A review by sheryl_reads
American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis
American Psycho is my first DNF of the year! I gave it a chance (got to just over 200 pages of my 400 page copy) and realised I wasn’t even paying attention anymore.
I appreciate the social commentary Bret Easton Ellis is going for, but I don’t need what felt like 200 pages of an upmarket Argos catalogue in my life. Every description was full of brand names, designers etc. And the ‘story’ seemed to consist of the protagonist having dinner/drinks with people almost as vapid and despicable as him.
It’s clearly meant to be a critique of the ‘yuppie’ culture - where you have to say the right things, wear the right clothes, be seen in the right places with the right people. But I got that in less than 50 pages. The rest just felt like it was bashing me over the head. Halfway thru the book and all I’d got were small snippets hinting at the mental state of Bateman.
I think this book is like marmite - a lot of people will love it, but in my opinion, the hours I spent reading it are hours I’ll never get back!
I should also point out that some of the language, behaviour and themes in the book could be incredibly triggering.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence