Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

99 reviews

charlottecathb's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

4.25

i had to put the book down so many times mid sentence because i felt physically sick. but i also chuckled a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Abortion

waltjessexo's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

the point is that it's disturbing and on-the-nose, but it being "the point" doesn't mean you have to call it a good book. it accomplishes making you feel horrified and is necessary art but it's normal to not enjoy it anyway.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Outing, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Cannibalism, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

this guy doesn't see minorities as human nor does anyone in the main cast.

lyeelia's review against another edition

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

Well, it’s a book that has been on my TBR for a couple years and I finally finished it. I had to take breaks often because some of the scenes were extremely difficult to read. 
This isn’t a favorite and not something that I would ever recommend. I usually keep books after I read them but I don’t think I’d be upset about getting rid of it. I just don’t know how I would do so without someone else getting their eyes on it. 
There are a few mundane chapters that I think add to Patrick’s instability since he is so focused on the wrong things. I also hated how it seemed that others found out about what he did but he never faced any consequences and I think it was in part due to him being so rich. I know that this is some of the point of this story, but it’s a reflection of how life can be. 

Being glad that I’ve read this is an inaccurate statement especially given the nature of it but I’m not disappointed to have read it.

I just never want to read these words again. 

That said, the writing is great because of the ability to stir up all of these feelings even if the most prominent one is nausea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mollandra's review against another edition

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

3.5

literally the most gruesome book i’ve ever read. i was peeking through my hands to read some of it. the critique is good and it’s always fun to read source material (movie and stage musical both take a lot of verbatim passages) and find notable exclusions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

do not read this book

viiolaceus's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, 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, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

klbailey's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

I gave this book a high rating because it definitely made me feel the way it was supposed to make a person feel. I will hopefully never have to read it again. The movie is one of my favorite gore fests so of course I’m going to read the book, never again. It had me wanting to shake these women, even being rich, stuck up, pointless people, whhhhyyy are you letting this boring fashionista pig talk to you like that??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Eating disorder and Car accident

hjb_128's review against another edition

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

stelford68's review against another edition

dark

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

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

wishlissa's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.0

I don’t know whether to rate this a 5 or a 1. I really enjoyed the writing, particularly toward the beginning and very end of the book. Ellis does a great job of slowly introducing Pat’s descent into madness and stepping up the stakes chapter by chapter. However… I will also never read this again. Nor will I ever recommend it to someone else. 

The satire is SEARING. It is so good, a disturbing point being made with terrifying clarity. However I still found it difficult to stomach the increasingly atrocious violence. And at a certain point - even the recognizing a point being drawn about it being senseless, repetitive, overwhelming — it just became too gratuitous. I had to skim large sections of it.

I knew going in that I was signing up for body horror but i didn’t expect it to be so… creative..

I’m going to go pick up a comfort read now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Capitalism, consumerism, 1980s culture, satire