American Psycho

Why didn’t anyone think of it sooner? I’m guessing it took the excesses of the 1980s for a novelist to draw a direct connection between the psychopathic behavior of Wall Street traders and serial killing.

Greed and senseless violence are two vices that America seems to have something of a monopoly on, and this macabre tale, alternatively hilarious and disgusting, proves it. 

In the words of Bret Easton, "What can be said about American Psycho that hasn't already?"

Controversial for its time, the book is narrated by Patrick Bateman and takes the reader through his descent into debauchery, madness, and a faint understanding of the depression he is in. The emphasis on gore, sex, and violence is something that turns most readers away. Not me.

I've read this book a few times, only to take away a different understanding of Bateman's thoughts, actions, and perspective. My book is highly influenced by Mr. Ellis' book. The movie, sadly, does not follow the book… show more.

I must start off by saying that I don’t recommend this book to most people. Why put it on a recommendation list, you wonder? Because it was a stunning, hard-to-read, sickening, shocking, brutal, dull, fascinating, darkly humorous, well-written novel that is on most people’s disturbing or DNF (did not finish) lists for a reason. I feel I would be remiss not to have it on this list. I don’t know if I can say I loved a book like this, but Bret Easton Ellis wrote a novel that will always stick to my ribs for its casual violence, its blasts… show more.

I read this at university and didn’t go out for a week. Abjectly horrific, violent, and bone-chilling, Patrick Bateman is the epitome of selfishness and evil as he goes about his narcissistic life. With an ending that subverts all expectations, I guarantee you’ll never look at a nail gun in the same way again…

Set against the background of eighties excess and consumerism, American Psycho is not for the squeamish; the story of a high-powered banker who literally hides his true face beneath a façade of expensive suits and foods, American Psycho doesn’t just toe the line of decency, it speeds past it and gives it the finger! Filled with gruesome and unsettling imagery, long rants about music and fashion and food, and charting title character Patrick Batemen’s descent into all-out anarchy, American Psycho never fails to have me questioning just what is reality and how are we perceived by others.

American Psycho takes the idea of a driven but morally skewered sociopath and plunges him into the wild excesses of the eighties. Patrick Bateman worships at the altar of financial greed; who indulges in the gods of torture, murder and mutilation to an unbearable degree. There are two contrasting interpretations to the novel where every monstrous act committed by Bateman is real, while the other claims it’s all in his head. I believe it’s the former, but the idea of the latter also fascinates. American Psycho is an undeniably unsettling and powerful piece of work which lives long in the… show more.

After I handed my copy of Jesus’s Son to my husband, he reciprocated with his copy of American Psycho, and I have to say I was not a fan when I first read it. Most books I gravitate toward explore the dark side of humanity to expose honesty and truth—and there’s beauty in that. This book is not beautiful. It’s a combination of brutal and boring. David Foster Wallace said, “In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what’s human and magical that still live… show more.

Nihilism. Welcome to the world of Bret Easton Ellis, where nothing is as it seems. In the end, the protagonist has to ask himself if he really is a murderer or just a bored yuppie with too much imagination, so it would help if you didn't take this story too literally. I read it as a satire of the materialistic extravagance of the late 80s in its focal point of Manhattan. This book feels like a preview of what social media has brought us. Insecurities are brutal. Where individualism is becoming more sophisticated, no one achieves individuality anymore. No matter… show more.

Is the main character, Patrick Bateman, truly a psychopath or is he just a pampered ’80s Wall Street bro with a penchant for extremely detailed and specific consumerism who entertains dark and violent fantasies? This is one of my favorite absurd satires with some of the most hilarious and disturbing passages I’ve read. I’m a huge fan of Bret Easton Ellis’s work. A brilliant stylist, Ellis marches the reader through blow-by-blow descriptions of everything from brutal murders to pages-long descriptions of people talking about the merits of and different types of bottled water. As a working-class Midwesterner, it’s been interesting… show more.

American Psycho is one of the most controversial and talked-about novels of all time. This first-person serial killer narrative is unique in its portrayal of the violence and greed inherent in capitalist American society. Patrick Bateman is a post-modern version of Norman Bates (Psycho), a Wall Street executive by day and serial killer in his spare time, he seeks sensation and stimulation at every bloody turn. This is a fascinating look at the senseless violence in our modern society and, ultimately, reflects our own values back at us as we deal with Bateman's litany of horrors as he… show more.