Rating: 
Summary: Not for the weak.
Review: Brialliant. That's all it takes to explain this book. The way the Ellis drags you into the character, sucks you into his mind is amazing. At first, you get bored with all of Bateman's observations and petty thoughts, but you soon realize that that IS Bateman. You feel him. Ellis is an amazing writer and even in the most violent of scenes, and with his most graphic detail of every movement, Ellis's writing is elegant. Nevermind the film on this one, folks. The book will warp you.
Rating: 
Summary: And You Fell for It.
Review: What would you do if you were an empty-headed rich boy facing the second-book dilemma? Why, you'd do what Brett Easton Ellis did: pour two tons of fake blood all over the manuscript so nobody could tell that you never had an ounce of talent and could not write your way out of the proverbial paper bag, even with a big bloody knife in hand. Just as failed pop musicians migrate to C & W, where dim audiences are pleased by devices grown dull in the faster world, so Brett has taken the cliches of mall gore back to the slowed-down world of the East-Coast publishing world, where the serial-killer schtick, an object of fifth-generation parody for the hip kids at the multiplexes, actually seems "searing" and new. A strange twist on the provincial/urbane distinction: the provinces are now the cutting edge, and the Manhattanites the easily-awed suckers. Ellis has now written two wholly derivative, inept novels and attained fame. As an entrepreneur he is not without skill. As a novelist....he's just not.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant depiction of a decade
Review: I believe the book is a brilliant depiction of the 80s and its materialism. The violence was not out of the contest: the more violent Patrick began, the more indifferent the society seems. Through it the writter wants to hit at the heart of a society and a system of value that reward greed and ambition, money and social status over any other value.
Rating:
Summary: Skip the film, dive into the novel
Review: American Psycho introduced me to the world of Bret Easton Ellis and I'm pretty thrilled that it did. Ellis is a master storyteller, setting his sights on modern times with a precision that any expert marksman could envy. all of Ellis' novels deal with the malaise that comes with having it all. He so vividly and accurately describes the boredom and apathy associated with success and achievement that it's sometimes hard to believe people can behave this way...but they are so real you'll only doubt it for a second. From his obsession with cleanliness to his detailed description of who's wearing what, Patrick Bateman will captivate you. He has it all yet wants more. So he kills. So he kills indiscriminately. So he kills sadistically. The amazing thins is, I never stopped being completely engrossed in his character. I've also never encountered a novel where the main character refuses to grow or change but somehow stays so fresh and interesting. Ellis has written a true person in Patrick Bateman, a flawed human being who has no desire to learn the error of his ways. Perhaps that's what all the fuss is about; there's no redemption in this novel for its main character, but why should there be? Ellis could have turned American Psycho into a cliched bore with conventional storytelling, but the twists and turns that accompany Bateman's relentlessly repetitive days keep it fresh and invigorating. If you're looking for an author who knows today, look no further than Bret Easton Ellis. His is a body of work worth diving into. I devoured his entire catalogue of works in a very short while and I'm already anxious to see a new novel awaiting me. Many critics have called him the new Hemingway. Only time will tell that for sure, but there is no denying his power to tell a tale.
Rating:
Summary: Delightfully Deranged Jane Austen
Review: I am glad I was able to finish the book by constantly resisting the urge to throw it to the ground, set it ablaze, and shower repeatedly to remove the dirty feeling it gave me.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, Yet Too Over The Top
Review: First let me say, the book was just brilliantly done and I loved it in every way.....except for one thing. I believe Ellis went a bit over the top. I have one part of me that tells me that all of his descriptions of Bateman's murders (whether in his mind or in reality) were necessary to be honest and without omission in order to let the reader know what is truly going through Bateman's mind, what truly took place, with not one detail missing. I appreciate that in many ways. But I do feel that Ellis intentionally pushed the envelope, for whatever reason, possibly to shock the reader, possibly to let the reader enter Bateman's world, fully. I felt, in reading the book, that too many details were purposefully carried to an unnecesary extent, that we did not have to read the morbidity of some of the grotesque details in order to comprehend and absorb Bateman's world. It lost its class because of this, in my thinking. I had a love-hate relationship with the book as a result, though I'm sure Ellis would love to hear that! It certainly aroused numerous, complex emotions in me. The grotesque dialogue sometimes crossed over to blatant offensiveness. But I did love the book (despite the negative feelings it brought on at times), and found the characters, especially Patrick Bateman, of course, fascinating and at times extremely entertaining! Just as I found myself gasping in terror, I'd find myself laughing out loud the very next moment. Great dark humor, great sarcasm, great message. If one can get through the tough parts, it's a great read.
Rating:
Summary: disgusting,horrfying,grotesque,brillient,interesting,great
Review: I found this book very interesting and suspensful. Ellis did a marvelous job of reaching into the thoughts and discribing the actions of an "American Psycho". Since I have watched the worst horrer movies imaginable as a young kid; I was not at all disgusted with some of the chapters content. This novel is not like any I have read. It had its own style to match the crazyness of the main character. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to try something new and to anyone without a weak stomach.
Rating:
Summary: Ellis wanting to fit in?
Review: This was the first Easton Ellis novel I read, and at the time confidently acclaimed the best book I had ever read. Since then however, I have read all of Ellis' other novels, and have come to see AP in some sort of context. It remains, and probably always will be, one of the most powerful, shocking and brilliant novels ever written. There's not much I can write here that you won't have heard already; the books deserved infamy has resulted in many hours of discussion and many coloumn inches devoted to it. It exists as more than a novel now - it is a monument to free speech and how artists (which must surely now include film-makers?) have risen above censorship. The novel itself is written in Ellis' typically detached, cold style, perfect for the subject matter, and acheives its results through an accumulation of information rather than a narrative plot. For me, it doesn't have the same warmth and personal relevance as say The Rules of Attraction, but is still a towering acheivement by one of America's greatest novelists.
Rating:
Summary: LITERARY GARBAGE
Review: I consider myself a fairly educated person. Im well read, and understand the complexities of modern literature. This is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt at an author trying to drum up controversy. "Any publicity is good publicity" is the rule with this piece of trash. The book started off well and good, it actually had me for more than half of it. But it seems that Ellis gets bored and decides the best way to juice this puppy up is to dive into absolute...forget it. To give this any more consideration just feeds the fire. Its just plain awful.
Rating:
Summary: The most unfairly maligned novel of the 20th century
Review: "American Psycho" was a punching bag for critcs and feminists alike when it was finally released in 1991. Critics and feminists ignroed the satire and savage wit and dismissed it as a misogynistic gorefest; citing the murders as being excessively sadistic and needlessly detailed. Like all of Bret Easton Ellis' work, "American Psycho" is in the first person, and its title character (Patrick Bateman) discusses his life in unprecedented detail. His descriptions of his taste in clothes, body wash, music, food, restaurants, and exercise techniques are all detailed meticulously. And so are the murders. Nobody seemed to realize that the beyond-grisly killings are no more detailed than anything else in Bateman's life. Murder, rape, and torture are the only things that can make him stop fixating on his material obsessions. I say that in the present tense, because Bateman is never caught. This is not an exit. "American Psycho" defines the 1980's: The greed, the materialism, the evolution of the yuppie, the status obsession. Any normal person would be able to see what a monster Bateman is, but the other characters are so caught up in their own self-obsession that nobody seems to notice. The book is also a savage black comedy; Ellis has always had an uncanny ability to make reprehensible characters very funny. The literary world owes Ellis an apology; "American Psycho" is one of the best, most original pieces of art in modern history.
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