Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

89 reviews

ckopack's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

2.75

I can see why this book got made into a movie, but if you’re interested in the premise at all, you should really just watch the movie. This book was a drag.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

atomicbritt's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Abortion

hjb_128's review

challenging dark tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Abortion

casparquarius's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

biobeetle'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion and War

translesbo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Well. I finished American Psycho. It became more and more horrifying as I read on. Specifically somewhere around 280 pages in, it seemed something broke in Bateman. He's a fascinating character and the book...has a lot to say about many things. Violence, neoliberalism, capitalism...just like Bateman, I was in a daze as I read through that last 100 pages, knowing I was almost to the end, but not really sure of what I was expecting to find there.

I think im satisfied with what the ending implied, though, at least for Bateman. He is still free, that isn't a spoiler as its mentioned on the back of the book, but he's so transformed and unhappy, deluded and alienated from his own life that its fair to expect that he'll self destruct- probably sooner rather than later. 

And of course, you don't even really know if most of what happened in the book even was real. He did certainly kill a lot of people, but...it's like when it comes to his immediate circumstances, he's trapped. No one sees him, nothing he does happens, and the ending comes back around to the beginning like a snake eating its own tail. Surely time has progressed but the only effect it has on his world is the further deterioration of his mind.

I think also, another thing this book had to say is just how despised the upper and middle classes of america really are. Everyone he or one of his colleagues has any connection to, does not see them as human beings, and this is their own faults. They're like real demons come from hell to play in the faces of humanity- but we must interact with and make deals with them to survive, even if these interactions carry with them a significant risk of death and devastation.

Truly, Bateman and his kind are the worst of us.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

elixsdgn's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book started off so well, I really enjoyed reading it - even the long descriptions of what hes wearing etc - bc to me it served a purpose: a life that’s beautiful but devoid of anything. 
Slowly, the murders became too gruesome. It stopped serving a purpose in my eyes.

What annoyed me the most was the ending. It fell flat. There’s nothing to this end, no justice served - which is not necessary- but there’s just nothing.  I know this was the authors intent, that Bateman is secretly fighting to be caught but no one cares, but it still left me annoyed. It lost its coherence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

ihavealibrarycardandilluseit's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

LOOOOVE this book. although do heed the content warnings lol, it contains pretty much all of them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia, Transphobia, and Vomit

thechocolatefinger's review against another edition

dark funny tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Everyone told me this book made them feel sick and it didn’t at all it was perfectly fine to me!

Honestly the part that scared me the most was when it suddenly

switched to third person for a chapter

lol - genuinely freaked me out I wasn’t expecting it at all.

I recommend you read this book very slowly like one chapter a day, because that way you can appreciate the satire and also understand what it’s talking about. I saw in the afterword that Bret said it’s about his loneliness but I prefer focussing on the satirical side of it. When reading I could really tell what Patrick as a character is making fun of, and it was so funny just how stupid he was the entire time. Like the biggest loser on the planet that was really great to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Abortion

There was also necrophilia. Most of the very violent stuff is told in past tense

once Patrick has woke up and is kind of getting an idea of what happened the night before

. So there is a distance from it which really helps with it not being quite so graphic, as it’s written in a disconnected and like observational way.

luce_777's review

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, and Blood