Rating: 
Summary: Sadistic, yet riveting social satire.
Review: Having seen the movie and loved it, I was anticipating of course exactly what I had seen in the movie with somewhat more detail and character development. What I uncovered was much, much more. Ellis brings the enigmatic and mysterious Patick Bateman(whom I liken remotely to Jay Gatsby) to life as an embittered entity centered around self-indulgence, nihilism and narcicism. Bateman's alterego says and acts on things that many of us think, but would never dream of actually participating in. FYI - American Psycho is indoubtedly not for the squemish or anyone who is even remotely PC. In other words, if you are a self-righteous charlatan, you need not read this. I laughed out loud on numerous occasions at the absurdity of the supercilious characters. Having said that, I cringed during the explicitly graphic and detailed sex scenes, sadistic torture acts, and the nauseous execution-style murders. Why I am I giving this a 5 Star Rating you may ask? Simple, no modern author has both the combination of balls and writing ability to put on paper anything remotely as original as American Psycho. Although esoteric and not for everyone, American Psycho entertains and educates those who are willing to go along for the exhilirating ride.
Rating:
Summary: very cool book
Review: This book is great because everything is outrageously exaggerated. It's so easy to picture yourself it Bateman's position, and it's incredibly easy to imagine that you would react the same way that he does. Bateman never watches the news or reads the paper, yet he is on top of all the current events. Most people don't have the money Patrick has, yet it is very easy to relate to him. The reader goes on a fun little journey that doesn't really go anywhere, and the climax to the book isn't really there, but by time you finish it, you feel like you've accomplished soemthing. Some parts of the book are very boring, especially Bateman's music reviews, but his character was revealed quite effectively that way.
Rating: 
Summary: Wickedly good.
Review: Satire found in the macabre, my favorite kind of curl-up-on-a-dark-and-stormy-night faire.
Though Ellis' romp through the sick, twisted mind of Patrick Bateman is not for the weak of stomach (the details of Mr. Bateman's night folly are, in a word or two, horrifically graphic), his attention to detail is nothing less than unbelievable. He translates an era obsessed with the almighty dollar, a sad by product of Reaganomics and the socially classist role of the 1980's Young Urban Professional into this sometimes slow-paced but thoroughly eye-popping read. Ellis has a penchant for snappy, frustrating dialog. Many times while turning pages I felt a knot growing tighter and tighter in my stomach. And no, it wasn't when I was grimacing my way through the five or six truly disturbing torture/murder scenes. It was, rather, when Patrick Bateman and his equally shallow, superficial, sickeningly "NutraSweet" buddies were laughing it up deep in the bowels of NYC's newest 200-dollar-minimum flavor of the week.
Ellis molds Patrick into a wolf, in jackal's clothing. He helplessly interjects, more than a dozen times, his confessions of grisly murders, even going to far as to threaten the same on his hapless chums. And yet, not a person notices.
Ellis starts out idly, but it's only toward the middle-end of the book, when I was questioning if any of this had even happened, that we really see his tongue-twisting, flinching, stomaching-turning talent for the obscene.
The book, as I mentioned, will be slow-paced at times. Were I a poseur, I'd droolingly peruse every page since he delves into lengthy descriptions of clothing and motif with an eye (and pen) for detail that borders on the fanatic.
Sure, you can draw conclusions. It's proof positive that Patrick Bateman is not only deeply and dangerously sociopathic, he also has a healthy dose of bi-polar MPD thrown into the mix.
Still, I found myself having to skip every sentence (or paragraph) that began with "He is wearing/She is wearing", scanning close to make sure I didn't miss anything but the useless rigmarole.
He doesn't go deeply into the details of what it is, exactly, that Patrick does. Something I found telling and frustrating at the same time. He's a Wall Street Nobody, a salon-perfected tan in flawless Armani... and totally without a redeeming quality to endure you to him.
The book is raucously funny in places, a smirking satire that isn't for the simple-minded. It takes a certain... bend... to appreciate this kind of humor. But when you get the joke, it's pretty hysterical.
Still, overall I was impressed. Something that makes my stomach cramp up, makes me shake my head with disgust, something that makes a simple tap on the shoulder scare the bejesus out of me (this happened when I was well into the 2nd Chapter entitled "Girls" and trust me, my heart hasn't slowed down even now).
Bravo, Mr. Ellis. It's not one I think I'll pick up again for a while, I don't think my stomach could take it, but it's one I couldn't put down while it was held.
Rating:
Summary: 4 because the movie took 1 away
Review: Hilarious, stomach turning, comic, obsessive, eye opening, satirical, PAGE TURNER!!!Ellis rules!!!
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Classic
Review: Hard to read at times? Yes. But well worth the effort. The violence is graphic but what gets you through is the feeling that Bateman is not really real. I dont believe he is actually killing people (a theme played more explicitly in the faithful film adaption)There is just no way he could have gone on so long without being caught. The book is satire. Funny since the decade it is placed in (80's) ended only a year before this book was published. Ellis has a gift for writing. The first person/present tense narration is usual but works so well in this novel. A great read you wont soon forget. The only flaw being it has no real story and ends rather suddenly with any resolution.
