Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

134 reviews

onescrambledegg's review against another edition

dark funny medium-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

4.25

A great read, but not really for the faint hearted, a lot of the chapters (especially the later ones) are very graphic and explicit, with detailed torture etc. I read an online analysis for every chapter online, as it's very in depth, no doubt a classic with very interesting messages!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

Take breaks reading this book

ejr1904's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

4.75

A grotesque critique of capitalism. 

You either love it or you hate it. It’s vile and unwavering. One of the few books that made my stomach turn. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

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

Minor: Abortion

makenzie_rois's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

cayleejanet's review against another edition

this was the worst 200 pages i’ve ever read. patrick as a character isn’t well written, like obviously the point isn’t to like him it’s to understand him, but nothing he does has any explanation past “he’s a psychopath”. fuck this book dude. and so much of it is just descriptions of what people are wearing and all the bullshit - i get that the point is about capitalism and apathy, but i seriously did not care. i could not begin to care about Ellis’ message or ideas. fuck this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

ebb_and_flow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Eating disorder, Rape, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

moonzetsu's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

4.75

I've never been so conflicted on a book. I loved yet hated it, it's a fantastic book that I'll never read again, a book I loved yet will not recommend to anybody bar a select few of my friends. 

Let's get one thing straight: This book can be terribly boring. Our lovable, stand-up protagonist Patrick Bateman loves to go into great detail about the clothes people are wearing and the accessories they have on their person. He goes into chapter-long monologues about his morning routine and music he listens to. I forced myself to drudge through these parts out of morbid curiosity. (Things will get graphic in the spoiler tags, so click at your own risk.)

And the murder/torture scenes are some of the most stomach-churning I've ever had the (dis)pleasure(?) of reading. This book is told from the POV of a narcissistic sociopath and it shows - the murder scenes are described with the same monotone boredom as the sex and casual chatter scenes. For example, when Bateman

stabs the eyes out of a homeless man and maims his dog, and that's one of his LEAST heinous murders

it is described as the most natural thing in the world, almost like he's done it a thousand times before, the most natural thing in the world. I've never put a book down out of nausea before, so congrats, Ellis.

Very few of the characters in this book are remotely likeable people: they are all shallow, self-interested people, with few exceptions. Jean, Bateman's secretary, and the various sex workers Bateman hires,

all of whom except Jean meet terribly grisly, sexual ends.

Let's get another thing out of the way: this book is misogynistic. This is not to say Ellis himself is misogynistic, I don't know the man enough to describe him as such, but Bateman especially seems to have it out for women, and treats all but two like dirt: only because it would be suspicious for him to do so.

Of course, given that Bateman is hinted to be very mentally ill and hallucinating the murders, there's a chance few or none of these happened at all.

The writing style is.. odd. As mentioned previously, it is from the POV of a narcissistic, shallow sociopath, and everything is described as such. Chapters can start and stop mid-sentence,

especially when Bateman is having a psychotic breakdown or panic attack

and it feels as though everyone is talking over each other. 

It's a fascinating book and a scathing critical satire on consumerism that still applies today. Despite my high rating, however, I can't recommend it to anyone. It's extraordinarily hard to push through, be it because of boring fashion, conversation, or gruesome murder/torture scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Mental illness and Antisemitism

alejandrasuarez98'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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

xjaleighx's review against another edition

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

2.75

Not for the faint hearted. Definetly had to skim through some parts to avoid either being very bored or very disgusted. What saves this book is the sly critiques at society through the main character and his interactions as well as the broken, hallucination-like writing flow that I believe somewhat accurately depicts the thought process and rolllercoaster craze of this “American psycho”. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment