Rating: 
Summary: Dated, Boring, Cold and Heartless
Review: I understand the point that Ellis was trying to make in writing this novel, but it just drones on and on. I skipped over large sections and chapters in this book (the music reviews, the fashion stuff..paragraphs about what people were wearing, etc..) and didn't feel like I missed anything important. This book is filled with useless filler and meaningless garble and gory killing descriptions that made me cringe. There are bright points in the book, and some very funny moments. Pat Bateman could have been developed into a memorable character..it was there, but halted dead in it's tracks. There are other ways to show he's shallow and his life is meaningless without writing 3 pages about Whitney Houston or a page and a half about Versace.
Rating: 
Summary: A shocking look at the modern world
Review: This is one outstanding read. It caught me by surprise on so many ocassions as its written to make Patrick Bateman look so cool and collcted but at the same time blind to the effects of his actions. A perfect chiller of a novel.
Rating: 
Summary: You are his point.
Review: While reading this book I started to wonder what it was that Ellis was trying to say if anything at all. Maybe that violence was becoming a mundane part of life. Almost to a point of routine where we dont' even notice it anymore. Another person pointed out how Bateman said at the end "Well I know I should have done that instead of not doing that..." meaning that he may not have really killed anyone at all and it was just a bunch of dillusions maybe coming from his obsession with serial killers. And after the description of the door way with the "This Is Not An Exit" sign I started to think that it meant that there was no real explanation for any of this. That you're being cheated at a conclusion and you're not alloud to know what the book was saying. But then I came to the conclusion that the reader is the conclusion. The fact that I read through the entire book says alot about how we are entertained. With almost a third of the book left I barely even registered half of the descriptions and skipped the chapter describing Huey Lewis And The News. Unless it had to do with killing someone it just didn't interest me and even when he was killing someone it seemed so mundane and boring. As if it were as boring as the descriptions of the proper way to wear clothing. Everything blended into one long blah. Which says alot about me. Because after awhile you start to think like Bateman.... We're not much different than Bateman is.
Rating: 
Summary: I Threw It Out.
Review: As a person in love with Fight Club and Natural Born Killers, I thought American Psycho would be right up my alley. Instead I found my line. My line is the fifth or sixth three page detailed description of the impossible torture of a woman where the writer has reached the crescendo of having his "hero" insert a starving rat into a certain area of her body so that her insides can be eaten. If I am wrong, and genius in writing is making one point over 400 pages - that American yuppie consumer culture will get so vapid that concern for surface style and acceptance based on owning the correct name status symbols will drive one man to no longer have concern for valuing innocent human souls - by constant feverish, ultimately boring, brand name checking and faint inducing gore beyond any sane person's imagination applied to women (at one point a child) mixed with pornographic sex in the same scenes then I no longer wish to be on this planet. Do yourself a favor, watch the female-directed movie instead. She deserved an Oscar for making this watchable.
Rating:
Summary: Jack the Ripper has met his match
Review: An absolute gem of a book, I could not put it down. Its the type of book that says F**k off to what literature 'should' be about. It goes its own way and is gathering fans by the truckload. A true classic.
Rating:
Summary: A difficult yet undeniably effective piece of literature.
Review: For those who don't "get" this novel, it becomes understandably difficult; it may end up looking to some, like 400 pages of fashion, pop-music dissertation and vivisection. However, it is also apparent that Ellis is a talented writer, and for those who do "get" his work, AMERICAN PSYCHO becomes a highly controlled and multi-faceted work. The more I think about this novel, the more intelligent, profound and funny it becomes. Perhaps the novel's strongest point is the fact that it is written from the killer's point of view. The observational subjectivity allows for marvellous non-expository character development and even debate about whether the crimes were real or not, (which Ellis leaves the perfect amount of ambiguity for.) And yes, the novel is graphic, almost ad nauseum. However, this is not a thriller or mystery in which less can be more; it is a first-person confession of a sociopath. Perhaps the most delightful thing about the detail, is the fact that Patrick devotes as much energy to describing his homicidal activity, as he does deconstructing banal pop-music and fashion. For those who can stomach the violence and pornography, AMERICAN PSYCHO can offer an exceptionally worthwhile reading experience. It seems almost superfluous to mention the wonderful satirical element to this novel; however, upon reflection it can become so much more. For this reader, the reading of the last lines left an impression of just having read something powerful and magnificant. It also left a distinct impression that for those who wish, it can become ever greater.
