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dollangengar 's review for:
American Psycho
by Bret Easton Ellis
rating this book is complicated because, you see, i get what bret easton ellis was trying to do, i get how boring and unreliable he wanted patrick bateman to be and he succeeded! he was fucking fantastic at this – but it still not made me enjoy the book.
this could’ve only be a first-person narrative, it’s what makes it unique from all those thrillers about serial killers – and this book *isn’t* a thriller. the first part of the book is full of nonsense, gym, friends, work, gym, armani coat this, armani shirt that, and after 250 pages you are bored to death and i feel like he wanted this, because when the killing start, subtle at first and more graphic after, you are almost relieved that he starts killing dogs and women because at least something is happening! he needed us to really feel patrick bateman’s feeling, and the worst thing is, after the eleventh kill, even that makes it boring. the killing are graphic and gor-ish but he narrates them with such a calm and quietness that you start feeling nothing after a while – i don’t know if that’s only me, but i think BEE wanted this too.
the last fifty pages are the most interesting, it’s when we start getting a grisp inside bateman’s mind and he kind of opens up about the fact that he just doesn’t feel anything – and that’s what you feel too, after four hundred pages of nothing.
so, yes, i love the concept of this book, i could talk about this book for hours, probably, and i love BEE’s writing (i’ll definitely look into his other books), but i think you’ll understand that even when you can acknowledge the goodness of a book, you can still say you didn’t like it. so i can understand both the people that give this one star, and those who give it five stars – and i feel like that’s an awesome accomplishment, being loved and hated at the same time without ever being ordinary
this could’ve only be a first-person narrative, it’s what makes it unique from all those thrillers about serial killers – and this book *isn’t* a thriller. the first part of the book is full of nonsense, gym, friends, work, gym, armani coat this, armani shirt that, and after 250 pages you are bored to death and i feel like he wanted this, because when the killing start, subtle at first and more graphic after, you are almost relieved that he starts killing dogs and women because at least something is happening! he needed us to really feel patrick bateman’s feeling, and the worst thing is, after the eleventh kill, even that makes it boring. the killing are graphic and gor-ish but he narrates them with such a calm and quietness that you start feeling nothing after a while – i don’t know if that’s only me, but i think BEE wanted this too.
the last fifty pages are the most interesting, it’s when we start getting a grisp inside bateman’s mind and he kind of opens up about the fact that he just doesn’t feel anything – and that’s what you feel too, after four hundred pages of nothing.
so, yes, i love the concept of this book, i could talk about this book for hours, probably, and i love BEE’s writing (i’ll definitely look into his other books), but i think you’ll understand that even when you can acknowledge the goodness of a book, you can still say you didn’t like it. so i can understand both the people that give this one star, and those who give it five stars – and i feel like that’s an awesome accomplishment, being loved and hated at the same time without ever being ordinary
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Sexual harassment, Classism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use