American Psycho
by Bret Easton Ellis
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bret Easton EllisEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown)
Published: 2000-04-21
ISBN: 033048477X
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Picador
Book Reviews of American Psycho
Book Review: So grotesque a portrait of life that it must be true
Summary: 5 Stars
The hysterical outrage caused by this novel is, to be fair, understandable. Though the first third of the novel is frustratingly dull, it quickly picks up the pace when a tramp has his eyes gouged out for no reason by the main character and narrator, one Mr Patrick Bateman. 26 years old and possesing more money and tase that Lector in Hannibal, Bateman spends his time eating in overpriced and poncey restaurants, renting horror videos, dating models and brutally murdering people for fun. The novel is supposed to be a satire on the 1980s, and for a while it seems to be so. Nobody remembers anyones name and people are always mistaking each other for someone else; this is New York at it's most anonymous and shallow. Yet Bateman and all his peers are so obsessive in noting the labels of other people's clothes, and Bateman, in one scene, is outraged and sick at the sight of a woman wearing cheap trainers "not even designer, just CHEAP". Bateman is repulsive at the start of the book, but so are his friends and colleagues. Things take a turn when he blinds the old tramp then later stabs and shoots to death a homosexual man after disembowelling the guys dog. Women are brutally tortured in explicit details, a guy has his head hacked to bits with an axe and more police are killed in one shoot-out scene than are killed in all three Robocop films. Despite this violence, Bateman remains an awfully amicable chap. He speaks to the reader in the same way Alex does in Clockwork Orange or Ben the serial killer does in Man Bites Dog. A vicious psychopath he may be, but Bateman is an awfully witty chap. This is, probably not by coincidence, the opinion one formulates for Brett Ellis. His book may be sick and deranged, but the writing is terrific. The conversations flow from the page so easily, description, hyperbole and irony subtle yet have a gestaltic effect in gripping the reader once he/she is only a small way into the book. I can understand why people think this book is sick and should be banned, but it is terribly well written and appallingly readable (if you have a strong stomach). The only drawback is that one gets the impression that Ellis wished to make a point with this book but, after reaching the end, one gets a feeling that if there was a point, you must have missed it a long time ago. Excellent, blood-soaked and probably better than the film (which I haven't seen yet).
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