22. The Shards

By Bret Easton Ellis (608 pp ebook)

I haven't read Ellis in decades and I'm going to guess I bought this book because I read a review that said it was great nostalgia for people who grew up in S. California in the 80s.

Ellis is the same age as I am and the descriptions in this book: the clothes; driving around naming all the roads: Valley Vista, Mullholland, Beveryly Glen; the music; the movies; the clubs; the kinds of things we did when we were teenagers, were all heavy duty nostalgia. The only difference is I wasn't rich and didn't do drugs. The story is about a fictional Ellis in rich people high school with a close group of friends and dealing with rich people problems, drinking, drugs, dysfunctional families. It's dark and suspenseful. I'm going a terrible job of describing it. It did get long for me but it's a page turner.