Book Review: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
American Psycho: <Click on title to buy from Amazon
Review Originally written on May 10, 2006
A violent video game of a modern Psycho
This is the only Ellis book I have read and apart from some parts (that I found myself skipping!) where I was getting annoyed and bored by endless descriptions of products, clothes etc. I actually liked this book. It does emanate a sense of doom and horror. I also found it quite funny. This is also a notable book for pushing the boundaries of censorship regarding graphic violence and misogynistic elements. I incidentally have included it in 5 notable novels that pushed the boundaries of censorship on my other blog CLICK HERE TO READ
The book does justice to its subject. Dark humour is splattered all over this book, so is blood, body parts and torn out guts. Bateman also clubs verbal insults (mostly through his narration) on various races, people, women, homosexuals (Ellis came out as a bisexual in 2005, not that it matters but may throw some light on how he treats or satirizes his subjects) etc. But it only shows that Patrick Bateman is incapable of not hating anything.
At times I found the details of everyone’s attire rather humourous and I mostly skimmed over them anyway. Ellis himself has admitted that those ridiculous descriptions were mostly tongue in cheek. Not only they serve the purpose of satirising the lifestyles of rich people, desperate to be noticed, but also ACTUALLY most of the descriptions that sound impressive got humour hidden under the surface. This is author’s subtle joke. If read carefully, a reader may realize the color matchings etc. of people’s clothes make them clowns of sort.
Almost all characters in this novel are SUPER SNOBS with too much money and no sense what they should do with it. They are very superficial. In the beginning of the book when Bateman is at the house of Evelyn for a small get together, their conversation on international affairs is funny. Bateman’s own views on the world sound lofty but are nothing more than newspaper clippings put together shoddily. He got no idea what he is talking about. More aware readers may realize what the devil was that comment about Sikhs and Jews killing each other in Sri Lanka?!
Violence is disturbing mostly because innocent, helpless people are being slaughtered by Patrick Batemen for personal sadistic pleasures. List of victims include a young boy who Bateman lures into a corner in a public place and slits his throat. Bateman tries to fill the vacuum of his life with the killings and mutilated corpses strewn all over his apartment. He even tries necrophilia and cannibalism. Though, we see, his joys from this madness don’t bring him peace of mind.
Bateman is a megalomaniac. He plays god with people he kills and also the beggars and homeless people he brutalizes with jokes and physical afflictions. Bateman is also very jealous of other people’s success and is stuck in the cut throat rat races of modern world. His seething mad-jealousy at his friends’ business cards being more impressive than his, is one example. To make matters worse, he got no compassion for the poor or destitute. Their misery gives him sadistic joys.
Actually, the gory story is a reflection of Bateman’s own jaded soul and hollowness. What I can’t understand why Bateman has to go from one evil to another, all the time. He rarely shows any genuine glare of humane thoughts or conscience. Though there are some warm moments in the novel. I quite liked the banters of Bateman’s buddies. Also, quite a few women in the novel are warm and caring (Evelyn, Jean). All the parts of the novel which mention Bateman and Jean together are really warm.
But still Patrick Bateman chooses to dwell in the dark. Bret Easton Ellis never gives him a chance to show or get affection. There is no remote possibility of Jean and Bateman being a source of lasting comfort to each other, despite their emotional chemistry being almost ideal! There is no exit for Bateman.
Well, I would like to think that yuppie Patrick Bateman will gradually grow out of his obsessions and delusions as he grows older. Maybe Ellis owes us a novel that somehow fixes the grossly messed up lives of his characters. But maybe that would be asking too much from a man who is so deft at this postmodern genre and developing characters who have bitter emotions, jaded souls and very bored minds. They must think and act extreme to escape their maddening ennui.
Tags: American Psycho, Book Review, Books, Bret Easton Ellis, Ellis Bret Easton, Fiction, Horror, Novel, Pulp fiction
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