A review by supreeth
American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis
5.0
Literature is a mysterious thing, you read catcher in the rye and brood over the concept of the death while Mark Chapman assassinates John Lennon. You read American psycho and think about the materialism while some another yuppie idolizes Bateman, all excessively narcissistic.
Bret Easton Ellis might’ve had some sick ideas in his brain, so he writes it as an allegory for something else; Or, he really did hate the 80’s American yuppie culture and this is the best thing he could come up with.
Either way it makes sense in a weird way.
Patrick Bateman is a shallow cavity which sucks everything out there in his world, Music CDs, moisturizers, hardbodies, facepacks, video tapes, Donald Trump, chainsaws, axes, rats, cats, dogs, women, men, all flesh and brands. Rich, homeless, African, Armenian, American, everything. You don’t really find people in his head. A fancy suit and ‘talking-walking women/men’ aren’t any different. They’re all materials.
And what's scary is, he’s not alone,he talks with bunch of people who’re all his alter-egos in a way, all hardbodied-well-paid-good- looking men with same barbers.
“I had all the characteristics of a human being—flesh, blood, skin, hair—but my depersonalization was so intense, had gone so deep, that my normal ability to feel compassion had been eradicated, the victim of a slow, purposeful erasure. I was simply imitating reality, a rough resemblance of a human being, with only a dim corner of my mind functioning”
Every character in BEE’s book I read so far is apathetic, hedonistic, pessimistic, nihilistic, suicidal, homicidal and everything immoral. They cut throats, slit wrists and act all normal, not a bit fazed or perturbed.
His writing is something I seem to love, most of his books are pointless; this neutral, cold, flat, non-pretentious writing is basically why I tend to pick his books.
If you take away the violence and murders, there’s a sick world left out.
Bret Easton Ellis might’ve had some sick ideas in his brain, so he writes it as an allegory for something else; Or, he really did hate the 80’s American yuppie culture and this is the best thing he could come up with.
Either way it makes sense in a weird way.
Patrick Bateman is a shallow cavity which sucks everything out there in his world, Music CDs, moisturizers, hardbodies, facepacks, video tapes, Donald Trump, chainsaws, axes, rats, cats, dogs, women, men, all flesh and brands. Rich, homeless, African, Armenian, American, everything. You don’t really find people in his head. A fancy suit and ‘talking-walking women/men’ aren’t any different. They’re all materials.
And what's scary is, he’s not alone,he talks with bunch of people who’re all his alter-egos in a way, all hardbodied-well-paid-good- looking men with same barbers.
“I had all the characteristics of a human being—flesh, blood, skin, hair—but my depersonalization was so intense, had gone so deep, that my normal ability to feel compassion had been eradicated, the victim of a slow, purposeful erasure. I was simply imitating reality, a rough resemblance of a human being, with only a dim corner of my mind functioning”
Every character in BEE’s book I read so far is apathetic, hedonistic, pessimistic, nihilistic, suicidal, homicidal and everything immoral. They cut throats, slit wrists and act all normal, not a bit fazed or perturbed.
His writing is something I seem to love, most of his books are pointless; this neutral, cold, flat, non-pretentious writing is basically why I tend to pick his books.
Spoiler
The narration changes from first person to third person in the same sentence, around page 280. Is this supposed to imply it’s all in his head? It’s clever that author keeps things all vague, you go on and conclude yourself. I've written everything sick i could so far. You find the hidden meaning; which might not existIf you take away the violence and murders, there’s a sick world left out.