A review by wishlissa
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

challenging dark 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

2.0

I don’t know whether to rate this a 5 or a 1. I really enjoyed the writing, particularly toward the beginning and very end of the book. Ellis does a great job of slowly introducing Pat’s descent into madness and stepping up the stakes chapter by chapter. However… I will also never read this again. Nor will I ever recommend it to someone else. 

The satire is SEARING. It is so good, a disturbing point being made with terrifying clarity. However I still found it difficult to stomach the increasingly atrocious violence. And at a certain point - even the recognizing a point being drawn about it being senseless, repetitive, overwhelming — it just became too gratuitous. I had to skim large sections of it.

I knew going in that I was signing up for body horror but i didn’t expect it to be so… creative..

I’m going to go pick up a comfort read now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Capitalism, consumerism, 1980s culture, satire