Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

104 reviews

jacobalenciaga's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Vomit

Minor: Self harm, Abortion, and Pregnancy

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

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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

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.

bunnivie's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

this was something! like everyone else, i couldn't stomach the murders and the sexual violence that occurred throughout the book. this was certainly a hard read. the only scene i liked was patrick and jean's conversation around the end of the book. i hope i can forget about this book now that i'm finally finished with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Animal death, Eating disorder, and Abortion

issymaae'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: Gore, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Animal death, Eating disorder, and Abortion

kozumethan's review against another edition

dark funny reflective 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

4.25

a cynical, edgy, committed character study that succeeds in being both pathetic and horrifying 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Abortion

katksi's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Great writing but it didn’t need to be so graphic. It took away from the message. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Torture, Abortion, and Murder

becaxxoo's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

grassgoat's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

deathmetalheron's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.25

vAmerican Psycho is a battle between its concept and its execution. It is genuinely hard to argue that conceptually, American Psycho is basically perfect--it's an ahead of its time, notable satire that has done nothing but age incredibly well. Every critique that exists, textually or subtextually, reigns true of both the era it is set in and the modern age--Wall Street, Reagan, capitalism, masculinity, sexual violence--all of it is still sadly so, so relevant and so poignant that the underlying text just oozes with "thinkability"--the implications of so many little moments have as much, if not more, to say than the text as a whole. The real meat and essence of this story is placed within the subtle exchanges of dialogue Bateman has with his colleague and romantic partners/future victims.
And yet, in execution, AP is nothing but a slog. I read an interview with Ellis before reading where he was frustrated by the 2000 film of the book, saying that the medium of film "demands answers" and didn't let the ambiguity of the book shine through. 
The presentation of this text does nothing to aid the ambiguity. The themes are already there. I remember thinking Ellis was onto something after the first chapter until Bateman commits a murder, and despite each murder and torture sequence ramping up the pain and suffering each one loses me as a reader more and more. By the end of the book you slowly discover that there are different types of chapters--Bateman talks with colleagues, Bateman tolerates women he hates, Bateman waxes lyrical, Bateman consumes, Bateman kills. And by the end of the book I was truly sick of the mind-numbing repetitive nature of each chapter type and how little they continued to add. In spite of the little nuggets towards the end of the book (that make up some of the most memorable lines in the movie) they placed among word vomit of misogynistic killings and goofy product endorsement. 
I give credit to the concept, but if you've seen the movie, you can skip this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Antisemitism, Car accident, Abortion, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

If you are a generally squeamish person/not interested in reading explicitly described violence/sex/sexual violence I would just avoid this book.