American Psycho
by Bret Easton Ellis
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bret Easton EllisEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-04-21
ISBN: 033048477X
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Book Reviews of American Psycho
Book Review: An engaging social satire
Summary: 5 Stars
I relaxed on my Ethan Allen couch to read Bret Easton Ellis's late-1980's Manhattan-of-yuppie-excess thriller, American Psycho. I had to put it down to dine on quail sashimi with peach ravioli and baby soft-shell crabs with grape jelly, and after dinner I noted that the Vintage Contemporary cover was a far from ideal surface to snort cocaine off. After donning my Valentino Lycra sports outfit, I resumed reading on the Lifecycle in my $500/month health club. As a whole, I found the financial district consumerist novel to be a brilliant social satire in the tradition of Swift, with lyrical genius comparable to a finely crafted Genesis song. I dropped the title in conversation over Absolut double martinis at the cigar club the following night, and I was secretly delighted that my archnemesis at the firm fumbled when trying to debate its relative merits with me.
[This is where I transition back to reality as Jessica Lux-Baumann, book reviewer.] Twenty-seven year-old Patrick Bateman is a Wall Street mergers and acquisitions executive who spends a few hours a day in his stark Manhattan office and the rest of the time at his exclusive gym, in clubs, clamoring for reservations at the hottest restaurants, cheating with his friends' fiancées, and, oh, murdering socialites and the homeless. Everyone in his eighties NYC life is too self-absorbed to notice his true character (in fact, a Realtor gladly cleans up carnage to make a sale on a hot piece of property). Bateman embodies yuppie ideals while mocking the inferiority of everyone else in his circle. Girls are "hardbodies" or "bitches," reduced to physical measurements and shagability (although Bateman uses considerably less polite terminology).
The book consists of short chapters--diary entries, if you will--of scenes in Bateman's life. At times, he lapses into eloquent yet fanboyish soliloquies about bands like Genesis, Huey Lewis and the News, and Whitney Houston. He thinks about mutilation and torture while debating the relative merits of different brands of sparkling water or discussing the proper way to wear a sweater vest.
I've seen Mary Harron's film adaptation of the book several times, and it is a true, but condensed version of the novel. The novel is far darker, with graphic descriptions of torture and murder (eyeballs dripping like runny eggs, and so forth).
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