Rating: 
Summary: Most overhyped book of the decade
Review: There was a time back when this book was first released that it was even banned from book stores due to the violence. I'll admit the violence is extremely graphic and gory, but i don't think any book or movie should be banned. No one has the right to dictate what we can and cannot watch.This book was extremely overhyped and was a major disappointment. It's WAY too long for one thing. Yeah, i got the picture that the book was narrated by the psycho character in the book, and he's obsessed with designer brand names and giving endless descriptions of everything in his apartment and describing what everyone is wearing (even the people he kills) in excruciatingly tedious and boring details because he's an obsessed perfectionist. And yeah, i got that the book is a satire on the materialism an wealth and greed of the 80s, and parts of it were funny, but there are people praising this book as the new messiah or something. The book was a clever idea, but in having it written from the point of view of the psycho we're subjected to endless pages of descriptions of his material possessions, his designer clothing, and i don't need to read entire chapters on the careers of Whitney Houston or Phil Collins. I'll watch Biography on tv for that. The ending of this book is terrible. I kept waiting for the big payoff or climax in the plot and was left unsatisfied and frustrated. The story goes absolutely nowhere and just abruptly ends. I saw the movie and enjoyed it more than the book. The ending of that movie also goes nowhere and abruptly ends and isn't satisfying, but on the whole i'd rather sit through the movie again than wade through this overly-long book. I'm a writer and have been trying to get my own work published, and it's sad when a pointless book like this gets published and praised up and down, when struggling new writers get passed over for over-hyped junk like this that amounts to a big so-friggin-what. This book has no beginning or end. It's just too many pages of endless descriptions of material things that drones on and on. If you took out the descriptions of gratuitous violence in the book, which actually add up to probably little more than a dozen or so pages of a 400+ page book you would feel you're reading a catalogue and would probably fall asleep. Skip this book and read the books from the true crime section of your bookstore. They are infinitely more satisfying, and the stories are true, instead of this fictional foray into the mind of a psycho.
Rating: 
Summary: A macabre parody
Review: Brett Easton Ellis' book about the yuppie-serial killer Bateman and his exploits, created an uproar when it was released. There was rumors that Ellis had been subject to mental-tests after the release(which I am sure did nothing to damage the sales).
Most people I have met have an opinion on the book although they never read it. Yes it is very bloody, yes it is very cruel. But the much publicised torture scenes are actualy few and far between. The main emphasis is on the superficial and moraly degenerate life of the yuppies.
Ellis obviously knew, that if he wanted to get his point across he could not just write a book about yuppies. To get his point a across he had to use other means...and he did.
The books is written in a special sort of way. A way that anoy some people, and please others. The books contains alot of subtle and dark humor, which is easily overlooked if you concentrate too much on the blood and gore
No matter what you think about the point or the very graphic violence, the fact remains that this IS a classic in litterature, you can't take that away from it.
Some of the graphic material IS very graphic. I always considered myself fairly tough when it came to blood and gore, but the book mannaged to turn my stomach once or twice while reading it.
The book has a point, the problem is that the point can become lost in the torture and blood, which it seem to have been. Sad, because the book really has a good point.
You just need to look past the bloodshed, and you'll see that there is a message hidden there.
Rating: 
Summary: Sadly, An American Classic
Review: Bret Easton Ellis, more than once, captured the essence of America in the 1980's. In his books, most notably "Less Than Zero," Ellis codified the look, sound, and feel of the Ronald Reagan, MTV watching, Yuppie 1980's. Ellis was not nearly as interested in showing the flashy glitter of that time as he was in revealing the dark side of excess in an America spiraling into total chaos. In "American Psycho," Ellis attains the rank of a master satirist, viciously skewering a culture that reduces life to power lunches, Armani suits, personal hygiene, and video stores. Ellis is an American Dickens, holding a mirror up to the face of America and daring us to look deep into its depths. Needless to say, the reflection is not pretty.Ellis's protagonist in "American Psycho" is one Patrick Bateman. Patrick is at the pinnacle of power: he is young, buff, tan, and filthy rich. He works, when he feels like it, at a powerhouse Wall Street firm. Most of his days are filled with parties, dating, dining out, renting videotapes, and buying the best of everything. Why not? Patrick can afford to do whatever he wants in an America that not only approves of his behavior, but ardently wants to emulate it as well. There is one slight quirk in Bateman's well coiffed persona, one small, minutely unpleasant ritual he feels he must engage in from time to time: Patrick likes to rape, torture, and murder people. His usual victims are prostitutes and homeless people, although he isn't above killing an occasional cop or child. That Patrick is, inside, a raving lunatic of epic proportions doesn't matter as long as he can maintain surface appearances. This he manages to do by keeping up on all the latest fads, doling out fashion tips to those less fortunate, and hanging out with the guys and gals on a regular basis. The book alternates between power lunches at trendy New York restaurants and stomach