Rating: 
Summary: Don't Bother -- and not because of the gore
Review: This book is based on an interesting theme, that society has the capacity to become so arrogant with its own success that it's darkness is overlooked or denied. The anti-hero, Bateman, is free to commit his horrible crimes because those around him are too self-absorbed to relize that a fellow WASP is a monster.However, this concept is quickly grasped and sparsley elaborated on. What makes this novel even more unbearable, is that there is no one to challenge Bateman in any significant way. No other person, not society, not even Bateman's inner turmoil, poses a significant threat to his lifestyle. There is a reason why conflict is a paradigm element of any good book, and that is to hold the reader's interest. The novelty of Bateman's murderous escapades, his sadistic sex acts, and his in-depth description of men's fashion and yuppie gadgets quickly wears off. What's left are a bunch of characters you could care less about and a guy who you know is never going to be in any real danger for committing his crimes. If you like murder and rape descriptions, you should buy this book. If you are looking for a good novel and already know that yuppies are vain, don't bother. The development of this story is as shallow as Bateman.
Rating: 
Summary: A brilliant satire
Review: Many people who feel offended and appalled by this book's graphic depiction of violence and sex may be missing the point of the story. Ellis wanted to promote violence as much as Swift wanted to promote the eating of babies in "A Modest Proposal". "American Psycho" is a brilliant modern-day satire of the materialistic and superficial world that's perpetuated by not only American society, but by the modern world. Having family and friends who, like Bateman, are intent on making money, getting brand names, and getting girls, this book spoke to me in deep ways. Yet this book, I feel, is as simple as that. Bateman is all the cruels of society, perhaps, but Bateman is also us. Bateman is pure id if you want to look it through a Freudian lens. And some of us not silently, secretly cheered "Go Bateman, Go Patrick" when he beat up a victim that seemed to "deserve it" to begin with? A startling conclusion, and perhaps that's the very reason why so many are disturbed. This book reveals a part of us that we try to repress. Bateman is society's evils. Bateman is us. Taken to an extreme because, after all, this is satire. And as the saying goes, anything that isn't shocking isn't worth writing about.
Rating: 
Summary: trash
Review: A series of murders, so disgusting that even for this critic who is a surgeon, they make one vomit. and without these murders there is nothing left. no redeeming feature. a great script for the next hollywood blockbuster, well suited for the average 6 yrs old who shoots a 5 yrs old.
Rating:
Summary: Much hype over nothing but the author's anger towards women
Review: I was greatly surprised and disconcerted after reading this book, which was recommended by everyone. First of all, it is poorly written. The death scenes are interesting and disturbing to say the least, but the unnecessary descriptions of clothing and of pornographic sexual perversity is ridiculous. Ellis seems to forget that he has already written something or described something. The point about materialism is understood after a couple of pages. The end is disappointing and even less realistic then the story's theme. But the main point is this: anyone who knows just a little psychology knows that this book is entirely unrealistic and not even vaguely correct in its attempt to merge both psychotic and sociopathic symptoms into one man who is supposedly both charming, irresistible , and mad. Give us a break! Warning: The unnecessary hints and descriptions of blatant and plotless torture of animals is not for those who have any respect for nonhumans. What a disappointment!
Rating: 
Summary: A blight
Review: There is a line of thought that if a book is well written it is worth reading, no matter how vile the content. This is such a book. I confess, I did not finish . I was compelled to throw this away, a reaction I have only had with a few other books...Save your money......
Rating:
Summary: An absolute masterpiece
Review: This is the first Ellis novel that I have had the opportunity to read and I was quite impressed. It is obviously a social commentary from the beginning and the reader gets a real sense of Bateman's state of mind. As the novel continues, it becomes a disturbing tour-de-force that is as unforgettable as it is shocking and gruesome. I cannot convey the greatness of this book in a small review. Read it!
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: Forget the last time a book put a terror in your mind? Wish to take a look at your closer friends and co-employees, and find if they are maybe a psycho? Want a book that you will pass on to your friends with words "This book [messed] me up for a couple of weeks"? Stop reading these reviews and just buy it!
Rating:
Summary: What happens if Hell is Me?
Review: Bret Easton Ellis is probably one of the most powerful heirs of Dreiser and many other American writers of that wool and silk, including the genius-like Thomas Harris. He is one of the greatest in his « genre ». And what is his genre ? Realism doubled with Hitchcockian suspense and horror. Psychological gore turning little by little into plain hell. A yuppy has had problems with his parents, his family, though we will never know what. His mother has been committed to an institution for years if not decades. His father is like some kind of never seen never heard Satan. His yuppyish objectives are to make money, to spend money, to exercise and beef himself up in some health club, to rent, watch and bring back video tapes, to watch TV, to run from one fancy restaurant to another, to dress in the most fashionable way, in short to keep up appearances. But he is a predator in his deepest heart and he cannot survive as a predating yuppy if he does not become a social, sexual and carnal predator. He is Jekill and Hyde, both at the same time. He is the two sides of the American dream, the nightmare is just under the surface. The best achievement of this novel is the end. After being chased through New York by the police he manages to escape because of the dumb social discrimating spirit of the cops who do not do the simplest verifications, because they are not able to imagine a yuppy could have done what has just happened. And the last couple of dozens of pages will bring the character back into clandestinity, into line, back behind his brown-nosing and conformistic facade. The psychotic torture deep in his brain and flesh will go on, dominated, controled, invisible to the public. We verge here onto schizophrenia. Such a book has to be compared to Dreiser's American Nightmare, to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, to Thomas Harris's Hannibal or The Silence of the Lambs. It is a masterpiece that will survive any re-evaluation in the coming decades. No one can understand what is happening in American society and in the world if they do not read this milestone fictional vision. The author is a prophetic sign on our road to human and humane dealing with the evils of life. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Universities of Paris IX and II.
Rating:
Summary: Rather mundaine...
Review: I was recommended this by a friend, i am sorry to say i found it extremely uninteresting. The violence wasn't clever only gratuitous. The satire whilst trying to show a materialistic society succeeded in nothing but making me very bored. Clothes, violence, grooming, and butchering women. Need i say more My advice ..DONT BOTHER
Rating:
Summary: I see Patrick Bateman in a few business men I've known....
Review: My understanding of the world is colored by where I grew up...around a lot of rich white men who obsess over material details. How we measure ourselves in a capitalistic, materialistic society is madness in and of itself. The ruthless nature of a Patrick Bateman is grotesque, of course. But I have imagined and thought that I have actually seen his hate and contempt in the eyes of rich white guys that I have had to deal with. Reading this book was like a catharsis. It made me feel less guilty about imagining my fellow man as the hideous creatures they are. That this author is obviously expressing himself as a Patrick Bateman legitimizes my feeling that there are people out there that are dangerous, ruthless, and just don't care about anyone else. Great book, great subject. I'm glad Mr. Ellis felt comfortable enough to write this general self-portrait of the wealthy class.
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