Reading the Room Book Club | The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
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My favorite aspect was how he equated the dread and paranoia of being hunted by a serial killer with the same dread and paranoia of being closeted. It was relatable.
Thank you for this. Two books completely took over my life while reading. A Little Life and The Shards. I still go to sleep with The Shards in my ear. 🧡
To me the most devastating aspect of the book is Matt Kelner, and how Bret isn’t able to come to terms with his death. For me a lot of the engine of the book was figuring out who killed Matt, and with the revelation that Bret had manufactured so much of the trawler, it seems Matt really did just A. Commit suicide B. Accidentally hit his head on the pool. It’s the kind of careless death that a rich kid on drugs might expire from. But I it says a lot about Bret’s grief/guilt/shame/regret that he couldn’t confront that death in an honest way. What was Matt going through in those final days of his life that led Bret to mythologize?
I don’t think most of the characters come off well in the book male or female. Probably Ryan Vaughn is the most fleshed out. The rest are high school stock characters, and kind of deliberately so. What Bret is doing with all the song references and description of brands and clothes is interpolate pop culture with his life story. It’s sort of done with a wink and a nod, as a way of saying “isn’t this all just bullshit?” Yet there’s an earnestness and that queer longing undergirding it that keeps you invested. I really wanted Bret to be our LGBT Nancy Drew and solve the mystery. It disappointed me a bit that Bret couldn’t kind of see the mystery plot through, and fell back so heavily on the unreliable narrator aspect.
Hard agree with you about the ending feeling unsatisfying. I don't mind an ambiguous ending, but it felt more confused than anything - and after the build up of so much tension, I was disappointed we didn't get some sort of moment of clarity from Bret at the end.
I couldn’t make the meeting however I will ask here if anyone else caught the David Hockney “Portrait of an Artist” in Abigail’s condo. I thought it was super creepy. And wasn’t sure if Bret was calling out this detail as a decoy clue or not. If it was made up memory it points to Bret and if it’s not it points to Robert. Just curious on your thoughts. Page 459 for reference.
“The empty house on Mulholland” is tattooed on my brain in the most haunting and beautiful way.
Immersed in the atmosphere is such a great way to describe Ellis. He can transport the reader to the world he creates.
So keyed up reading this. Bret's brilliance at conveying fear, panic and paranoia is unsettling but captivating. Really exploded in the final chapters. The flashlight scene had my mind screaming.
5 stars!
Yes!!! I wish we had more time to unpack those scenes - the voice on the tape haunts me
Finished reading this and came straight here! Thanks for the comprehensive and thoughtful discussion that I was NEEDING! What an intoxicating and transfixing read! So sexy and unsettling. It had me looking over my shoulder the whole time.
Jaylen, I can't BELIEVE you haven't read more BEE!