American Psycho

American Psycho is the modern equivalent of The Great Gatsby, where money is king and shallow appearances are the only thing that matter. Where Gatsby focuses on the American Jazz era, Psycho is the Yuppie (Young, Upwardly-mobile Professional) decade of the 1980s, set in Wall Street, New York, at the time of the great economic boom. The first half of the book demonstrates, in great tedious detail, the superficial lifestyle of the wealthy. Every character in every scene is described by their designer clothes, from their sunglasses to their underwear and socks; grooming and television rituals; where and what they eat in expensive trendy restaurants and hotels; their crass and vacuous conversations about other rich people and how to match handkerchiefs and socks. However, underneath this frivolity is a very dark and disturbing theme. There is plenty of wealth but no value. Racism is cruelly obvious as the homeless and low-paid workers are not part of the Yuppie elite and are ridiculed, mutilated and murdered for no other reason than that. The grotesque objectification of women is taken to the level where they are literally bought and treated as things to be used and discarded in obscene scenes of depravity and horror. The protagonist talks about how he would like to murder, or has murdered or tortured people, but none of his peers listens or takes him seriously. There are frequent cases of mistaken identity or name confusion. Characters swap partners as there are no emotional bonds. None of this matters because everyone is the same and therefore interchangeable. As the story develops, the violence, obscenity and murder increase. Sometimes the protagonist feels as if he is a film, another superficial and fake version of reality, and he refers to himself in the third person with exciting action scenes typical of Hollywood. He is not sure what has taken place is in his head or not and tests his peers about missing persons he believes he has murdered. He obviously thinks the ramifications would be more satisfying or at least acknowledged. This is very much an anti-materialistic tale. These characters have everything money can buy, but they are empty and hollow inside, devoid of love, compassion and fulfilment. Perhaps torture and murder is a way to connect with the living and life because the designer clothes and gadgets don't fill the hole. What is missing is a heart, something the American Psycho, the consumerist capitalist, does not have.

I wonder if there is any other book that I could describe as “unreadable” and still mean it as a compliment. The writing is meticulously crafted to let us watch Patrick Bateman losing himself to his psychopathy. That it is unreadable is only natural. The soullessly pornographic play-by-play commentary of the sex scenes, and the unflinchingly matter-of-fact descriptions of torture and mutilation; these passages become harder and harder to read, until finally I could only skim them as lightly as possible, and yet they’re so necessary to give you a frank representation of Patrick Bateman’s mind, and his unblinking detachment from these acts. Even in his more mundane day-to-day dealings, his compulsion to break down the components of outfits, the catalogue-like descriptions of home furnishings and technology, and especially the whole chapters dedicated to his reviews of music artists – these also wear thin over time, but are just as important to show that in which he consistently places value, and on which he relies to maintain his mask of human sanity. Although Patrick makes for a difficult narrator, Ellis’ skilful writing comes into play outside of this narrative too, in giving a fuller sense of the world he moves in: the repetitive, shallow conversation topics; the interchangeability of Bateman and his peers; how he can give blunt warnings and even admissions of guilt without ever being heard. It’s these touches, as well as Bateman’s increasingly frantic and futile attempts to retain control of himself, that make this book compelling in spite of Patrick’s narrative.

I have loved this book for years. It is twisted and at times gory, but it is written so well and keeps you reading. The book came in time and undamaged.

If there’s one thing, this book has is attention to detail. The book mainly focuses on not only the torture that Patrick Bateman does to girls, children, men it also focuses on dinner reservations, exercise, outfits; expensive designers, and the latest technology. There are also some parts of the book where he focuses on specific artists like Whitney Houston and others, that Patrick Bateman mesmerizes about. The gore doesn’t become more consistent till you start hitting more towards the end of the book, and it becomes much more detailed and cannibalism like. I bought this book for my love for Christian Bale’s portrayer of Bateman in the movie and the way he would pay such attention to detail on designer wear, which is definitely something that this book does a great job of doing. In other words, you could describe this book as the diary of Patrick Bateman.

American Psycho is a satirical psychological thriller. The main character is a stuck-up egotistical maniac, he is also not very likable, constantly comparing himself to others. I didn't hate Patrick Bateman because I focused on his tendencies. This book does an excellent job of displaying the time period, projecting pop culture everywhere from music to celebrities of the time. There is a whole chapter dedicated to Janet Jackson. This book has a lot of dark comedy displayed by the many 2 faced businessmen. There was a lot of racism displayed in this story at times it was making me cringe when regularly referring to African Americans. In the conversations, the men were very irritable referring to women in objectifying ways calling them ¨hard bodys¨ an excessive amount of times. I did find the style of the men very impressive. The detail author Brent Ellis goes into when describing what people are wearing is extremely giving the brand names of each piece of clothing. He also goes into impressive detail when describing the personalities of people with little depth but precision delivering the point. With this style, you can really get an intrusive view of the people he describes. This is overall a good book with interesting themes and a setting spanning through the diverse expansive city of New York.