Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

127 reviews

lord_cookie's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

3.0

“My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone, in fact I want my pain to be inflicted on others.”
American Psycho is not a book I’d recommend easily to many people. It’s hostile and our main character Patrick Bateman is a misogynist, racist, superficial prick who spends far too much money and thoughts on clothes and beauty products. And as many critics, readers and Ellis said: It’s somewhat boring. There are many chapters simply listing which clothes people wear or what his beauty routine is. Further in it’s more and more violent gory depictions of torture often starting with hardcore pornography. Still I liked the book. FThe movie adaptation is my second favourite movie and I was pleased how many scenes were in the movie. Also Ellis himself said he wrote the book at a time when he lived this lifestyle and grew alienated and this book comes from anger and even though I’m really far from the lifestyle the anger here deeply resonated with me. Some moments are so absurd they are definitely funny. The big difference to the movie is the amount of violence and gore. Towards the end it grows more heavy. I’ve read a lot of horror books these last 3 months but this was the first that made me grimace because there are some really disgusting things happening. To top this all I’m a sucker for unreliable narrators and when something is left open like here. We never truly know if Patrick committed these crimes. There are hints but in the end it’s the reader who decides what happened.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Classism, Gore, Hate crime, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Gun violence, Self harm, Abortion, and Animal death

moosereads1'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

2.5

I would like to preface this by saying, I know what the author was going for. I understand that it was meant to be satirical, to criticize the wealthy and highlight how well a psychopath like Bateman would fit in with Wallstreet yuppies. Easton accomplishes what he set out to do with this novel, which is quite frankly the only reason that this book wasn't a 1 star - it accomplished its goal at the very least. 

That being said, there were several things I took issue with in this book. For starters, the countless pages full of misogyny, racism, and homophobia drove me nuts. Yes, it helps convey how awful Bateman is (though you'd think the serial killer part would convey that enough), but it felt so excessive. 

Speaking of excess, this probably could have lost at least 100 pages if all the repetitive name brands were removed. Every page it felt like was Armani this, Ralph Lauren that. This was seen in the descriptions of restaurants and food as well - going to this restaurant and getting reservations at that restaurant and getting this food and that food every single time... if anything, props to Easton for coming up with dishes like salmon meatloaf and jalapeno pudding. I know it was designed this way to show just how materialistic rich people are, especially with the comments that more expensive = inherently better, but it made a large portion of the book mind-numbingly boring. I really struggled to get through the first half of the book because it was so slow and I was so bored. It didn't help that some of the gore bordered on gratuitous, serving very little purpose after a certain point. 

I really wanted to enjoy this book. A satirical horror story that commented on the narcissism and materialism of the rich? It should have been a fantastic read, but it just wasn't. Pages upon pages of monotonous descriptions of clothing brands and bizarre foods to bore the reader followed by the whiplash of outright pornographic scenes and graphic gore did not make for an enjoyable story, and this is coming from someone who has absolutely no issue with disturbing/gory books and movies. It just wasn't it for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, Racism, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Classism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Violence, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Murder, and Sexual harassment

alyssaherrington's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.0

hated reading this, it was a force to get through most chapters. they were so violent and disturbing that some things written made me feel that the author just needed an excuse to get them on paper. i thought the American Psycho book review by Ryan on Muse with Me Blog was a great reflection on the plot 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Rape, Misogyny, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Racism, Physical abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Violence, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

zoehakim's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

what?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Rape, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Sexism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Xenophobia, Fatphobia, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Eating disorder

ashsparrow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

I have really mixed feelings about this book. It’s a good book but I hate gore so obviously not a good choice on my part. It was really well done though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Rape, Misogyny, Hate crime, Gore, Alcohol, Murder, Gun violence, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Violence, Child death, Sexism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Classism, Cursing, Death, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, and Vomit

punishercoded's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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

4.25

read the part with bethany on the train and i genuinely was going to throw up 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Drug use, Gore, Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Death, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

emamno'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

0.25

Bret Easton Ellis is such a talented, descriptive, imaginative author and he chose to create this? Ew.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Body horror, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual content, Racism, Drug use, Ableism, Abortion, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexism, Car accident, Racial slurs, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Child death, Fatphobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Addiction, Dysphoria, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Classism, Antisemitism, and Eating disorder

I almost threw up reading it

joelle99's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

2.75

I read alot of disturbing books but this one genuinely made me sick. I think it's mainly because of the very graphic sexual violence and the misogyny. I get the point of the book but I think it was very slow paced with many filler chapters and very graphic for shock value.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gore, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Racism

kittiesss's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body shaming, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Classism, Death, Ableism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Violence

franlop97's review against another edition

It’s too disgusting for me I couldn’t. The sexual violence was too much. To each their own.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual content, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Death, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Addiction, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Animal death, Child death, Classism, and Murder