Bret Easton Ellis: The Shards

In his latest novel, 'The Shards', Bret Easton Ellis confronts a story that had been running around his mind for decades. It centers around what happened to him and a group of friends at the end of high school, in the height of their teenage years. A group of superficially sophisticated children not yet baptized in the ‘real world’, the lives of Bret and his friends were shattered by a series of terrible events.
In Los Angeles in the autumn of 1981, a local serial killer known only as The Trawler draws ever closer to Bret and his friends, seemingly taunting them with grotesque threats and acts of violence. As Bret’s obsession with the killer grows, he spirals into paranoia and isolation.
Filtered through the imagination of a teenager gifted in constructing narratives from the threads of his own life, this mesmerizing novel is a vivid and nostalgic fusing of fact and fiction at the borderlands between the real and the imagined.
Bret Easton Ellis visited the John Adams Institute on 30 January, 2023.
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[@bibinharodrigues]

This is my favorite book ever. This man makes everything beautiful and poetic. He puts vibes and aesthetics into words and that’s art!

[@joniheisenberg]

“The Shards” is a magnificent book.

[@arturobandini4078]

I finished reading it this morning. A fantastic novel with a depth and heart that surprised me. It's unlike his other novels, it's his most mature book.

[@lamentate07]

@@arturobandini4078 Yes, but the genre plotting is a bit too conventional for my taste, as if he really wanted to make a film out of the material than write a novel.

[@arturobandini4078]

@@lamentate07 Yes, I see what you mean.

[@joshwoodhouse9912]

I figured with the recent resurgence in interest of American psycho in the younger generation and meme culture Brett saw an opportunity and took it and good on him it would be great to see this as a movie with a great actor at the lead

[@angelorossowrites]

Great writer. Great book. Thanks for the honest conversation.

[@johndalton3180]

The Shards is Bret's magnum opus.

[@warmflash]

I listened to the podcast and it was fantastic ❤❤❤❤❤

[@thatboringdude9429]

I love The Shards. Such a great novel.

[@sobo9761]

God I love this book. Mentioning “The Promenade?” Chef’s kiss!

[@conantheseptuagenarian3824]

it's interesting. i was reading less than zero recently and thought he was a quintessential modernist. i felt like i was reading a more entertaining version of the sun also rises.

[@noisez13000]

the cameraman off a perc

[@conantheseptuagenarian3824]

the unfortunate thing about high aesthetics conveying wicked content is that it glamorizes destruction. it makes death look attractive.

[@AH-uy6te]

Isn’t it?

[@FatalDawn1]

♡

[@conantheseptuagenarian3824]

most interesting man in the world.

[@NickBase]

Interviewer really annoying let Bret speak omg

[@noonan_rick]

I like how the interviewer behaves as a 5 year old and can barely keep up with Ellis. Its just like Robert Mallory and Bret talking lol

[@fib6156]

Poor choreography with low small sofa and high chair; looks ridiculous

[@Leon-hv4tf]

At the end of mother's never listen

[@h.astley2113]

mrs ellis

[@jessuh7500]

not the best interviewer

[@soledadharen7426]

Bret is WRONG about Americans not voting. In the last Presidential election, over 62% of Americans voted, with a record number of young people voting. Sorry, Bret, but you're in the minority.

[@ElGringoLatscho]

Not really. If Biden gets 55% of the votes, that‘s about 34% of the citicens. He won with the votes of 34% of the citicens. On the other hand the non voters would be 38%. And not to speak about the people who are really not interested in politics (just like him) but still vote because they‘re kind of pressured to do so by their Environment. So when you go around and live normally, politics and the president really don‘t appear in the daily life. I think that‘s what he meant

[@joralemonvirgincreche]

Actually it was 66.8% according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

[@erniereyes1994]

that’s only within the last few years, when Trump is out of the political scene voting will go back down, so Bret is correct here that generally speaking Americans don’t vote (and even with high turn outs in recent elections, they’re voting much less than other countries)

[@soledadharen7426]

@erniereyes1994 1) You can predict the future, so you know what will happen when Trump is gone?? Impressive. Please pick some lottery numbers for me. 2) No, neither you nor Bret are correct here, Sweetie. He said he is in the MAJORITY of Americans who don't vote. In case you don't know what a "majority" is, a majority is > than 50%. 50.01 is considered a "majority". FYI, a MAJORITY of Americans have ALWAYS voted in major elections since all adult Americans became eligible to vote. No, maybe in off years when the only election is for dog catcher in some rural town, a majority may not come our, but in MAJOR elections (i.e., Presidential elections, Midterms, etc.) a MAJORITY of Americans DO vote. 3) Yes, you're right that a smaller percentage of Americans tends to vote in comparison to other countries. However, Genius, are you aware that in other countries like Australia, voting is MANDATORY?? Are you, also, aware that in most countries Election Day is a Federal holiday, whereas in America it is NOT. In fact, some jurisdictions in America make it extremely difficult for voters to vote ON PURPOSE: many locations have very short voting hours, limiting access to the polls to the time when people are at work. Are you aware that many locations are currently trying to discourage voting by making it more difficult to vote? I know people in Texas who COULD NOT vote because they were elderly or disabled, and they did not receive their absentee ballots. Are you aware that the state of Georgia stopped their Souls to the Polls program which allowed (mostly Black) voters to vote after Church on Sundays? Are you aware that there are voter disenfranchisement campaigns led by Right Wing politicians in over half of all US states trying to keep people from voting?? BTW, in the last US election of 2022, a majority of Americans voted because of the ABORTION issue. Trump wasn't on the ballot. Maybe you and Ellis should get your FACTS straight before making factually incorrect comments.

[@soledadharen7426]

@erniereyes1994 BTW, you're even more wrong than he is, claiming, "generally speaking, Americans don't vote." Your statement is literally making the assertion that, NO American votes. That's pure BS.