American Psycho

Pointless....

I read this book long before the movie, and this is one case where the book is not any better than the movie. In fact, the movie could not have been worse than the book. Clearly the author thinks he has something valuable to say about society, but I cannot see what it is. It seems as though Ellis only wrote this trash in order to get a rise out of people. Although it was disgusting and truly nauseating at times, it was boring. The author wastes pages and pages and pages having Bateman describe utterly ridiculous and meaningless things such as what brand of after-shave he wears and exactly how he puts it on. Reading labels on shampoo bottles is more exciting than the better part of this book, although not as informative (ha ha). When he is not putting the reader to sleep with endless and insignificant descriptions of clothing, he has Bateman describe exactly how he makes a rat crawl completely inside a woman's body via an unmentionable opening, then find it later, among other hideous things. It is either totally boring or totally sickening, but never suspenseful or interesting. If you want pure raunch, beyond what you may have read before, and/or a read that may be offensive to even the most inoffendable woman, then read this. Tedious.

7 out of 14 people found this review helpful.

Nothing really matters

"American Psycho" is not only a great critique of the 80's yuppie culture, but it is a scathing criticism of a nation's moral decay. The book is very well written, and it has a style that creates a world easily accessible to the reader. The book creates a dissonance from real life and the actual plot that leaves the reader questioning if our narrator, dear Patrick, is a reliable source or nothing more than a raving mad-man. The wonder of Ellis's writing is that, while asking this question, the overwhelming fact is that it doesn't really matter. While Bateman, the main character, is a psychopathic killer, it is easy to empathize with him and understand his frustrations. The writing style is unique and makes it easy to get into Bateman's mindset. I usually am not a detail-oriented reader, and I often prefer to have my own imagination work than the author's descriptions, but long sections devoted to clothes and other such details really are a pleasure to read in this book, mostly because they help the reader see the world as Bateman does. A unique read to be certain, but wildly entertaining.

6 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

Human Emptiness at it's Finest

To say it bluntly this book sucked. I want to go back in time find the author's parents and make them both take birth control pills to keep this writer from being born to write such trash. Not just because of the violence, violence can be used in interesting ways but this is just horrid and bone chilling. It's like reading a Nazi's diary. But the sheer emptiness of it. Because it frightens me the way the author writes in such naseating and sickening detail about dismembering and murdering women. Because of the emptiness of people who sit around all day, drinking wine and snorting cocaine between eating fancy food (and human livers, yum) and talk about meaningless nonsense such as whether or not their hair looks good or what kind of clothes they wear and music they listen to. I hate emptiness and stories that have no point. I hate novels that lack dept so violence is included for shock value. Highly overrated.

6 out of 15 people found this review helpful.

Bums, The Patty Winters Show, Video Returns,and Murder

American Psycho is satirical look at the upper crust of New York's socialites. It is also a psychological thriller about the life of a yuppie Harvard grad named Patrick Bateman who is a homicidal maniac. Bateman narrates his day to day life over the course of a couple of years. He tells of every mundane detail including what brand shirt, pants, suits, shoes, etc, everyone, including himself, is wearing. He describes his murders with no emotion, just as he does everything else.


Bateman and his "friends" spend much of their time trying to get reservations at the best restaurants and clubs in town. They run in circles where identity isn't as important as appearance and who you know, and people are often mistaken for others. Because of this constant mistaken identity, it is hard to tell if Bateman is truly a homicidal killer or if he is just suffering from delusional psychotic daydreams.


I found this book to be excruciatingly boring for the vast majority of it. The repeated themes in this book were; video returns, the Patty Winters Show, Manolo Blahniks, bums, hard bodies and reservations. I understand that this was a satire about how superficial New York socialites are, however, there are only so many pages that should be dedicated to painfully detailed descriptions of clothing and discussions of "where to eat". The first two thirds of the book were uncreative with regard to the murder and sex scenes. It isn't until the last third of the book that things got interesting. The main character finally let loose his homicidal rage in very graphic and colorful detail that made me cringe.


