Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

309 reviews

solocupofearlgrey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I dropped this because it’s just too much for me even though I do enjoy true crime media, I also heavily dislike the main character which I believe is one of the points of the book - but still I don’t like reading a book where I hate the narrator/or main character(s). I got to page 170-177 before dropping it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Blood, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Classism, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Hate crime

evelyncore's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Sexism, Stalking, Violence, Antisemitism, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Torture, Vomit, Gaslighting, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Kidnapping, Cursing, Classism, Hate crime, Body shaming, Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Rape, Cannibalism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Ableism and Addiction

Minor: Abortion

sunnysoftpeach's review against another edition

challenging dark funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

An extremely hard read. The movie is one of my favourites so obviously I decided to pick up the book. I had to genuinely put it back on the shelf and take a break from it a couple times. Much more graphic and disturbing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Torture, Rape, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Classism, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Cannibalism

ahh_listen's review against another edition

dark funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal death, Homophobia, Child death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Murder, and Blood

mckenziepreston's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal cruelty, Murder, Torture, and Animal death

lord_cookie's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

“My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone, in fact I want my pain to be inflicted on others.”
American Psycho is not a book I’d recommend easily to many people. It’s hostile and our main character Patrick Bateman is a misogynist, racist, superficial prick who spends far too much money and thoughts on clothes and beauty products. And as many critics, readers and Ellis said: It’s somewhat boring. There are many chapters simply listing which clothes people wear or what his beauty routine is. Further in it’s more and more violent gory depictions of torture often starting with hardcore pornography. Still I liked the book. FThe movie adaptation is my second favourite movie and I was pleased how many scenes were in the movie. Also Ellis himself said he wrote the book at a time when he lived this lifestyle and grew alienated and this book comes from anger and even though I’m really far from the lifestyle the anger here deeply resonated with me. Some moments are so absurd they are definitely funny. The big difference to the movie is the amount of violence and gore. Towards the end it grows more heavy. I’ve read a lot of horror books these last 3 months but this was the first that made me grimace because there are some really disgusting things happening. To top this all I’m a sucker for unreliable narrators and when something is left open like here. We never truly know if Patrick committed these crimes. There are hints but in the end it’s the reader who decides what happened.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Classism, Gore, Hate crime, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Gun violence, Self harm, Abortion, and Animal death

hamgamgee's review against another edition

4.75

While SIGNIFICANTLY more fucked up than the movie adaptation, I’m not trying to be ~cool and edgy~ when I say that the gore, sex, violence etc. did not feel so extreme (to me) when juxtaposed with surrealist ambiguity of the who what and where and the blatant over the top caricatures of dick head, narcissistic rich people. To me that works and doesn’t feel like exploitation or a romanticism of violence or rape just for the sake of it (but I don’t discount the argument if it’s too much for anyone else) 

I think the unreliable narrator bit works more for me in text than film. The first person writing and chapters of violence almost viscerally feel like a manic episode or a hallucination? 

Then there are the constant mistaken identities mixed in with ridiculous dinner conversations and characters constantly mishearing the violent words Patrick may or may not be saying. Impulses existing within his inner monologue in one chapter and extreme situations in the next leave you wondering if his actions are true ??? This guy rly just carrying a body around the city and no one gives a shit??? Is it real or does it just a -this says a lot about society-??? It all kind of feels like an insane fever dream and I guess that’s the mind of a psycho

I think the unreliable narrator bit works more for me in text than film. The first person writing and chapters of violence almost viscerally feel like a manic episode or a hallucination. Then there are the constant mistaken identities mixed in with ridiculous dinner conversations and characters constantly mishearing the violent words Patrick may or may not be saying. Impulses existing within his inner monologue in one chapter and extreme situations in the next leave you wondering if his actions are true ??? This guy rly just carrying a body around the city and no one gives a shit??? Is it real or does it just a this says a lot about society??? It all kind of feels like an insane fever dream and I guess that’s the mind of a psycho 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Sexual assault, and Child death

moosereads1's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I would like to preface this by saying, I know what the author was going for. I understand that it was meant to be satirical, to criticize the wealthy and highlight how well a psychopath like Bateman would fit in with Wallstreet yuppies. Easton accomplishes what he set out to do with this novel, which is quite frankly the only reason that this book wasn't a 1 star - it accomplished its goal at the very least. 

That being said, there were several things I took issue with in this book. For starters, the countless pages full of misogyny, racism, and homophobia drove me nuts. Yes, it helps convey how awful Bateman is (though you'd think the serial killer part would convey that enough), but it felt so excessive. 

Speaking of excess, this probably could have lost at least 100 pages if all the repetitive name brands were removed. Every page it felt like was Armani this, Ralph Lauren that. This was seen in the descriptions of restaurants and food as well - going to this restaurant and getting reservations at that restaurant and getting this food and that food every single time... if anything, props to Easton for coming up with dishes like salmon meatloaf and jalapeno pudding. I know it was designed this way to show just how materialistic rich people are, especially with the comments that more expensive = inherently better, but it made a large portion of the book mind-numbingly boring. I really struggled to get through the first half of the book because it was so slow and I was so bored. It didn't help that some of the gore bordered on gratuitous, serving very little purpose after a certain point. 

I really wanted to enjoy this book. A satirical horror story that commented on the narcissism and materialism of the rich? It should have been a fantastic read, but it just wasn't. Pages upon pages of monotonous descriptions of clothing brands and bizarre foods to bore the reader followed by the whiplash of outright pornographic scenes and graphic gore did not make for an enjoyable story, and this is coming from someone who has absolutely no issue with disturbing/gory books and movies. It just wasn't it for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, Racism, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Classism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Violence, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Murder, and Sexual harassment

nadiajohnsonbooks's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I truly don't know how to articulate my thoughts about this book.

Let's start with what I liked:

I loved the writing style: manic, rambling, and full of non sequiturs that give the genuine feel of intrusive thoughts. I liked the random chapters of music critique and the view into yuppie Manhattan in the late 80s.

The juxtaposition of mundanity and grotesque violence was jarring and really dialed up the horror in a satisfying way.

Elements of the satire (the absolute interchangeability of the Wall Street bros, the new Salvadorian bistro that everyone is excited about but no one ever seems to go to) worked for me.

But a few things didn't sit right with me even upon reflection.

Pat Bateman and all his compatriots are misogynists, racists, and general scumbags. Okay. But the overwhelming use of racial slurs and sexual violence as a plot device felt less like satire or character development and more like a fifteen year old edgelord trying to get his mom's attention.

I suspect my rating of this book will change a few times the more I consider it, but there's no question that it will stick with me.

I know that Ellis left it consciously ambiguous, but I don't get the impression that Bateman actually killed anyone. I think that he (both Ellis and Bateman) is just an edgelord with a uniquely complex inner life. Aside from a couple oblique references to dreaming and the fact that certainly purportedly murdered characters seem to still exist at the periphery of Bateman's social sphere, there doesn't seem to be much evidence to suggest that he did. The obliviousness of everyone around him could be read as a satire of "see something? Mind ya business" manhattanites, but even satire has its limits.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Fatphobia, Sexism, Violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Infidelity, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Gore, Child death, Cannibalism, Cursing, Torture, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Rape

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gun violence

Minor: Abortion

elfsteel's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

sometimes i just felt like the authors point could have been made in a book half the length.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, Abortion, Child death, Body horror, Gore, Drug use, Xenophobia, Violence, Animal death, Torture, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Alcohol, Ableism, Gun violence, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, Rape, Homophobia, Racism, and Physical abuse