Rating:
Summary: The Debates Rage On...
Review: Before deciding to write a review, I decided it would be relevant to peruse the over 800 other customer reviews. Though I only plowed through 20-30, I found it amusing the constantly repeating opinions and trite "reviews". I find myself in an interesting situation currently, a middle-class suburbanite attending a "prestigious" prep school, about to graduate in mere weeks. This may seem unnecessary background, but it has greatly added to my own perception of this book. Yes, the book obviously deals with the "obsessive materialism of the '80s, yuppie society" (a line I felt obligated to include, as it is in nearly all reviews), and yes, this book contains enough graphic violence and gore to offend even the seasoned bibliophile. However, if I have learned anything from 4 years of High School English/Humanities, it is the importance of the analysis of the not just the cultural statement/relevance of a book, but what other messages it conveys, whether intended by the author or not. I've seen more complaints of "stale characters" and "excessive gore complimented by a diatribe message of savage capitalism" then I care to read. To clear, for all those unaware, the characters are supposed to be stale, you are not supposed to like any of them (with the exception of a few i.e. Bateman's Secretary, etc..). One review I saw noted this as possibly being the book Jonathan Swift would write if alive, and I can't think of a better allegory. Swift was the true master of the social satire (I recommend "A Modest Proposal" to those who haven't experienced Swift), and Ellis is a diligent student. This book will be a classic, but not because of the controversy. Just think, what weight will the controversy carry in 50 years, judging by the change from conservatism to liberalism in the last 50? Perhaps if society could unhinge themselves from their reverse-liberal (just made that term up) attitude, and read the book for themselves, they could see the brilliance behind it. I disagree that there is one overall message to this book, because I don't believe the author intended it that way. It is merely a satire, it's gore only one step up from the poor selling their children as food to the rich (again, "A Modest Proposal"), but time has proven the importance of satire to literary history. I highly recommend this book, even to the squemish (though you may want to cover your eyes in some parts), because in 30-50 years, when it is identifed as one of the defining books of that period, your opinion can be more informed by current events.
Rating:
Summary: One of the few exceptions to the book vs. movie argument
Review: I read this thinking it was an interesting idea. It was, but after about 30 pages, it seemed to just start over. Sure it got more graphic and gory but it seemed to be gore for the sake of gore. The point of it all seems to get lost in the effort to be shocking. It's like a cheap horror film that tries harder to show you buckets of blood rather than scare you. The movie actually seemed to do a much better job of the whole idea.
Rating:
Summary: a rose by any other name
Review: the book is intenionally grisly and I would assert that the murders DID happen in the fictionaly reality. PB DID kill Paul Owen, and gets away with it for the same reason Paul Owen keeps calling him Marcus Habersham... because people, in Ellis' scorching analysis of 80's NYC, are completely interchangable. No one except Bateman remembers anyone else's name properly, and frankly no one could care... The lack of accuracy and willingness to confirm is exactly what makes Bateman mad... The only character that tries to build a sense of own self is Batemen himself, and he's rebuffed at all his attempts to demonstrate to his greater circle that he is different. That's why it's not an exit for him, because the "psycho" is the system, not Bateman...
Rating: 
Summary: Parts of this book irritated me but it was a page turner
Review: The parts of this book that got on my nerves(like describing everything everyone was wearing) but I also understood that it was part of the character(obcessed with appearances). Just to comment on someone elses review; I believe in the book he did kill the people but no one clued in because none of the characters could keep any of their "friends" straight. Probably because they all dress and look alike. The movie I'm pretty sure aludes to him just being crazy enough to think he did it. I enjoyed this book but I wouldn't be able to sell it because the stuff I liked about it are too hard to explain while the parts I hated are so glaring.
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