churning scenes of murder and mayhem. There is a link between two such disparate activities, and a close reading reveals these links. In essence, Bateman is caught up in an empty, soul crushing existence. The people he knows and the places he populates are devoid of any deep feelings. In order to feel, to experience life, Bateman must kill (or at least fantasize about killing). Murder is his release from the daily banalities of Yuppie life, the only time when he feels as though he is participating in a life activity. The violence may be extended even further, beyond the confines of Bateman's character, to show the results of a materialist culture on the human spirit. Does the best of everything always result in happy, well adjusted human beings? Are those who have great wealth automatically deserving of our respect because they are wealthy? Are these wealthy denizens guaranteed happiness because they can buy the best bottled water, the best stereo system, the best clothing? Ellis's answer is a resounding, and blood drenched, no. Bateman is not happy with his possessions (at least not beyond any surface pleasure), and actually seems to further deteriorate as he acquires more possessions. The violence committed by Patrick Bateman is truly sickening on many levels. Ellis provides GRAPHIC descriptions of Bateman's murders, rapes, tortures, and yes, cannibalism. Those who read splatter literature won't see anything they haven't seen in horror books printed by small press publishers, but for those not used to horror films and books the violence here will definitely become unbearable. The violence is not only disgusting; it is cruel as well. It is the type of violence that seeks to humiliate and debase human beings, to bring others down to the dark levels where Bateman resides. However, keep this in mind: how can a book proposing to explore the American soul in the late 20th century avoid using violence as a major plot point? We live in an extremely violent society; to ignore that violence is to be dishonest to any serious attempt at social satire. "American Psycho" is an important statement on late 20th century American society. Bret Ellis is to be commended for penning a book that plunges into the murky depths of our country's soul to expose our paradoxes and our ugliness. Ellis took a lot of heat for writing this book, probably from those who live lives a lot like Pat Bateman's surface existence. As a final note, be careful about watching the film version of this book. It does not capture Ellis's intentions in any way, shape, or form.
Rating: 
Summary: Yes, it's violent....Yes, it's gory......But it's funny too!
Review: Let's face it, this book is not for everyone. It's certainly not for the faint of heart or for those with weak stomachs. But, if you can manage to ride it out, what lies beneath the shock of the gore factor is a scathingly on-point satire of 80's culture. The greed and image obsession of the 80's is so acurately captured that I found myself blushing at the my own memories of the time. While there is truly a broader audience for this than what I am about to describe, you MUST read this book if you fit the following profile: Between the ages of 35 - 45
Worked in a major metropolis (preferably NYC) during the 80's
Banker, Stock Broker or other office-bound professional
Have at least one Huey Lewis and one Post-Gabriel Genesis CD P.S. Must read on an empty stomach ;-)
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Modern Satire
Review: Satire often doesn't go over too well in the US-we're too literal a culture-so it's not surprising that Ellis's savage send-up of the yuppie '80s was met with such a massive wave of public (and critical) outcry even before its publication. Let me get one thing out of the way: are there multiple lengthy graphic descriptions, of rape, torture, and murder? Yes. Are they gratuitous? No-in fact they are integral to the book's central theme of alienation and disassociation. The book is written from within the head of Patrick Bateman, a handsome mid-20s yuppie Wall Street type. (I recommend watching the Oliver Stone movie Wall Street prior to reading the book, as it will give you the a good feel for the mindset of the era.) Patrick's thoughts consist primarily of which ubertrendy restaurant to be seen at, minute descriptions of his and everyone else's clothes, the plots of TV shows, descriptions of his daily toilette and workout regime, and chapter-length dissertations on the merits of the latest albums by Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, and Huey Lewis. Basically, it's a very shallow and empty existence, which is underscored by Ellis's intentionally mind-numbing detail and repetition. Although past unsavory deeds are obliquely alluded too, it's not until a hundred pages in that we "discover" that Patrick is apparently completely psychotic, when he savagely attacks a homeless man and his dog. From this point on, Patrick's raping, torturing, and killing is just another aspect of his life described in mind-numbing (not to mention horrific) detail. These acts are the only thing that makes him feel anything. In this, Ellis is clearly satirizing those people-of whom the '80s yuppies are the embodiment-who must consume designer clothes, designer food, and designer drugs in order to feel alive. Many readers may be a little upset with the ending, which after 400 pages offers no answers. Since the whole book is from within Patrick's head, it's never clear if the violence is real or his own hallucination or fantasy, although many clues strongly suggest so. In any event, the book is a nasty critique of American society (or at least a certain segment of it at a certain time), and one that's ripe for study for years to come. Is it a masterpiece of modern fiction? Probably. Is it a perfect novel? No, the repetition could have been reduced without watering anything down, and the violence is just too graphic to make it widely accessible, and finally, it's a book that demands discussion and thus shouldn't really be read on one's own.
