Reviews with content warning for Death - American Psycho

Reviews tagging 'Death'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

290 reviews

parkinglotking's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-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

5.0

I went into this novel already loving the movie, so perhaps I am a bit biased. I love a good, meaty character study and the novel absolutely did not disappoint.

I will start by saying this is the most violent book I have ever read and it makes the movie look like a PG film, but I was expecting that. The thing that still has me thinking weeks after finishing it with several other books between then and me writing this is the way that perspective and tense are utilized; I don’t usually like first person or present tense points of view, but they’re used masterfully here- in reinforcing Bateman’s self-centeredness and bringing the reader into his stream of consciousness.

This is a pretty dense read and I really recommend a palette cleanser book after finishing it (and pacing yourself; the only reason I took over a week reading this is because I had to take a breather after some of the worst scenes in the escalating violence) but it’s incredible if you enjoy a really clever literary character study and can handle a staggering amount of violence.

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whiskeyandsmile's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

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jacobalenciaga's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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csx's review against another edition

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dark funny tense slow-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

3.0

Content Warnings

pendularium's review against another edition

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dark

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The satire is good! How much of a total loser obsessed with image and being 'hip' Patrick Bateman is is good! The deep existential despair he feels at how his perfect life is immensely unfulfilling, and even his stepping into the 'taboo' world doesn't stave off that emptiness. However, the levels of extreme sexual violence against women are uh. deeply unnecessary?
It makes sense within the context of who Patrick is, but it truly doesn't feel like any point is being made(1); the violence against women is immensely gratuitous, especially compared to the few few times that any men are murdered; the actual meat of the satire in this book comes from the parts that people seem to deride as being dull; his obsession with designer clothes, fancy restaurants, gatherings with his 'friends', and the way that his violent acts contrast with that is, yes, a key part of the satire, but it's really hard not to notice how much more detail and emphasis Bret Easton Ellis puts on what Patrick does to the women.
Ellis' prose carries the book along well, and the satire and emotion at the core of the story is genuinely good, but despite his claim that "it [the book] wasn't four hundred pages of torture and mutilation and advocating the death of women. It's just some boring novel." American Psycho kinda is a whole lot of torture and mutilation and advocating the death of women, and for all that the rest of it is genuinely good, I can't really get past that and give it the rating I think the rest of the book deserves.

(1) yes, yes, its about how women, as an 'inferior' social group can be targeted in this way; Patrick murders and otherwise abuses a whole series of people who he deems lesser than him on the basis of race, religion, sexuality - it is only Paul Owens' murder that results in a detective being sent out - the book was conveying this fine and effectively in the earlier chapters where there was considerably less incredible violence specifically against women going on.

If anyone who is thinking about reading the book is reading this review, trust me it is almost certainly significantly more graphic than you are thinking - the film is incredibly sanitised in this area.

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