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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
This book held me in tension for so long that I’ve never experienced before. I was desperate to understand and learn from these characters that I completely hated. I cared deeply about them, despite not caring for them, immersing you in the same kind of dissociation that the characters are in! Amazing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Stalking, Murder
currently in a reading slump, hoping to finish this book at a later point.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fuck off
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
bret easton ellis is literally the world's biggest narcissist because why does every main character in his books have to be HIM! just write the fiction for god's sake!
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very very long. Had its moments, would have kept my interest at half the length.
Loved American Psycho and I loved the idea of a fictionalised autobiography based around real murders. I also love a good audio-read, and this is read by the author. He's a great narrator actually, I had no issues with his voice or enthusiasm for his own material.
But the length really did become a chore, when not a lot does happen for much of this, or the same sorts of things happen a lot. I understand this started life as a podcast first, which possibly explains why things are repeated and the action is so slow to move to a conclusion.
Based around the real Trawler murders in 1980-1981, Bret seats himself front and centre as a high school student, a closeted gay student with a girlfriend and a novel he's trying to get down on paper. Bret and his friends are privileged, they are surrounded by opportunities for sex, drugs, drinking, and they seem to willingly partake.
All the while, Bret is both keeping an eye on the reports of local murders of teenagers and finding connections to the new kid in school, Robert Mallory, whom he is both attracted to and suspicious of.
I think I'd have found this easier to concentrate on if it were tighter, there's so much navel gazing and gratuitous sex going on that I almost forget what the plot was working towards. Like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood there is a killer (excuse the pun) ending, with action a-plenty for American Psycho fans, but it was a long slog to get there. I did like the wrapping up, the unanswered questions. I haven't read any other of the author's works aside from these two, and wouldn't have connected them as by the same writer actually.
This would make a good mini-series, plenty of gore, wealth, graphic sex and young bodies to display. A challenging read though, requiring a bit of stamina.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample audio copy.
Loved American Psycho and I loved the idea of a fictionalised autobiography based around real murders. I also love a good audio-read, and this is read by the author. He's a great narrator actually, I had no issues with his voice or enthusiasm for his own material.
But the length really did become a chore, when not a lot does happen for much of this, or the same sorts of things happen a lot. I understand this started life as a podcast first, which possibly explains why things are repeated and the action is so slow to move to a conclusion.
Based around the real Trawler murders in 1980-1981, Bret seats himself front and centre as a high school student, a closeted gay student with a girlfriend and a novel he's trying to get down on paper. Bret and his friends are privileged, they are surrounded by opportunities for sex, drugs, drinking, and they seem to willingly partake.
All the while, Bret is both keeping an eye on the reports of local murders of teenagers and finding connections to the new kid in school, Robert Mallory, whom he is both attracted to and suspicious of.
I think I'd have found this easier to concentrate on if it were tighter, there's so much navel gazing and gratuitous sex going on that I almost forget what the plot was working towards. Like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood there is a killer (excuse the pun) ending, with action a-plenty for American Psycho fans, but it was a long slog to get there. I did like the wrapping up, the unanswered questions. I haven't read any other of the author's works aside from these two, and wouldn't have connected them as by the same writer actually.
This would make a good mini-series, plenty of gore, wealth, graphic sex and young bodies to display. A challenging read though, requiring a bit of stamina.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample audio copy.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I absolutely devoured this book. It may have started at a slow pace but once it got its hooks in me, I couldn't put it down and read the last third in a single sitting. Ellis was excellent at keeping the mystery and the feelings of dread going the whole way. It definitely went on for too long and could have been more consistent. Way more sexual than I needed but it really added to his world building of a bunch of rich and affluent high school seniors as they deal with a new kid at school that isn't what he seems to be. I enjoy though unclear endings because this one is going to rattle around in my head for a long time