Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

288 reviews

laurengvrce's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, and Classism

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

elfsteel's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

3.75

sometimes i just felt like the authors point could have been made in a book half the length.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Classism

michaelion's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

1.75

Maybe the real Psychos were the Americans we made along the way...

A book is bad when I have to question what purpose it served humanity. I am a person who fundamentally believes that all art can be made with no reason or goal in mind; art for art's sake; art because the person who made it felt something, felt they had to get it out, felt they had something to share with the world. I read this book because I wanted to watch the movie, yes I'm that kind of person, and I wish I could unread it. What purpose did this book serve to the greater good of humanity? Fuck the greater good, what contribution to humanity does this book give? It has no analysis, no deeper introspection into the era, the mindset of the people. There's no meat on the bone that is this book.

It has its moments and its beauty, for sure. I love the stream of consciousness and unreliable narration, I love the speaking to the audience, the break rom reality and seeing things in the perspective of a movie, sure. Those elements are great. But as a whole? I never question why art is made. There's art I like and art I don't like. It's easy for me to spot art I like, It's easy for me to spot art I don't like, and there are definitely things that lie in a middle grey area, but for all three of those things I almost never question why it was made. It's an inherently fascist idea to say art should have a purpose else it is a waste of time or attention but this is one of the few exceptions I've encountered. The movie better be good after the shit I just read.

And to be clear, I'm not just mad at the content of the book. It was very upsetting sure, but

about a quarter in is when you get to the first kill and it's mentioned nonchalant. So you read almost 100 pages and finally get to the part you came for.

Most of this book is a whole lot of nothing. It works, only because that's the style of this particular type of writing, but once the kills start to ramp up it's like Oh, you wasted my time, and now this is TOO intense. And I'm sure the whiplash was also purposeful, and I'm starting to get a little too nitpicky, but there are things that are more important / could have been more central to the plot that were not given any spotlight.

I tried to find it in my heart to give it a higher rating, I really did, but I can't lie to my future self who will reread this review and go "damn, the book was that bad?" Hi, future self. To answer your question: No. The book was much worse.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Stalking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Abortion

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

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

zazzyb's review against another edition

I thought I was prepared going into this book, I wasn’t . This book is horrifying and I truly mean horrifying. I understand there are books that are also horrifying, but I don’t think any of them come to the level of this pure violence. Wish I had never been recommended it as an amazing book. I dread to think what the movie is like.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Classism

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

4.0

what?

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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

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

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

I almost threw up reading it