Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

356 reviews

littlebeereads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

I watched the movie ages ago and decided to read the book recently. Gosh I did not realise how much more gory it was than the movie. If you don’t like body horror then this is definitely not for you but I found the whole book fascinating. Going from talking about designer clothing (which happens a lot) to lunches and clubbing to full on mutilation is wild. I HIGHLY suggest you read the epilogue if you do read it as I think it’s really interesting hearing Ellis’ view on his book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

corporateballerina's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.5

I love this book and (believe it or not) have read it a couple times, but its recommendation comes with major caveats.

Absolutely no reader should go in blind. Know that there are many scenes of explicit violence, sex (consensual and non-consensual), and language. It is not an easy book to read. Also know that it’s a dark comedy and a criticism of yuppie culture, capitalism, and toxic masculinity. It requires a deeper look and shouldn’t be taken at face-value. 

If you can get past that, the postmodern satire is impeccable. Serial murders are interspersed with reviews of Phil Collins’s music, with Patrick Bateman serving as the ultimate unreliable narrator. What adds to this effect, in a meta way, are readers’ reactions to it; anyone who treats the novel as a handbook is completely missing the point.

I’ll also note that I listened to this on audiobook, narrated by Pablo Schreiber. I don’t quite know how he managed to get through reading it aloud.

I suppose the final verdict is this: IYKYK, and you have to know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Classism

ljp223's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

tanabanana30's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

viannabanana's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting

sagesagesage's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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

0.5

i wish i could unread this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

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

lilylockette's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

The best book I have ever read. I can say this with confidence. I could go on for hours about this book. The best i can describe it is: A brilliant, enigmatic satire of 80s yuppie culture, filled to the brim with horrific displays of violence and grotesqueness. (while deeply disturbing, absolutely necessary to the book’s theme of stretching the limits of societal boundaries, and seeing just how much money and status can get you out of.) Before reading this book of course I had seen the movie, and I had heard that the book was extremely graphic. I didn’t grasp just how graphic it truly was. The book had me in full fledged tears at multiple parts. I had to set it down for hours and take breaks. Don’t let this dismay you because the book is nothing short of a masterpiece. It’s fairly fast paced, but unlike the movie, Paul Owen’s (Paul Allen in the movie) murder is not necessarily the main plot or the reason Bateman really spirals into insanity. In fact, Owen’s death scene is only 3 or so paragraphs long, and is not discussed very many times (However it is one of the only murders he is suspected or even asked about). If you enjoyed the movie, the book will turn your world upside down. I highly highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the movie as much as I do. While the movie is great, it just doesn’t do the book justice. There’s only so much you can fit into a 2 hour movie, especially without confusing the audience too much. I’d say only about 45% of whats in the book made it into the movie. And trust me, if you liked Patrick Bateman’s character, or even related to him in the movie, you will not be able to defend this man once you read the book. I believe Christian Bale’s portrayal of Patrick Bateman was made humorous and much more charismatic in order to connect to the audience. I don’t think as many people would be making “sigma” edits of him if they knew the Patrick Bateman Bret Easton Ellis wrote. Don’t get me wrong, Bale’s performance as Bateman was outstanding, but it definitely humanizes him more, and I think that was done on purpose. A fair warning though, if you have a weak stomach or cannot handle extreme, again, EXTREME over the top gore and violence, definitely don’t read the book. I can handle seeing gore on TV, but for some reason, the way Bateman describes it, and seeing it through his eyes, had some effects on me. I had a visceral reaction to this book every 20 pages. However, if you’ve been a fan of the movie for years, and you just want to know more and feel like you didn’t get the full story (you didn’t), read the book! A solid 11/10 for me *personally*. Bateman is even pretty funny at times for casually dropping the most insane information mid sentence. Anyways, if you’re concerned, i’ll add warnings for things that you might not wanna read about: 
Many scenes of racism and homophobia, racist and homophobic slurs often used, extremely detailed depictions of death and murder, cannibalism, animal torture, drug use, a LOT of verbal violence, descriptions and mentions of R*pe, extremely disturbing (lets just say “creative”) deaths and torture. I cannot emphasize this enough, but the murder scenes of women just get more and more intense as the book goes on. Im sure i can say more, but that is my basic review of American Psycho. 10/10, ruined my life and desensitized me forever! <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Vomit

hightayy'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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Animal death and Eating disorder

laurenmdolphin'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

1.0

This book was so shockingly boring. Endless paragraphs of monotonous descriptions of designer clothing brands and otherwise non-interesting babble made this a really dull read. I understand that they were there to portray his mindset and pretentious personality but, for the sake of the reader, they didn’t need to take up such a large portion of the book. There is only one gross/shocking scene that I can remember from the entire book, otherwise everything else was very forgettable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, and Classism