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A review by theconstantreader
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
4.0
Wow. Ok, so let's get the typical points out of the way first. Yes, there are some super graphic, out of this world, messed up passages in this book. Chapters that make you feel physically ill (like put the book down, I feel lightheaded - I might be sick). No book has ever made me feel that way before. That said, it's not the main event of the book and if you get caught up thinking that, well frankly, you're missing the point.
The "successful" lives these people lead are so vacuous, surface and hollow and the writing techniques employed to make you feel it from the outside are sharp and clever. Like how they always mix up each others names, everyone is interchangeable, no one matters. Everyone is just using each other to get whatever it is that they think will move them up the ladder. Ellis then takes this idea to the nth degree with Patrick, who treats people like play things who he can mutilate and kill for his own pleasure.
This idea of confusing people and not caring about or even noticing about the faux pas, goes another step further in always bringing Patrick down a peg (when other characters call him the wrong name) which you can't help but get some kind of joy out of. But more importantly, it is vital when assessing whether these savage acts (all or some of them) actually happened. The only hint we get that these might have all occurred in Patrick's head is when someone mentions they know Paul Owens isn't dead because they saw him a fortnight ago. Did they though? Or was it just some other yuppie that looked like him? The irony of course is that while this conversation is happening, the guy talking to Patrick actually thinks he's talking to someone else. It doesn't get much more layered than that.
It's a confronting look at a hedonistic society who takes itself too seriously and can't deviate from the script. Even when Patrick answers "murders and executions" to what he does for a living, they hear "mergers and acquisitions". Smart writing.
The other thing that blew me away was how well Ellis juxtaposed these horror scenes, with Patrick spending like 8 pages talking about the entire discography of Huey Lewis and the News or Whitney Houston. I'm not sure how one would better illustrate the degree to which Patrick is completely unhinged. I half expected the book to end with him being then subject of the next Patty Winters episode but no dice.
While the long descriptions of everyone's clothing were laborious and actually the thing that lead me to put the book down when I first started reading it. I found on picking it back up months later, I was able to read the book much more easily and found myself laughing at some of the social scenes that are just cringeworthy. I think the trick is not to take it all so seriously. If you come in shocked and appalled, it's going to a slog at times. Part of me wanted to give this book 5 stars but the memory of my originally struggle with it stopped me.
The "successful" lives these people lead are so vacuous, surface and hollow and the writing techniques employed to make you feel it from the outside are sharp and clever. Like how they always mix up each others names, everyone is interchangeable, no one matters. Everyone is just using each other to get whatever it is that they think will move them up the ladder. Ellis then takes this idea to the nth degree with Patrick, who treats people like play things who he can mutilate and kill for his own pleasure.
This idea of confusing people and not caring about or even noticing about the faux pas, goes another step further in always bringing Patrick down a peg (when other characters call him the wrong name) which you can't help but get some kind of joy out of. But more importantly, it is vital when assessing whether these savage acts (all or some of them) actually happened. The only hint we get that these might have all occurred in Patrick's head is when someone mentions they know Paul Owens isn't dead because they saw him a fortnight ago. Did they though? Or was it just some other yuppie that looked like him? The irony of course is that while this conversation is happening, the guy talking to Patrick actually thinks he's talking to someone else. It doesn't get much more layered than that.
It's a confronting look at a hedonistic society who takes itself too seriously and can't deviate from the script. Even when Patrick answers "murders and executions" to what he does for a living, they hear "mergers and acquisitions". Smart writing.
The other thing that blew me away was how well Ellis juxtaposed these horror scenes, with Patrick spending like 8 pages talking about the entire discography of Huey Lewis and the News or Whitney Houston. I'm not sure how one would better illustrate the degree to which Patrick is completely unhinged. I half expected the book to end with him being then subject of the next Patty Winters episode but no dice.
While the long descriptions of everyone's clothing were laborious and actually the thing that lead me to put the book down when I first started reading it. I found on picking it back up months later, I was able to read the book much more easily and found myself laughing at some of the social scenes that are just cringeworthy. I think the trick is not to take it all so seriously. If you come in shocked and appalled, it's going to a slog at times. Part of me wanted to give this book 5 stars but the memory of my originally struggle with it stopped me.