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A review by marinaschulz
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
- 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
A (controversial) review in bulletpoints.
Was the subject matter interesting? - 5/5
Yes. American Psycho is a social satire that follows finance man Patrick Bateman who leads a double life unless he is imagining the whole thing as a serial killer. The book is a social satire that pokes fun at the materialism and numbness of capitalist modern life.
Was the subject matter well executed? 2/5
In my opinion, no. The whole book was very stylistic for instance, every time an object is mentioned the brand and price is specified; chapters often start or are interrupted with the description of what every person is wearing, specifically, the brands they are wearing; pages upon pages of brand descriptions. but while the stylism is very captivating and fresh when you first start the novel, it gets old very fast.
The stylistic choices intercut the "plot" way too much, and there is way too little plot to begin with. As it is, about 40% of the book is filler, of which half is this stylistic choice, and the rest being episodes that go nowhere or don't advance the story. Let's be clear that I am not against the stylistic choices made in American Psycho, in fact I think they make the book, I just think that their impact would have been increased if they were used more sparingly. For instance, the "getting ready montage" is very stylistic and powerful, but the author uses this type of writing so often that it gets repetitive. These scenes become increasingly dull and less impactful, especially when there is very little plot holding them up.
To say it bluntly, I think that this would have made for a much better novella than a 400 page book. The message would have been more powerful, the plot would have been more condensed, and the reader would reach the end really enjoying the stylistic choices rather than resenting them.
I've heard a lot of fans saying that that's the point: the over-consumption is meant to be so boring that it makes the reader pine for the violence. But I disagree that Ellis set out to make a book that was literally unreadable. It's a known fact that the book barely received any editing after it was written and I think that shows.
On the plus side, I would add that the social satire message is beaten in *hard* and poignant in the book, maybe more so than the movie. The book's strong point is definelty that its so good as social satire. I liked (?) that Bateman was so violent towards minorities (women, black people, jews, gays), because it really highlighted the lack of empathy that his class often have to "others".
Was this book impactful to literature at a whole? 4/5
Maybe. I think that this book may have been impactful for the literature scene when it came out, as seen in the articles that came out at the time, but the ultra-violence in the literature already existed (see: A Clockward Orange). American Psycho is definitely a subversive book though, and the ultra-violence meshed with the corporate world as criticism for yuppie-ism does feel like something new. It definitely set the path for Fight Club, a similarly violent and anti-consumerist novella, which I personally prefer over this one.
Going on a tangent, but in my opinion, American Psycho is the satire that Crazy Rich Asians (a book which I rated even lower) failed to be. Hear me out, obviously, CRA isn't a violent book nor does it intend to be, but it does include long brand listicles and product prices, and describes the super-rich's habits, in a way that feels very derivative of American Psycho. That being said, CRA absolutely fails to drive home what is inherently abhorrent about this behavior and is more of a soap fawning over the wealthy than the actual satire it claimed to be. It unironically idolizes the crazy rich way too much, silently asking the question "Don't you want to be like them?" in a way that I find way more disturbing than any murders in American Psycho.
Did I enjoy the book? 2/5
It was alright, but it wasn't a particularly enjoyable read, and the murders are way more vicious and less fun than the movie. In general, I'd say it's one of those that the movie is just better.
Was the subject matter interesting? - 5/5
Yes. American Psycho is a social satire that follows finance man Patrick Bateman who leads a double life unless he is imagining the whole thing as a serial killer. The book is a social satire that pokes fun at the materialism and numbness of capitalist modern life.
Was the subject matter well executed? 2/5
In my opinion, no. The whole book was very stylistic for instance, every time an object is mentioned the brand and price is specified; chapters often start or are interrupted with the description of what every person is wearing, specifically, the brands they are wearing; pages upon pages of brand descriptions. but while the stylism is very captivating and fresh when you first start the novel, it gets old very fast.
The stylistic choices intercut the "plot" way too much, and there is way too little plot to begin with. As it is, about 40% of the book is filler, of which half is this stylistic choice, and the rest being episodes that go nowhere or don't advance the story. Let's be clear that I am not against the stylistic choices made in American Psycho, in fact I think they make the book, I just think that their impact would have been increased if they were used more sparingly. For instance, the "getting ready montage" is very stylistic and powerful, but the author uses this type of writing so often that it gets repetitive. These scenes become increasingly dull and less impactful, especially when there is very little plot holding them up.
To say it bluntly, I think that this would have made for a much better novella than a 400 page book. The message would have been more powerful, the plot would have been more condensed, and the reader would reach the end really enjoying the stylistic choices rather than resenting them.
I've heard a lot of fans saying that that's the point: the over-consumption is meant to be so boring that it makes the reader pine for the violence. But I disagree that Ellis set out to make a book that was literally unreadable. It's a known fact that the book barely received any editing after it was written and I think that shows.
On the plus side, I would add that the social satire message is beaten in *hard* and poignant in the book, maybe more so than the movie. The book's strong point is definelty that its so good as social satire. I liked (?) that Bateman was so violent towards minorities (women, black people, jews, gays), because it really highlighted the lack of empathy that his class often have to "others".
Was this book impactful to literature at a whole? 4/5
Maybe. I think that this book may have been impactful for the literature scene when it came out, as seen in the articles that came out at the time, but the ultra-violence in the literature already existed (see: A Clockward Orange). American Psycho is definitely a subversive book though, and the ultra-violence meshed with the corporate world as criticism for yuppie-ism does feel like something new. It definitely set the path for Fight Club, a similarly violent and anti-consumerist novella, which I personally prefer over this one.
Going on a tangent, but in my opinion, American Psycho is the satire that Crazy Rich Asians (a book which I rated even lower) failed to be. Hear me out, obviously, CRA isn't a violent book nor does it intend to be, but it does include long brand listicles and product prices, and describes the super-rich's habits, in a way that feels very derivative of American Psycho. That being said, CRA absolutely fails to drive home what is inherently abhorrent about this behavior and is more of a soap fawning over the wealthy than the actual satire it claimed to be. It unironically idolizes the crazy rich way too much, silently asking the question "Don't you want to be like them?" in a way that I find way more disturbing than any murders in American Psycho.
Did I enjoy the book? 2/5
It was alright, but it wasn't a particularly enjoyable read, and the murders are way more vicious and less fun than the movie. In general, I'd say it's one of those that the movie is just better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Sexual harassment