Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

159 reviews

stormymonday's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Animal death, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

molly_tuck's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.25

in my patrick bateman era truly

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism

Minor: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Vomit, and Stalking

bethkr'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

i have no idea how i'm meant to just carry on with my life after this. what the actual fuck was that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Murder, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

teafairy's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Murder

virgohorror's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense 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

5.0

perhaps the most stomach-churning gore i’ve ever read, all in the service of some of the best and most biting satire of capitalist excess in literature. patrick bateman is a psycho only america could produce, and this book is a goddamn classic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

there is….. so much to trigger warm for in this book. there is nastiness of every kind on nearly every page. if you can think of something gross, patrick bateman has probably done it.

emma_xx's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use

marieshan4321'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: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

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

caitlin1066's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

The most gruesome book I’ve read. It’s so disturbing and blatantly racist, homophobic and misogynistic but gets away with it because that’s Pat’s character: a psycho. I have no words. Disgusting. But a good look into the mind of a genuine psychopath. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting

itszosia's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death