On a scale of 1-4, I give this book a 1. If the last third of the book hadn't gotten better, I would not have rated this book at all. With that said though, please read this book for yourself and let me know what you think.

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Avoid this book if you enjoy having a plot and dynamic characters.

This book is awful. I read it due to a friend's recommendation. I didn't realize at the time that he was a hip counter-culture kind of guy (the kind that tell you that the things you like are terrible, and that terrible things are good). American Psycho has no plot at all. The book begins with an intriguing literary method of hooking the reader. Bret E. Ellis introduces us to the neuroses of the Antagonist, Patrick; this is done by way of first-person introspection into Patrick's inner thoughts. This is fantastic, hence the one star that I did give the book. After that, there is no plot progression at all. There is no dichotomy to exploit between characters, no antagonist, and even Patrick lacks any dynamic character development. There is no plot; that is not to say that the plot is poor; there is no plot at all. This book is just a perpetual repetition of the (at first) intriguing introspection into Patrick's psyche, and his resultant outbursts of rage.
I find the repetition insulting. If this book was a novella, then it may have been brilliant; Ellis' one narrative hook is unable to carry a reader who enjoys a dynamic journey complete with plot, conflict, and character development.

4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

boring

This book gave me a headache. It was boring with very little story. I could care less about any of the charachters, I found out very little about any of them, and did not want to learn more. The explicit detail of unimportant things was done with a point, but it got old and made the book not enjoyable. All this could be forgivable if something happened. Every 30-40 pages we got 1 or 2 pages of action for shock value. After the first couple action sequences they were not even that shocking. I read the first 200 pages and promised myself I would not finish it and warn others. If a book is nothing but irritating for 200 pages you have to be an american psycho to finish it. Crime and punishment it is not.

3 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Bad, bad book

I read this because I saw the movie blurbs, and was terribly disappointed. It was full of gratuitous, graphic violence and had an unsatisfying ending. I will save you the trouble of reading this book: 'Describe -- in detail -- what everyone is wearing, describe -- in detail -- what everyone is eating, kill some people in a horrible way. The end.'

3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Ugh

Seriously, you have to be a psycho yourself to enjoy this book. It wasn't even that it was gorry (because there are plenty of books out there just as graphic), but the way it was written...who cares what designer he's wearing! Take out all the sections giving descriptions of clothing and the book would be shrunk in half. Do yourself a favor - skip it.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Fantasy book lover

Quite Frankly, I thought this book sucked. But, that could be because I do not usually read this kind of material. I recommend this to anyone who likes fiction with a hint of reality.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Too much information

While I enjoy books which feature subject matter that frequently requires graphic descriptions, I found American Psycho to rely exclusively on violence to make its statement. The entire content was solely based on name dropping of various clothing designers and overly descriptive acts of violence. I found little insight to the mind of Bateman and instead a laundry list of fashionable eating establishments and GQ style tips. With many other authors currently in publication who explore this genre with more success, I suggest we look elsewhere.

2 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

My rainy days and Mondays read.

This book takes me to a dark place in my adolescence. I thoroughly enjoy the madness.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Excellent & Graphically Disburing As Well

Bret Easton Ellis, has done a perfect job in entering a mind an insane killer. The main character of this novel, Patrick Bateman. Is an 80's yuppie, obsessive compulsive, and utter psychopath who rather than has a revalation into his further madness towards the end. This book is an awesome satire on 80's pop culture, but at the same time, gives you a not necessarily close, but still a complete connection with a man who murders random people, for no good reason, but either out of pleasure of other people's pain. The tale starts off pretty slow, and then Patrick Bateman describes his sexual activities, and then his killings. I think Easton Ellis did no not want overwhelm the audience too soon.

