American Psycho in On Paths Unknown

Jan 12, 2020 Michael Finocchiaro marked it as dnf · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-lit, fiction, american-20th-c, novels

This is a DNF and even a DNS for me. I read about it years ago and avoided it because of all the stories or gore and misogyny associated with it. Then, I heard friends discussing it less critically. So, when the library opened after the holiday break, I took it home...and didn’t read it. I mean, I opened it to a random page and the first word I saw was “cunt”. That threw me off as an evil portent. Not that I am queezy about harsh language, just that that word for me conjures the same negativity This is a DNF and even a DNS for me. I read about it years ago and avoided it because of all the stories or gore and misogyny associated with it. Then, I heard friends discussing it less critically. So, when the library opened after the holiday break, I took it home...and didn’t read it. I mean, I opened it to a random page and the first word I saw was “cunt”. That threw me off as an evil portent. Not that I am queezy about harsh language, just that that word for me conjures the same negativity and images of slavery (sexual in this case) that it seriously put me off. So, I dove into a bunch of GR reviews both praising and vilifying the book, and I decided that:
A/ I should NOT leave this lying on my shelf where my 12yo could pick it up
B/ even those who liked it admitted that it was glorified snuff movie material
C/ i already get a healthy dose of misogyny from reading about everything that the orange smegma says and does that this would likely cause me to be physically ill
D/ apparently, even Ellis felt he went too far and wrote a book later as a sort of mealy-mouthed apology
E/ i already know that books that praise rape and violence against women like Boris Vian’s J’Irai Crache Sur Votre Tombe just engender feelings of anger and rage in me
F/ I already loathe the spoiled frat boy mystique and already blame it for many of the evils and certainly most of the violence voiced in Dump’s hate rallies, for the pathetic horror movie that was the Kava hearings (himself being a believable stand-in for Patrick Bateman with his stupid smirk and pathetic calendar) that it would only increase my feeling of alienation and sad, introspective rage to read the woman-hater’s Ayn Rand which this novel most certainly claims to be with a certain machismo and pride.

In the incredible comment stream below, there is a feeling on the part of some that I missed the point of critiquing the hollow aspect of 80s America. In my defense, I'd say that books like Lolita, Rabbit Redux, and Sabbath's Theatre all were dealing with subjects considered sexually deviant and yet still come off, for me, as better critiques of the "american way of life" without the abject violence. Anyway, for each their own, right?

So, this one went back, unread, to the library. I am reading the gory strange Bunny by Mona Awad as penance. ...more

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Feb 25, 2018 P.E. rated it liked it

Shelves: macabre, crime, le-travail-au-20e, absurd, scathing

Un mélange caustique de point de vue interne altéré, de catalogue mobilier et vestimentaire, de critique musicale avertie, un mystère superficiel.

"... il existe une idée de Patrick Bateman, une espèce d'abstraction, mais il n'existe pas de moi réel, juste une entité, une chose illusoire et, bien que je puisse dissimuler mon regard glacé, mon regard fixe, bien que vous puissiez me serrer la main et sentir une chair qui étreint la vôtre, et peut-être même considérer que nous avons des styles de vi ...more

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Nov 13, 2016 Ashley added it

Shelves: 2016

"'And what are these girls after, O knowledgeable one?' McDermott asks, bowing slightly as he walks. Van Patten laughs and still in motion they give each other high-five.
'They want a hardbody who can take them to Le Cirque twice a week, get them into Nell's on a regular basis. Or maybe a close personal acquaintance of Donald Trump,' Price says flatly." (53-54)

"In the elevator Frederick Dibble tells me about an item on Page Six, or some other gossip column, about Ivana Trump..." (63)

"The Stubbs ...more

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Apr 22, 2019 Gretel rated it did not like it

If you use the word """millennial""" unironically, you probably suck.

Oh, hey, look, this person here has shitty opinions on """millennials""!

The Interview: American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis on why he hates millennials

“What is millennial culture? There’s no writing. None of them read books.”"

The Sunday Times, 19th April 2019

New research suggests that Millennials read more than their parents. In fact, Millennials read more than any other age group. 80% of young adults have read a book in an