American Psycho in Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Sep 24, 2007 Kecia added it

Shelves: 1001-books, banned-books, usa

When this book was first published I could not wait to read it. I was already a BEE fan and I thought it completely horrible that the book was being censored and protested by people who had probably never read it. The day of its release I ran to my local bookseller for a copy. Nothing attracts me like a controversial book!

I think Daniel's review on this board captures my feelings like none other. I too wish I could unread it. The images of rape, murder and torture have stayed with me all these y ...more

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Nov 08, 2008 Suvi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: _north-america, 1970-1999, cities_new-york, horror, novels, _to-reread

Patrick Bateman has nothing but emptiness inside of him. Not even darkness, just emptiness. The discussions of the people he hangs out with were in turn boring as hell, and in turn quite amusing. Bateman's hollow shell acts so charmingly, that his own secretary has fallen in love with him.

I kind of knew what to expect (seen the movie), but even in my wildest nightmares I couldn't have imagined how repulsive the violent scenes at the latter half of the book would be. No word is enough to describe Patrick Bateman has nothing but emptiness inside of him. Not even darkness, just emptiness. The discussions of the people he hangs out with were in turn boring as hell, and in turn quite amusing. Bateman's hollow shell acts so charmingly, that his own secretary has fallen in love with him.

I kind of knew what to expect (seen the movie), but even in my wildest nightmares I couldn't have imagined how repulsive the violent scenes at the latter half of the book would be. No word is enough to describe them, but surprisingly I read every single line. This has been under discussion. How someone can read something like this, even though puke is very near rising in your throat? How those who like the novel justify the abundant descriptions of violence targeted especially towards women (the word 'rat' will always bring a certain scene to mind, and I know I'm not the only one)?

It's obvious this novel isn't for all. I'm extremely hesitant of recommending this to anyone. Still, I can honestly say that I liked this more than I thought I would. Ok, maybe 'like' is for the first time a word I wouldn't use. It's more like I appreciated and understood the book, but I didn't like it per se. I justify this by saying that the violence wasn't the main thing, but Ellis wants to point something out to the reader. Then what is it?

The 1980s is at the background of all of it. Especially in big cities superficiality steamrolled the weaker individuals, stimuli were needed more and more to wake up the most rich and bored from their slumber. People went on overdrive way too much, and the imagery of violence increased significantly. Bateman himself proves this by listing almost compulsively different ways of torture, bands, and clothes with the same style, but without any kind of passion. Not even murdering excites him. He boils one woman's head in a kettle, but he's just popping pills in a very calm and impassive manner, not caring about what he's doing.

From the numb style you can nevertheless spot, that only things Bateman describes in this way have real meaning to him. When the reader is horrified after realizing this, we can move on into the next question: why is Bateman the way he is? Why people are only material beings to him, who have no value? The simplest answer is that Bateman is a psychopath, but perhaps he also represents the numbing effect 80s had on people. So, Ellis himself doesn't condone violence or ask anyone to accept it, but wants to challenge the reader to interpret the reasons for it in his/her own way.

I'll admit, the execution of the basic idea could have worked with a smaller page number (I only skimmed the band descriptions), but the intent was clear. Ellis knows how to describe the emptiness of yuppies. Everyone constantly mistakes people as someone they're not, because individual personalities don't really matter. The most important thing is who can supply drugs and buy the next bottle of Cristal. And maybe who has the hottest girlfriend. Some things also pop up several times (their meaning I could only guess): food, bums, Les Miserablés musical, Patty Winters Show, and bottled waters.

On the other hand, is there light at the end of the tunnel, when Bateman is incapable of hurting people who care about him? Don't think so: "My personality is sketchy and unformed, my heartlessness goes deep and is persistent. My conscience, my pity, my hopes disappeared a long time ago (probably at Harvard) if they ever did exist.". So, why a book that has a good message (although describing abhorrent violence) and is fairly well written, should be banned, when year after year more horror movies where the violence is the main thing are appearing around the corner? I personally prefer American Psycho to Saw. ...more

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