Each act of murder Patrick Bateman does done & described was intense, and disturbing. Scenes that you would not soon forget. A friend of mine who sugessted this novel to read told me it was worth it because the blood literally splats out of the pages. Send shivers thru your spine. Hands down Bret Easton Ellis knows how to creates a uninhibited, graphic modern story. I enjoyed it alot, and recommend anyone to read it.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

I loved this book, I couldn't put it down for a second. Ellis is an amazing writer, his writing style is very smart and very cleaver. I've never read anything with such attention to detail. He was very descriptive with everything from inner monologues to designer suit details, from physical features to physical events. Although the events in the book were very graphic, one could still find the humor. It has a lot of sarcasm but it is well used and witty. The movie is also very good but the book seems like something completely different (in a very, very good way) which tends to be the case in most book vs. movie scenarios. Definitely a must read. Ellis is definitely my favorite author and I would highly recommend reading this as well as all of his other works.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Disturbing in the best way

I love disturbing books. I like books that kind of push you out of your comfort zone. This book does this for sure. My favorite feature of this book was the author's exceptional capability to express sarcasm. The characters would be so snotty, sarcastic, snub. And by reading this book, you were able to get all of those impressions in each scenario. I found myself laughing so much at some of the lines in the book, because the character would be saying something, but somehow you knew what they really were thinking. I work not far from Wall Street so I see guys in the nice suits walking out of the Equinox gym all the time. Now, I look at them in a much harsher light!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book was AMAZING. Ellis is a once in a lifetime gifted writ

This book was AMAZING. Ellis is a once in a lifetime gifted writer. Ignore anyone in these reviews claiming this book has no plot or that it was boring. THE PLOT ladies and gentleman, is the life of Patrick Bateman and the psychosis he endures in every sense of the word. THE PLOT is basically a roller coaster through out this character's mind in a everyday scheme of life. Anybody who claims it's boring obviously doesn't appreciate very skilled and brilliant writing. I was honestly hooked on the first page just by the dialogue between the characters alone. EVERY SINGLE sentence in this book was necessary, even the excessive chapters about washing his face, clothing brands and the Patty Winters Show. Its not like Ellis threw those things in for fillers, all of those things show you how obsessive compulsive and crazy Patrick is. There's more ways to be deemed psychotic other than killing people, and those are the things Ellis is showing readers. It really insults me that people call it a terrible book. They don't appreciate literature at it's finest. This is a book that will shock you, scare you, make you laugh, and most of all, get deeply emotionally involved with a character who is a monster. The best books are the books with controversy and have you rooting for the bad guy. I would recommend this book to anyone with a strong stomach, an eye for DETAIL, an appreciation of literature and a strong want to actually learn something about society. There doesn't have to be a big shocking ending or constant dramatic illusion in a novel in order for it to be a GREAT novel, let's all remember that, because this indeed is a GREAT novel.

The Plot of Bret Easton Ellis’ “American Psycho&rdq

The Plot of Bret Easton Ellis’ “American Psycho”

When I first began to read this book, I felt as though there was not a real plot. It seemed like a story following a deranged killer. You must abandon all comparisons between the movie and the book if you are to truly understand the plot. During the many examples of the main character Pat Bateman’s mental instability the plot is revealed. It consists of a wealthy businessman who secretly tortures, dismembers, and murders countless people. Although the motives of Bateman’s murders are never clearly stated by Ellis, but through Bateman’s first person narration, I believe that the yuppie culture, narcissism, and psychopathy are the drives behind Bateman’s behavior.

