The Shards - Bret Easton Ellis BOOK REVIEW (Part 1 of 2)
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- Опубліковано 28 лис 2023
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The Shards - Bret Easton Ellis BOOK REVIEW (Part 2 of 2)
• The Shards - Bret East...
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Nowadays writers don't get so many death threats because people who send death threats usually don't read anymore
I loved this book! Chose to read it as something „light“ in between my McCarthy marathon. And boy was I wrong! I am still shocked by this book. Been a long time since I actually felt scared while reading a literary text. This is really one of the great novels of our time!
This was the first Ellis I've ever read, and I enjoyed it enough to get through the 600 pages without a problem; but at the end, I could not help but be kind of unimpressed with it. It's about 200 pages too long and rather trivial contentwise. The repetition got a little bit on my nerves as the novel went on. I don't just mean the reappearing terms and phrases: Ellis does explain or repeat quite a bit off stuff he demonstrated or mentioned already, as if he himself had only a vague recollection of what he already wrote at times - it's a little bit like he was actually zoned out while working on the text.
The "rearranged furniture" that the Trawler did to his victims in The Shards is something Ellis wrote about in Lunar Park too.
I don’t love all of his work. I thought Glamorama was perhaps a hundred pages too long, and I just couldn’t get into The Informers. However, there is no question of Ellis’s talent. To me, his best work hits a horrible nerve within me and leaves me with the cold dread that something somewhere is about to go very wrong.
Oh jesus christ. I'm sitting on the toilet and just wondered when you would upload a new video. Thanks a lo!
I'm incredibly grateful to have stumbled upon your channel. Without you, I wouldn't have discovered so many obscure and beautiful literary gems. Your insightful reviews have broadened my reading horizons, and I'm constantly inspired to explore new and unique books ❤️✨
Currently writing my dissertation at university in the UK on Cormac McCarthy, William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor. Thanks so much for getting me into southern gothic lit mate. Love your work
The thing about The Shards is that it's cinematic (Tarantino loves it) which leads me to say this: David Robert Mitchell needs to direct The Shards and / or Lunar Park if it comes up in the future. We need good Ellis film adaptations. I think the only adaptation of Ellis that Ellis himself liked was The Rules of Attraction.
Bret Easton Ellis is a Sigma male who writes Sigma male characters
Highly recommend Ellis' podcast too. He's an extremely insightful movie critic and pop cultural thinker. Also, he serialized the Shards as he was writing it on there, so there is this cool unedited version you can hear him read if you go back into his archive.
I mean, your channel never dissapoints. Thanks for the book recommendations, this is my go to channel. Cheers.
I'm currently reading The Secret History, where the author Donna Tartt dedicates the book to Bret Easton Ellis. So, seeing you do a video on him, was a highlight, because it gives me the perspective on why. Since her book was published in 1992(started in 1980s) and she'd wrote about college kids, murder, drugs, numbness etc. Any--I'll cut this short, thanks for the content!
It took me about 19 minutes to fully accept that, while I 𝘸𝘢𝘴 aware of the titles keyword being
I can't wait for Part 2, this was a fantastic review, I'm really looking forward to reading it.
Loved "American Psycho", the book and the film. Read "Less than Zero and watched the film adaptation. Really enjoying your channel and now I just bought a copy of "The Shards" as a Christmas present for myself. Thanks Clifford for helping people to love reading books 📚. You are awesome 👌🏽
These reviews are so much more than reviews. Thank you.
I'm Gen X and absolutely loved this book. There is something about it that is truly masterful but I cannot put my finger on what it is exactly. I don't really ever reread books but I am feeling pulled to do so with this one. I liked your analogy on the title The Shards about the broken glass pieces., I associated it more with the different shards of the mind. I am looking forward to the HBO adaptation which Ellis I believe will be writing the screenplay for.
I've been quite curious to read this book. I really like American Psycho, and I have Less Than Zero on my tbr. Love him or hate him, Ellis is a real character, and maybe one of the last celebrity writers. I find it interesting how what was portrayed as soulless and vile in Less Than Zero seems to be revisited with the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia in The Shards. I should probably pick this book up sometime.
Your channel is my go to for book reviews, it's great. I've got so many great reads. At the moment I'm reading/listening to Outer Dark and it is wonderful. I've never really liked Bret Easton Ellis novels, too nihilistic and I just get a bad vibe. Since Blood Meridian I have totally switched to audiobooks, I just don't get the drama and immersion from reading anymore and some of the narrators are astonishing. I decided to check this out and the writer is doing the narration himself, generally not a great idea but I might give it a shot, the comments are very positive.