Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

46 reviews

sierrabowers's review against another edition

dark tense 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

This book was disgusting and filled with gore. I honestly was not prepared for the amount of gore that was given. I was disappointed at the plot. It was not interesting at all, and was just a horrible person murdering people. Why would I want to read that? Toward the end, the author was alluding to the fact that the main character may have been hallucinating the entire time and never actually murdered anyone? And also switched from 1st to 3rd person point of view during an episode. That could have been a metaphor for his dissociation. Overall, I do not recommend, and it was a waste of my time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Racism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Child death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Blood, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Vomit, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Abortion

ms4321's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

First of all, I think that both the American Psycho film and the musical are easily five stars. 

As a satire, I think American Psycho is a really interesting exploration of hyper consumerism, narcissism, toxic masculinity and the emptiness of post modern life. I also think that aspects of the story are every bit as timely now as they were in the 80s e.g, the performative humanitarism of the characters, the tendency of people to desensitise themselves to the horrors around them using media etc.

 However, I think this story works so much better as a film and a musical than it does as a book. This reads like the diary of Patrick Bateman and goes between being overly  gratuitous with insanely detailed descriptions of violent acts (some of which I didn't have the stomach for and had to skip over) and long descriptions of luxury clothing and branded items. I get that that's the point...but it made the reading experience drag. 

In short, unless you have time to kill, I would skip this and watch the film! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Gore, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Violence, Murder, Sexism, Body horror, Body shaming, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Racism

moths_and_mushrooms's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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

3.0

I hate him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexism, Sexual violence, Vomit, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Violence

teleportsbehindyou's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, War, Abortion, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

navayiota's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative tense slow-paced

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

2.75

1,5 stars 
This was difficult to get through. I'm not sure if it's meant to be commentary, I feel like it's too self aware not to be, but that the killing was too graphic, varied and frequent for it to be anything other than the author's kinks put to paper. There was no reason for there to be so much murder, so much torture and for it to be so explicit. Anything other than the murder was slow, boring and repetitive, just Patrick going out with people he doesn't like, mocking them, and us not gaining anything new every time. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

Update

After reading a chapter by chapter analysis of this book and doing some research on the author, I've come to the conclusion that I misunderstood the point of this story. I still think the violence was overkill and a bunch of it should have gotten cut, but I see now that it was born out of very valid feelings and were probably a coping mechanism and a way of catharsis. That's not something that belongs in a published book,(to this degree) in my opinion, it stays in your private diary and emails to your therapist, but I'm not scared of the author anymore like I was when I was reading the book. Also I admit that it was really well written. I got physically sick a few times listening to some of the torture the characters were put through, which is impressive. 
I can appreciate the conversations between characters a lot more now, and I understand that them being boring, repetitive and monotonous was the point, but oh my god, what a fucking slump this book put me in. They spend so much time talking about bottled water. BOTTLED WATER. Snooze. I wouldn't read this book again unless if I was paid handsomely for it. 
Overall, I see why this book is loved, I appreciate the social commentary, the visceral reactions it drew from me, and the catharsis I'm sure it has provided for people (including me at parts, I admit, it was just a bit much) but I don't I will be recommending this book to anyone any time soon. If you want to, watch the movie, as it's better in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Torture, Blood, Child death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

daisiescaroline's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I hate that I liked this book so much. It’s been on my to buy and read list for a good couple of years but I could never be bothered to actually do anything about it. I’m so glad I read it though.
Ignoring the content, I loved the writing and narrative style and it was so easy to keep reading it and wanting to attempt to follow the thoughts and semi-disjointed story.
The actual content and characters were presented so well, in a way that as much as I probably shouldn’t have enjoyed it, I definitely did. 
There weren’t any cats but honestly, I wouldn’t want them in it anyway.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

chatseur'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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Classism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Child death, Gore, Hate crime, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Torture

kkmk's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Classism, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Addiction, Alcoholism, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

lizzy_hatesreading's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense 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

Hard to read. I give the author credit for his imagination. Book does get a reaction out of you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Take breaks reading this book

orange_flower's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Minor: Abortion