Customer Reviews
Very, very true! - By: Mrs. Sharon L. Lawson, 18 Jan 2008 
What a brilliant read! My favourite book so far at the age of 31.
Ellis' observations & depictions of the shallow, self-obsessed, materialistic lifestyles of the characters were brilliant & you could not help but completely agree that that is how society (or parts of it) actually are. Bateman was quite a guy. In one sense, he was very funny - his vanity routines, designer label observations, typical high-flyer yuppie lifestyle. Yet his sinister side to me depicted a message through the story that despite material obsessions, no-one really cares much about anyone, about people. Not many questions were asked about missing 'friends'!
Though, dare I say it, COMICALLY (due to the absurdity) graphicin parts, to me it was just another way of showing the moral of the story: returning videotapes & being beautiful is far more important than other people's welfare.
The film adaptation isin my collection too. Christian Blae was brilliant as Bateman. Remember, the true nature of the book can't exactly be transferred to celluloid so they did have to tone it down quite a bit. I found the film very funny too: extreme black comedy/sattire.
Recommended :o)
very good book - has brilliant style - By: , 05 Aug 2005 
becasue no other book is like this it should be read
its extremely funnyin parts & gruesome also
i liked the setting & it was very enjoyable to read
Brilliant dark satire - By: , 12 Jun 2003 I was hesitant about reading this book after it was recommended by a friend several years ago (before all the hype surrounding the film) but then I started reading it & realised the book is brilliant. It is dark, sadistic, & cruel but for all of that, it is only a reflection of an anonymous designer culture stripped of individuality with pre-packaged tastes, gulping down mass produced media, & mindless attractions & where "murders & executions" become the only colourin a colourless, insipid reality.
Bateman is the anti-hero for our times.
A word of caution, though. This book is not an easy read. There were sections that I could not get through for the sheer brutality of them.
A cult classic - By: J. A. Eyers, 29 May 2003 It is difficult to be suitably objective from the furore that still surrounds this novel & judge it on its own merits. On the one hand, the temptation is to champion the underdog of contemporary fiction & claim Bret Easton Ellis made a daring movein his no-holds-barred depiction of his insane protagonist. On the other hand, however, is my opinion that it is also over-rated & its ending something of a cop-out.
After the first hundred pages, you can see why certain women’s groups called for it to be banned. Its description of sexual violence, torture & murder leaves nothing to the imagination. We are inside the head of Patrick Bateman & he doesn’t get squeamish easily. However, what perhaps enraged the novel’s moral detractors more than the content is the tone, which is not always cold, but sometimes flippant, & sometimes even comic. There are certain images Ellis conjures up involving decapitated body parts that can only be intended as very, very black humour.
What I initially found surprising is just how few pages are devoted to wanton killing. Those that decried this novel would have you believe it’s non-stop snuff from first page to last, but there can’t be more than twenty gore-sodden pagesin the entire novel. However, as those blood-free first one hundred pages reveal, there’s more to being a psycho than killing people.
Patrick Bateman is an insufferable yuppie, a right-wing rich white kid with far too much money & nothing of real value to spend it on. The first hundred pages drown youin brand names & pop culture, sucking you into its depiction of 1980s New Yorkin such a way you, too, will start noticing what people are wearing when they enter the room – just like Patrick. He livesin a world where wealth has emancipated him from his responsibilities as a human being. It’s a world where moral values are subjective consumables, just like the latest Givenchy tie or Ralph Lauren shirt. Patrick has so much money he can pick & choose his identity.
And therein lies the crux of this novel. To go further would be to spoil the novel’s denouement, which those who have seen the film will already know. Suffice to say, as the novel tumbles out of control towards its conclusion, Patrick stops being this crazy murderer we can hold at arm’s length, but someone we should all be able to relate to.
The novel is well-writtenin simple, chilly prose, manipulative like a murder mystery & disorientatingin its somewhat picaresque approach. In fact, I’ll only say it’s over-ratedin the same way that Ellis’ earlier novels, “Less Than Zero” & “Rules Of Attraction” are under-rated. It is not the greatest novel of the 1990s, & I felt it was too constructed despite its episodic nature to feel totally real – unlike both his earlier novels. It is, however, an important novel by a powerful writer (surely such a clichéd phrase these days it’s the kind of book Patrick himself would pick up).
Proceed with caution ! - By: nickygrimshaw, 01 Jan 2003 American Psycho is a wonderfully clever, well written & observed novel. It is also one of the few books to actually make me cringe & feel distinctly uncomfortable whilst reading it. The real genius of this book is that neither element could work without the other.
Setin yuppiefied, late 80s New York, American Psycho tells the story of Patrick Bateman, financial wheeler dealer, designer label freak, gym addict & women charmer. Bateman is also a serial killer with no sense of self, morality or empathy. The novel perfectly depicts a society where eatingin the right restaurant, wearing the right clothes & earning the maximum amount of money has replaced any genuine human emotions & relationships. In Bateman's world, your closest friends can't remember your name, the biggest disaster is being seenin the wrong restaurant & its perfectly okay to kill & tortue whoever you like to get what you want.
For someone who grew upin the 80s (like myself), the novel brilliantly recreates the music, culture & dodgy values of the time. It is frequently very funnyin a (very) black way & is a very clever satire. Potential readers should be warned, however, that some of the scenes & languagein the book are very explicit & disturbing. By following the thought processes & motivations of Bateman, readers are privy to some horrific & shocking images & descriptions. I am a huge fan of horror fiction, but rank this book as the most disturbing I have read - not least because it isn't a horror novel .
If you have a strong stomach, a sense of humour, can remember the 80s & enjoy a brilliantly & cleverly written novel, I highly recommend American Psycho.
