Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

American psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

69 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.

---

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

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

---

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

csx'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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

meg_reads83's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Stalking

Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Self harm, and Excrement

sanrio_snail's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

perer42's review against another edition

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

pantslint's review against another edition

dark funny tense slow-paced

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

3.25

Having read Clark's Boy Parts first, I can appreciate this book for what it is based on when it was published (early 90s). Though, I'm definitely judging it based on today's standards around social climate, which is the main reason why my rating is fairly low.

The extreme violence against women in American Psycho is quite honestly unnecessary. Yes—Bateman is literally a murderer and actually the worst person ever, but it turned into senseless torture porn. There is an extreme amount of sexual violence disproportionate to the need for my understanding of his character. I can already infer that he's a raging, violent misogynist—without the detailed grisly scenes

of how he tortures sex workers and his other dates.

Even more, I think Ellis uses enough methods to display the unraveling psychological state of Bateman's character, without having to write such extreme scenes of torture.
For example:

• senseless and increasingly violent murders of the poor
• completely unreliable narration
• stream of consciousness writing
• chapters that are just random reviews of music albums
• increasingly racist and homophobic descriptions of others, including frequent slurs
• his ample knowledge of other serial killers and their lives
• In Ch. 46, when narration switches to 3rd-person as he dissociates

There's so much more. But my main point is that Ellis already did all that and I'm making the argument that Ellis only ended up writing torture porn for the incels. Whatever!!!

This book made me fucking LAUGH. There are so many one-liners and ridiculous conversations to choose from:

• Price says, "...for Christ sakes—you can get dyslexia from pussy—" when talking out of his ass about the AIDS epidemic (Ch. 1)
• "You spin a dreidel, Preston... not a menorah. You spin a dreidel." (Ch. 3)
• Bateman's tirade about the red snapper pizza (Ch. 4), because what a fucking freak
• Van Patten replying, "They didn't look Spanish to me." when Price sarcastically remarks that the table of women would be hot if you speak Farsi (Ch. 5)
• The f-bomb war in the bathroom (Ch. 5)
• A CLUB LITERALLY CALLED "NEKENIEH" (Ch. 10)
• "...the thing looks like a fucking Big Mac" (Ch. 14)
• the phrase, "low, faggoty whisper" in Ch. 21 because what in the actual fuck does that mean
• MAKING FUN OF THE OLD QUEER MAN'S LISP IN HIS NARRATION... "Akthent on thee latht thyllable" and "exathperated" was FOULLLLL (Ch. 22) The dithrethpect is crazy 😭
• All of Chapter 41, "Another Night." Because what in the Mean Girls???
• The chocolate dipped urinal cake in Ch 43....

Ellis is a great satire writer. Don't even get me started on how everyone calls each other the wrong name and how they all just go with it.

All in all, I enjoyed the book. I'm sorry, I skipped the album review chapters. And the branded descriptions of what everyone wears. If I didn't, I don't think I would have finished this book at all.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Vomit

gawdz0rz'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

2.75

i never want to see the word “hardbody” ever again 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Cannibalism, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Abortion

aliclare'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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, 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, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Extreme violence.

itsbethanynixon's review against another edition

The book itself is so long and I’ve have listened to hours upon hours of it on audible and it’s just not getting anywhere in the story - I don’t actually mind the content warning I’ve listed when there’s an actual story that goes along with it… the characters seem so two-dimensional and it’s boring as fuck 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment