Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

95 reviews

lmorphis'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, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, 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 content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Dementia, Cannibalism, and Murder

Minor: Abortion

awells96's review against another edition

I got 159 pages into this book but had to put it down due to the graphic cruelty and killing of dogs. I went into this obviously expecting it to be dark and for the main character to be a killer (I've seen the movie) but was not expecting the graphic descriptions around killing dogs or harming them - it's not something I want to or care to read about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

sheryl_reads's review against another edition

American Psycho is my first DNF of the year! I gave it a chance (got to just over 200 pages of my 400 page copy) and realised I wasn’t even paying attention anymore. 

I appreciate the social commentary Bret Easton Ellis is going for, but I don’t need what felt like 200 pages of an upmarket Argos catalogue in my life. Every description was full of brand names, designers etc. And the ‘story’ seemed to consist of the protagonist having dinner/drinks with people almost as vapid and despicable as him. 

It’s clearly meant to be a critique of the ‘yuppie’ culture - where you have to say the right things, wear the right clothes, be seen in the right places with the right people. But I got that in less than 50 pages. The rest just felt like it was bashing me over the head. Halfway thru the book and all I’d got were small snippets hinting at the mental state of Bateman. 

I think this book is like marmite - a lot of people will love it, but in my opinion, the hours I spent reading it are hours I’ll never get back! 

I should also point out that some of the language, behaviour and themes in the book could be incredibly triggering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry

nicolinebl's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is without a single doubt the most fd up disturbing book I've ever read. I felt sick to my stomach most of the time and have never hated a (main)character more than I've hated Patrick Bateman. Which was of course what the writer wanted, so he absolutely aced it. 
Next to the graphic murders & sex scenes there is also a lot of talk about music (very detailed), fashion (literally every persons outfit gets described) and since this book is so much about materialism of course a shit ton of boasting about whatever expensive something he has bought this time. 
I think the writer did a great job and it must have been a hard story to write + a lot of research about food, fashion, music, movies, etc. 
I think most people wouldn't enjoy reading this book and it's not a book I'd suggest to just anyone because there are some very disgusting things happening in it. 

Having watched the movie before reading the book I must say that they did a great job and also I did not expect it could get heavier than the movie but it was so much heavier.

Very well written but never reading it again because it made me very sad.

Edit: Need to mention that there are actually some funny moments in the book which sounds crazy when having described all of the other stuff. The characters all keep recognising each other as someone else, judging each other on looks while looking exactly the same, them talking about what restaurant to visit and then all of them closing. It definitely had funny moments.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Cannibalism

sabrielsbell's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.0

I made it to 60% before I DNF'd.  The intense descriptions of people's clothing are so repetitive that its unreadable and the murders are incredibly gory.  I don't think this book was for me but aside from that it was a tough book to get through with little pay-off.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Cannibalism