Reviews with content warning for Classism - American Psycho

I would give this book a higher rating. But the sheer disgust and bewilderment this left me in makes me hesitate. It was a really good read though, and dear lord I won’t forget it.

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daisyroberds's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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mpedroncelli6's review

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challenging dark funny 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

1.0

Okay before I say anything, I would like to say that I understood the point that Ellison was putting across, and the first half WAS indeed funny and well written. Themes of Materialism, consumerism, yuppie culture, etc. showed through very well, but god was this book boring. I feel like I could have read 200 pages of this book and got the same message. It felt like there was no real point to half of the writing, 90% of of what was said was pure shock value. Riddled with racism, sexism, homophobia, this is not a book that I enjoyed. It felt like a pointless and BORING venture into the mind of a psychopath.

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mirandawood's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

I don’t WANT to rate this 5 stars because I hated it, but giving it any less would just be unfair. THIS is horror. That queasy unsettling feeling that keeps you up at night, that’s what this book gave me. I had a hard time sleeping because of the graphic scenes in this. I’ve dipped my toes into “extreme horror” and was still able to sleep like a baby. But this book? No no no no no. This book is just terrible, but in the best way. This was actually scary. I could never imagine anything like this.

It’s completely disgusting and it’s haunting that on the outside, Bateman is just an average businessman. He’s educated, great at his job, very fit body, and oh so rich. But when you look closer there’s just something off. Something you can’t quite put your finger on, but you know it’s there. Is it the obsession with working out and having his body in the best possible shape at all times? The obsession designer clothes and how to properly put together an outfit? Or how about the constant looking down on others less fortunate, or of different races, or animals. Because you can do whatever you want as long as your Patrick Bateman.

Never again will I pick this up, but it will always have a place on my shelf.

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readyourbookshelf's review

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dark reflective 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

4.0

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trash_reader_'s review

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challenging dark slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

If I read one more slur I'm going to scream.

I understand the characters are supposed to be hated. I understand this book was written this way to show the characters' shallowness and how horrible they are, but I could not handle reading anymore of the unnecessary, nasty comments that were made so casually. And what the hell even is a "hardbody" and why was that the only word used when referring to women?

A lot of what I disliked about this book was the language used and the characters' attitudes, which I know was the point, but it doesn't change the fact that it made the book nearly-impossible to read, let alone finish. It was also super boring until he started killing people. It swung wildly between super boring, in-depth descriptions of everyone's outfits and intense sex/murder scenes and it's apt to give you whiplash. I also don't understand how so many people got each other confused with someone else? How? Y'all work together and have for a while. I guess it worked as a plot device for Patrick Bateman to get away with certain things, but it seemed as if that was the only reason for including that in the novel.

The structure of this was interesting. It gave you an insight into how disconnected Patrick Bateman's thoughts were and how often he lost consciousness, whether that was because of his bloodlust or because of the drugs, who knows? Maybe it was a combination of both. The sentence structure was simple and matter-of-fact, regardless of what was going on. The boring conversation he's tuning in and out of? The description of the videos and shows he watches? The description of the sex he engages in? The description of the killings? All written with the same simple, matter-of-fact that sentence structure that shows you how inhuman and detached Patrick Bateman feels.

I had to switch between reading and listening to the audiobook in order to finish this, and I can't honestly say which one was more uncomfortable. Maybe it was hearing the words "cunt" and "cock" repeated so many times through the speakers that turned me off from the audiobook so much, but it definitely made it easier to get through the pointless conversations and random music reviews we were forced to read throughout the duration of the novel. I don't care what your opinions on Whitney Houston were. Or Genesis. And all of the "fashion advice" just went in one ear and out the other, but now I'm just nit-picking so I think I'm going to end my review here, with only one more thing to say.

I understand why this book caused so much outrage when it was published. I get it. And now that I have finally read this book after watching the movie several times, I don't think it's ever something I'm going to willingly bring up in conversation and I'm definitely not going to be "bragging" about having read this book like I have so many other controversial titles before. If I were to compile a list of books that I feel should never have been written, it wouldn't be a very large list, but this book would definitely make it on there.

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jakeaboi's review

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challenging dark funny 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

3.75

This book was painful to read, for both good and bad, both intentional and unintentional. The book's depictions of murder are extremely graphic and horrifically realistic. This level of detail is great to represent Bateman's violent outbursts. However, this same level of detail can also get pretty annoying when it comes to descriptions of clothing and music. Bateman's ramblings about these things are supposed to show his comedic, intense obsessions, and to juxtapose these against the graphic killings. But, they end up getting stale and rather annoying to read as the book goes on. For the most part, the book was an entertaining, gruesome, and fascinating look into the mind of a serial killer. But, don't expect the book to cut out the unnecessary, minute details about Patrick's life.

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noelle1121005's review

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