Rating: 
Summary: a slightly disjointed review, i'm too tired to edit.
Review: Three years after bashing Glamorama, I decided to give Ellis another try. I won't insult your intelligence by recounting the plot. The use of first person is only made known a few pages into the book - appropriate as Bateman is nothing more than an observer in his own life. The only moments of anything resembling analysis occur when he's describing his cassette tapes.
Bateman the stud and Bateman the homicidal maniac are mostly in symbiosis. The minute details of each violent sexual encounter are mirrored by the endless descriptions of his clothing and extreme repetition of certain words and phrases. Obsessive-compulsive? You tell me. The most amusing and perhaps best scenes in the book occur in the fleeting moments when Bateman isn't in control of the situation, serving to reveal a glimmer of Bateman's personality. The mid-80's setting escapes being dated because of the characters' extreme self-absorption, which is of course the point.
So what is the lasting cultural significance of this piece of literature? There isn't one. Controversy breeds public attention, not moral justification. We can prattle on and on about the duality of the personality, the ignorance of the rich, the objectification and violent treatment of women, the bad taste in music... We can question the book and its purpose forever, but at least we have an opinion. Psycho is a modern satire. Accept it for what it is. Besides, how can you resist a Bono cameo?
Rating:
Summary: Harrowing spiral into depravity and savagery
Review: This book chronicles the life of a stereotypical 1980's shallow yuppie (Patrick Bateman) in New York City. An extremely shallow person, Bateman knows the price of everything yet knows the value of nothing. From his shallow world, he makes sorties into savagery that include murder, torture, and cannibalism. No one is off limits to this conduct, not women and not even children. The book is quite interesting as it shows greed and lack of concern for one's fellow people taken to an extreme. The tome even possesses a savage sense of humor. (Apparently NO ONE, not even a psycho, likes a mime.) As can be imagined, this work isn't for everyone. The incredibly detailed descriptions of sadistic depravity is enough to shake the foundations of the most jaded reader. Furthermore, the reader's level of comfort is hard to come back to since many of the Bateman's crimes were taken from actual crime cases. However, those willing to brave the pages will get a modern day morality tale.
Rating:
Summary: Graphic, brilliant satire
Review: This book was amazing. Eliis has a way of capturing not only the essence of a social class in a particular time, but the social feelings of an entire society. This society, New York in the late 1980's is a world where anything is possible. Ellis captures beuatifully the time period and the eclectic lifestyles lived by all.
The story is told by Patrick Bateman, a clearly psychotic yuppie who works for Wall Street. He hates his job, but does it to fit in, becuase at night, away from work, he is so incredibly different, fitting in would be nearly impossible. The book is written brilliantly. Some say that it is just written to shcok and is a pointless pience of literature, but people who say that can not truly understand the message conveyed in this novel. Ellis's style, while guesome, obscene, vulgar, is very striking and inovative. Few authors can capture a society right down to popular clothes trends, etc.
This book isn't for everyone, even though it is important. It is very violent and obscene (this does add to the texture, however). I am not known to have a weak sotmach, and I grimaced and fealt weak at some parts, but that shouldn't stop you from reading it. It is vulgar in many ways, but it was my guilty pleasure. The pages flew by. I loved it, and I highly suggest that anyone who enjoys a good satire, a good psychopath book, or in general, a monumental novel read this book. It is wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: extremely interesting, gives one a lot to think about
Review: wow i highly recommend american pyscho.
basically it is the 1st-person POV tell-all confessional of a wealthy young Wall-Street type in 1980s Manhattan. He is a member of a large social/business network of yuppies who, like him, are shallow, ruthlessly ambitious, and fake. However, what makes him special is that he is a clinical psychopath. By day he hangs out at trendy clubs and restaurants, works out, and generally pampers himself. By night, he tortures people in his apartment.
it's a very funny, brutal satire of yuppies/the 80s/consumer culture/etc. more importantly, it's an incredibly realistic, powerful portrait of a man who is completely gone mentally, incapable of emotion or empathy. The writing grips you- it's almost hypnotic. This is a must read- masterfully written, very powerful, tons of things to address in it. just to respond to some earlier reviews, in which it asked WHY DOES PB DO WHAT HE DOES, here's my two cents- he isnt a sadist, he doesnt get pleasure from causing pain- rather he's curious about other human beings and wants desperately to connect. in the book's most horrifying, climatic torture scenes, he literally "opens up" his victims. he lives in a superficial world and wants to understand what's "inside" people. since he can't do this in the figurative sense- by connecting emotionally to people- he literally looks inside them. when people "open up" to him in another way (Luis Carruthers; Jean) he is confused
Rating:
Summary: hilarious social commentary
Review: even though this book was pretty graphic for my tastes [at some points i felt a little queesy or had to skip over sections...] ellis's wit and satiric humor made me keep on reading. i could picture these characters being people i know -- totally oblivious to the fact that a psycho was sitting across the table from them, dispite his outbursts and confessions. if you can stomach it, you should definitely read this book.
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