Laura’s Rating: 1/5 Stars
This book is not for the faint of heart. American Psycho was dropped by its original publisher and has been banned or restricted in several countries. I have a lot to say about this book and it was thought provoking, but as my friend Alexis pointed out, “shocking and appalling does not equal good”.
The Analysis:
The story is told in a stream-of-consciousness style by murderous New York investment banker Patrick Bateman. Early on, the reader can see his fixation on status and the details of wealth. Bateman recites what nearly every character is wearing in great detail, noting luxury brand names and high price tags. But he is not alone in this obsession. It seems like everyone in his social group is constantly discussing the hottest new restaurants, debating styles of expensive menswear, and trying to one-up each other with their custom business cards and top of the line stereo systems. Boring and repetitive in places, author Bret Easton Ellis points out the excessive materialism and consumerism of yuppie culture in the 1980s.
Bateman’s serial killer activites mirror the cruelty of society, specifically the world of the self-absorbed upper elites. Patrick’s friends are so narcissistic that he can talk and “joke” about murdering and they don’t even notice him being a literal psychopath before their eyes. The nearly identical Wall Street guys can’t keep each other’s names straight and all cheat with each other’s girlfriends. They tease homeless beggars and do cocaine to fill their meaningless lives with entertainment. What appears to be success on the surface, is actually loneliness, a lack of purpose, and a lack of empathy for those without means. Ironically, Bateman says at one point, “the world is more often than not a bad and cruel place”. While the biting social commentary is a redeeming factor when considering the content of the book, you can find similar critiques of the upper class in classics like The Great Gatsby or The Picture of Dorian Gray, without enduring the sadistic torture scenes.
When many people hear “American Psycho” they think of the 2000 film starring Christian Bale. The black comedy horror film juxtaposes catchy 80s pop music with brutal murders and Bale’s sarcastic attitude. The book, however, has a much darker feeling. Instead of Huey Lewis and the News playing loudly during a bloody axe murder, the musical analysis chapters and gruesome violence happen separately. There is no fun pop song in the background to offset the disturbing details on the page. Some chapters were so horrifyingly descriptive about Bateman’s sexual encounters and graphic violence towards women, that I could barely skim the pages without wanting to quit reading the book altogether. As someone who has read plenty of dark and twisty mysteries and some true crime about real-life killers, I thought I was ready for the expected horror of a book entitled American Psycho. This book was unlike anything I have ever read and I felt like I needed a shower after reading. The graphic, disturbing details were miles beyond anything I could have conjured up in my own mind. Read at your own risk but I cannot honestly recommend this book to anyone, knowing the unimaginable horror it contains.
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