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A review by readbynorah
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
1.0
I rarely admit that a movie adaptation is superior to the book, but in this case, it’s accurate. I decided to pick up this book mainly because of Bale's silly little performance in the movie and, oh boy, do I regret it!
This book was awful to read, and it left me properly disgusted. Considering the excessive amount of racism, sexism, misogyny, rape, animal cruelty, murder, torture, etc. in this book, it’s probably to be expected. However, I’m usually not opposed to darker themes in literature, and I recognise their function to convey a message. Generally, evoking uncomfortable emotions is crucial to portray an event. A great example of proper use of heavy themes is the book S. by Slavenka Drakulić. My opinion can’t remain true for American Psycho since these heavy themes get thrown around inappropriately. Just the mere fact Ellis managed to compose such vile scenarios makes me squeamish, and their ability to affect me doesn't make the book any great. Anyone can write down a terrible event and describe it in gruesome detail. It isn't the incredible achievement some reviewers paint it out to be. The merit of a book shouldn't be determined by its shock value.
Apart from this, the book is also painfully dull. For example, Ellis describes every piece of clothing in such minute detail, and I don’t care! It simply disrupts the book flow (which is hanging by a thread). Patrick Bateman is supposed to be a regular guy, but the book format made him too regular. He mostly just fell flat. I reckon the movie is better received, as it doesn't call for a challenge to keep turning pages of needless repetition. It’s almost as if Ellis wrote ten pages, copy-pasted them to reach 400, and then called it a day.
All in all, I don't recommend this book to anyone. My dear mother and I had a rather long rant about this book, and our final thoughts are identical: we feel insulted reading scenes vividly describing horrors acted out on women for no reason. My copy of American Psycho is stowed away in my drawer, and it’s never seeing the light of day again.
This book was awful to read, and it left me properly disgusted. Considering the excessive amount of racism, sexism, misogyny, rape, animal cruelty, murder, torture, etc. in this book, it’s probably to be expected. However, I’m usually not opposed to darker themes in literature, and I recognise their function to convey a message. Generally, evoking uncomfortable emotions is crucial to portray an event. A great example of proper use of heavy themes is the book S. by Slavenka Drakulić. My opinion can’t remain true for American Psycho since these heavy themes get thrown around inappropriately. Just the mere fact Ellis managed to compose such vile scenarios makes me squeamish, and their ability to affect me doesn't make the book any great. Anyone can write down a terrible event and describe it in gruesome detail. It isn't the incredible achievement some reviewers paint it out to be. The merit of a book shouldn't be determined by its shock value.
Apart from this, the book is also painfully dull. For example, Ellis describes every piece of clothing in such minute detail, and I don’t care! It simply disrupts the book flow (which is hanging by a thread). Patrick Bateman is supposed to be a regular guy, but the book format made him too regular. He mostly just fell flat. I reckon the movie is better received, as it doesn't call for a challenge to keep turning pages of needless repetition. It’s almost as if Ellis wrote ten pages, copy-pasted them to reach 400, and then called it a day.
All in all, I don't recommend this book to anyone. My dear mother and I had a rather long rant about this book, and our final thoughts are identical: we feel insulted reading scenes vividly describing horrors acted out on women for no reason. My copy of American Psycho is stowed away in my drawer, and it’s never seeing the light of day again.