«Ellis' twisted world»
I did not want to read this book because the movie disturbs me profoundly. But I felt like I should because it's sort of a modern classic. Imagine my surprise when I found myself thoroughly enjoying "American Psycho". I found it much funnier than the movie, as well as easier to read the Ellis' "Glamorama". The same disoriented world and malleable time-sense exist in both books. Patrick Bateman's world is weirdly moral. The constant listing of what everyone is wearing suffused me until I found myself paying it no attention. I think the real problem of Bateman is that he does feel human, so he tries to horrify himself into feeling.
[Saturday, December 06, 2008]
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«great!!!!»
do not listen to the people that gave this a one.this is one of the greatest books that i've read.no, it's not for everybody, specially people with a weak stomach for gore.the movie does not do this book justice.i love the insanity!!!
[Sunday, November 30, 2008]
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«If you're looking for shock value....you'll only find it if you're easily shocked.»
I opened this book understanding that there would be incredible sadism throughout the story. The book is titled "American Psycho," after all. Despite what many have written, American Psycho didn't shock or offend me. Mostly, it was an incredible and nearly unendurable bore.
This book is neither interesting nor racy nor sexy as so many have claimed. It's trite and unbelievably obvious. Rather than reading a new chapter in American fiction it seemed as though I was reading the violent and sexual fantasies of an anti-social pubescent boy.
I agree fully with those who've already commented that those with any rudimentary knowledge of pyschological disorders will smirk and roll their eyes at this truly over-the-top potrayal of a violent sociopath. The truth is--dissociative or not--the character fails to actually follow any reasonable pyschological patterns and is therefore entirely unbelievable. Suspension of disbelief quickly turns into yawns and boredom after the third murder.
If Bret Ellis' purpose was merely to create something as shocking in violence and sex as he could, well...he probably succeeded with a large portion of his audience. The same portion who've seen ever slasher flick there is and yet is always surprised that there's someone behind the door or outside of the house or in the attic. It doesn't make it any more interesting or literary. Again, let me say that I have no problem with violent books. Harris' Red Dragon / Silence of the Lambs were shocking and disturbing and yet managed to stay interesting and engaging. This is no Harris novel.
This is no literary masterpiece...it's "Twilight" for sadists and the "Saw" generation. Somewhere around the time that Bateman was inexplicably seeing signs on ATMs I was banging my head on the desk. If you're going to make something incredibly violent at least make it interesting. I was ready to jump in the book and help him commit the murders just to make things move along a little faster.
"Ooohhh! Blood! Violence! Sex! Sex and violence! Violence and blood! Blood and sex! Oooh! Scary!" *snores* This book is as intellectually engaging as "Twilight." The irony isn't lost on me that Ellis is now openly gay (he wasn't when the book was written)--there are exceptionally descriptive passages on clothing and material goods as well as detailed murders of women in the book . (Shocking, I know.)
I forced myself to finish it believing that at some point it would get more interesting or creative...it didn't.
If you want something scary, creepy or original skip this trite trash. It only panders to the same audience Ellis' novels mock.
[Wednesday, November 26, 2008]
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