Rating:
Summary: TerribleAwfulHorrendus
Review: As one recent reviewer pointed out, this is a book for folks who hate to read. Devoid of nuance, imagination or orignality, American Psycho simply attempts the "blunt object to the back of the head" approach to try to provide shock, while deeply and repetitively underscoring a misanthropic idee fixe, in part by showing as much disrespect to the reader as Pat Bateman shows his victims. I stayed up all night in the Milan train station surrounded by some truly creepy characters, basically amused at the pretentious (stuff) I was reading to stay awake. This isn't satire, unless you count the fact that it has been so highly praised as sort of a satire on modern pop culture. To anyone who goes around talking up this waste of trees I say this, "Read some Irvine Welsh you knuckleheads, or even Chuck Palahniuk, it's infinitely better than this piece of..."
By the way the movie was quite good.
Rating:
Summary: UGH!
Review: I started reading this a few years ago, and promptly returned it after just 50 pages. This book stands out in my memory as one of the worst books I've ever experienced. Want to read a page of ramblings about the thread count of a designer shirt? Or tolerate the unbearably repetitive use of the word "hardbodies"?
I was put-off not only by the writing style, but the violent scenes. I expected violence, but the scenes just made no sense! They just hung in mid-air, waiting for better context. This is a useless,immature, overhyped embarrassment, and I can't believe someone has written a literary guide for this book. It's like providing Cliffs Notes for a high school student's creative writing project. The praise for this book astounds me. Couldn't put it down? I think I threw my copy across my desk in disgust!
Rating:
Summary: Modern Day Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde
Review: Critics have generally lambasted this book. They say that the gratuitous violence and mysoginy have no place. Personally, I can't believe that these critics actually have a job and are taken seriously. I don't think most critics get it. American Psycho is an attack on the superficialities of America's business culture and the love affair with career advancement. The protagonist, Patrick Bateman, has seemingly everything going for him: he wears the right clothes, has the right look, has the right job, went to the right schools, goes to the right night clubs, and has the right fiance. Patrick exhibits all the superficial measures of success. Bret Easton Ellis shows how hollow these superficial measures can be by showing the dark underside of the Bateman character. In the daytime, Bateman lives in an anticeptic world of high finance and personal achievement that strips all participants of individual flair and identity. At night, Bateman chooses to show his individual flair through grotesque murders, drug addiction, canabalism and mysoginy. Bateman is a true Mr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hide: swell in the daytime and a creep at night. American Psycho seen this way is a simple satire. Bret Easton Ellis, if anything, is saying that America's love affair with superficial emblems and measures of success is bankrupt. An unintended but interesting consequence of American Psycho's publication and critical backlash is the highlighting of the shortsightedness of politically correct critics who are too prevalent. Any halfway literate high school student could see that this book is a satire and not a glamorization of murder and mysoginy.
Rating:
Summary: Hate to read?
Review: Were you like me back in the day, dreading endless book reports on books that just made you hate reading in general even more and more with each passing loathed assignment? Yeah, I feel your pain. It's still with me to this day. That's why... I hate reading. I've read maybe 5 books in my lifetime, most of them against my will. I refuse to even purchase a newspaper. Why read it when you can watch the damn news and get moving pictures. Which brings us to this particular balls out masterwork. It nearly didn't get published, why? Because it's good. I laughed all the way through the movie based on the book ofcourse and I'm happy to say that that was the last movie I took my EX-girlfriend to see. I'd repeat that night 1,000 times over if I could. To watch her writhing in her seat while I laughed histerically. The DVD is what prompted the purchase of the book. Bale and the director's commentary in particular. How could the book be "worse?" READ IT.
Rating:
Summary: Pure Entertainment
Review: This is the most enjoyable contempory novel I've read in a long time. But even after 400 pages of American Psycho, I still have no idea who Pat Bateman really is. The story effortlessly shifts between grisly rapes and murders to dinner dates and power lunches. The dialogue is very sharp and witty. There are some funny, yet discusting moments which I will never forget, such as when Bateman disguises a urinal cake as Godiva chocolate for his girlfriend, or when he cleverly traps a rat in a woman's body. Think of him as a mass murdering Tom Green.
I watched the movie many times before I read the book, and now after having read it, I realize just how much better the movie could have been. Had Oliver Stone gone on to direct it with Leonardo Dicaprio playing the lead, as was originally planned, you get the sense the movie could have been something big.
If you have a strong stomach and a strong bladder (since you may pee your pants laughing), this book is well worth the read.
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