooh that's exciting! I can't wait to hear what you think of it! @BookLineNSinker This will be my first Ellis book as well and I'm so ready for it! I'm glad you're loving it so far! I can't wait to hear more of your thoughts on it! 2y
58 likes3 comments
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MotherOfCats
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I had no idea The Shards was this big…

Jemgirl2014 Yeah, I saw that it was about six hundred pages. That would be great for your BOTM Page Pusher badge! 2y
BookLineNSinker It's a chunkster but it's so engaging that I don't want it to end! 2y
11 likes2 comments
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BookLineNSinker
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I am taking this opportunity to get some of the NY Spring/Summer #Pantone2023 challenge colors checked off! @Clwojick

Clwojick Well done! 2y
40 likes1 comment
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BookLineNSinker
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This one sucked me right in! I'm really excited to be reading this new one from Bret Easton Ellis. I haven't read any of his work before but if I like this as much as I think I'm going to I will try one of his classics. This just came available in Libby and I'm super psyched to have snagged it! It'e a healthy hefty read so I'll update with my thoughts hopefully tomorrow!

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rachelk
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Pickpick

A dark, sex and drug fueled, occasionally gory, coming of age, suspense thriller about rich teens possibly being targeted by a serial killer. It‘s long, but it‘s a page turner. Like Bret Easton Ellis, I too was a teen in L.A. during the 80‘s — the way he brings the place and time back is rad! If you liked ‘Less Than Zero‘ and ‘American Psycho‘ you‘ll love this.

Rated X for sex, drugs, violence and a somewhat disaffected Gen X vibe. 🕶️

AmyG Have you read his book Lunar Park? Loved it. Probably my favorite. 2y
rachelk @AmyG No! I‘ll add that to my list right now! Thanks :) 2y
rachelk PS I just went to Spotify to see if anyone made a playlist from all the songs mentioned in the book and sure enough someone did — 144 songs! 🎵 (edited) 2y
Twainy Ooo I have this on loan from Libby! 🎉 2y
rachelk @Twainy Awesome! I love Libby. I‘m waiting in line for the Matthew Perry audio…hopefully soon! :) 2y
50 likes3 stack adds5 comments
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Branwen
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I can't believe I forgot to post this earlier! 😱 The Book of the Month choices went live this morning and I was super stoked for their choices! Here is what I got! The Shards is one I am really excited to start...it wasn't on my radar until recently, and the more I hear about it the more I want to read it! 💕📚 What did you choose? #botm

vivastory I selected The Writing Retreat & The Shards. I haven't read B.E. Ellis in years but am oddly really looking forward to it! 2y
Branwen @vivastory Right?! The Shards sounds so intriguing! 2y
BookLineNSinker I'm on chapter six and I'm hooked already! I love the style of the writing! I never read Bret Easton Ellis before but this is exactly the type of book that I've been looking for over the last few weeks! I'm going to explore his other novels after I complete this just because I want more!! 2y
BookLineNSinker I could not put this one down! I tore through this book in 4 days! Conquering 600 pages in less than 96 hours! It's definitely X-rated so reader beware! One of my favorite books so far this year and truly outdid a lot of my last years faves. But I love the depravity lol. Once in a while I need a book to shock me back to life & this did just that! 2y
40 likes4 comments
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Kitta
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They‘re here! Please excuse my super busy coffee table 😅 #botm

jeannasser If you think your coffee table is bad you don‘t wanna look at mine 😭 2y
Kitta @jeannasser you can only see a little bit here but there‘s 4 stacks of books taking up the other side!! 😂 2y
batsy I'm really curious about The Shards! 2y
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BookLineNSinker @batsy The Shards is fantastic so far! Based on what I've read, I'd definitely recommend it to a fellow thriller enthusiast! 2y
Kitta @BookLineNSinker great to hear! 2y
batsy @BookLineNSinker That's great! I've only read (and enjoyed—I'm in the minority I think 😅) American Psycho by him. I'm looking forward to this one. 2y
22 likes2 stack adds6 comments
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GerardtheBookworm
Shards | Bret Easton Ellis
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Pickpick

Inspired by his previous works and 80's high school years, a teenage Bret is a budding closeted writer going to a wealthy prep school in LA. As he deals with his burgeoning queerness, he deals with his disaffected peers, sex, drugs, booze, and even the possibility of a serial killer on the loose.

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