“American Psycho” is set in Manhattan, New York during the late 1980’s. Pat Bateman is a successful completely self absorbed upper-middle class Wall Street businessman in his mid-twenties. He is a perfect example of the yuppie culture. Yuppies are mocked for their conspicuous personal consumption and hunger for social status among their peers. The story begins with a coworker discussing AIDS, and other social epidemics to Bateman. While this is something that a normal person should be concerned about, Bateman can’t help but notice that his coworker is wearing “…a six-button wool and silk suit by Ermenegildo Zenga, a cotton shirt with French cuffs by Ike Behar, a Ralph Lauren silk tie and leather wing tips by Fratelli Rossetti.“ Before the introduction of any character, major or minor, Bateman describes every piece of clothing they have on in great detail, including his own wardrobe, furniture and toiletries for that matter. Bateman’s obsession with being the best dressed, most successful and obtaining the highest social status, leads to him murdering his more successful, more popular, and more handsome coworker Paul Owen. Bateman despises his job, but he doesn’t dare to quit knowing that the position allows him to “fit in“. Dorsia, a very popular high end restaurant mentioned several times in the book, is an unattainable place for Bateman to get a reservation and becomes a destructive obsession to Bateman. The mere mention of an ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend co-owning the restaurant or Paul Owen mentioning that it would have been no problem for him to have secured a table, leads to their gruesome murders.

Narcissism, is an overpowering trait found in Pat Bateman. His very detailed description of his workout regime, flawless complexion and very expensive hair cut are only the beginning. During an attempt to bed his girlfriend, Bateman narrates “I pull my Armani shirt up and place her hand on my torso, wanting her to feel how rock-hard, how halved my stomach is, and I flex my muscles, grateful it’s light in the room so she can see how bronzed and defined my abdomen had become.” Bateman is completely obsessed with himself and could care less about those around him. During serious moments with his girlfriend Evelyn as she tries to set a wedding date, Bateman is distracted, frantically checking to make sure his hair is still in place. His anxiety over his appearance is mentioned several times throughout the book. Paul Owen owning a tanning bed, drives Bateman to the point of having an anxiety attack.

Psychopathy, makes Bateman a ruthless killer. Since the story is set in the first person point of view, readers can understand Bateman’s emotions. His emotions are very limited to disgust, anger, and anxiety. Bateman goes on these very long, very passionate speeches about pop culture icons such as Whitney Houston, Bono, and Genesis. Music is his one hobby other than killing that you can actually feel some type of emotion. He does not exhibit any remorse or empathy, understanding for the rights of others, and rules of society. Bateman murders a child at the zoo while his mother stands a couple feet away. He walks away and enjoys watching his mother discover her son’s body. Bateman kills countless men, women, a child, and animals and it doesn’t even seem to register. He lives normal every day life hiding his killings and not living with a guilty conscious except for the random anxiety attacks he experiences. Bateman openly discusses notorious serial killers during social events, disregarding anyone’s comfortablitity. He also admits to his murders around his friends, who brush them off as a joke. Bateman does not try to hide being a murderer, he simply doesn’t get caught. His success both socially and professionally never let his friends, family and coworkers suspect that he is actually a cold blooded killer even though all the signs are there.

Although the motives are never clearly stated by Ellis in “American Psycho” as a reader you can read between the lines and come up with your own. For whatever reason it is that the author made Pat Bateman a killer, the plot is complex yet very powerful.

Intriguing

It was definitely graphic, weird, and a little hard to follow at some points, but a great, moderately paced read. It was definitely interesting and had a lot of points for discussion.

OMG FREAKY!

This book seriously gave me nightmares! I had to read it for a class and I could barely finish the booK! There is a reason it is banned!!! It should NOT be sold ANYWHERE! Reader Beware! Be prepared for a sick, sadistic, horrendous, evil book!

Quite interesting

I loved the movie so I had to read the book. I was not dissapointed, though is wasn't as violent and as explicit as i thought it was gonna be and at moment I even found it somewhat comical. It was indeed a good book.

A perfect look into a killers mind

Along with that comes the crazy and the boring. This book at times gets pretty gruesome! It was like a car wreck you had to keep reading. There were a few chapters i down right skipped because it was straight up just details about music....that didnt matter. Overall good book.