American Psycho

Rating:
Summary: Way too graphic....
Review: This book succeeds for a very short period of time. At first, its a funny assault on 80's greed, status distinction and yuppieness but the scenes of murder are just too hard to take. By the time I reached the near-end of the book, I simply had to put it down. It became painful.

Rating:
Summary: Makes a good point; overkill on violence
Review: In AMERICAN PSYCHO, Brett Easton Ellis cleverly exorcises the 1980s zeitgeist. Written in the first person present tense, the book chronologues the life of a rich New York yuppie whose existence is dominated by designer clothes, trendy restaurants, tepid pop music, exhausting gym workouts, "hardbody" sex partners, and lesbian porno movies. And did I mention that he is also a mass murderer who tortures and mutilates his (mostly young female) victims in unspeakable ways? Or is he just making this up?

Engaging in a little reductio ad absurdam, Ellis shows us the innate depersonalization of a materialist society. The protagonist (I use the term loosely when it's applied to a capital murderer), although strikingly handsome, atlanteanly fit, and impeccably dressed, is continually mistaken for other people by his acquaintances. Although he repeatedly confesses to his (real or imagined) crimes, he is never taken seriously by his associates, who are much too concerned with their own conceits to even listen to him. As for the protagonist, his major concern is to get finished with his mayhem in time to return his video rentals before midnight.

The author has masterfully incorporated humor and insight into his view of materialistic self-absorption. I do have to dock him a couple of stars on two counts, though. First, the plot goes nowhere. This is simply a slice of a very disturbed life with no buildup or resolution. Second, the violence and gore does get a little out of hand (and I'm speaking as a pathologist here). This is most certainly not a book for any but the strongest stomachs. The violence is necessary to get the theme across, but please, Mr. Ellis, just a little restraint!

Rating:
Summary: A Whole New World
Review: A strange, unbalanced but blackly comic tale of the adventures of the ultimate anti-hero, a character called Patrick Bateman, who lives in a awful world of surfaces, and doesn't care. Set in the last years of the 80's, but equally applicable at any time, 'American Psycho' mixes social commentary with gruesome new uses for common household implements.

As a blueprint for living it's like a sickness - a certain type of company-car driving travelling sales rep will find the descriptions of expensive clothes and exclusive apartments positively masturbatory, although by the end of the book they may well want to become a socialist. That's only half of the book, though.

The violence is fantastic - you'll never look at a car battery in the same way again - but at the same time it seems oddly out-of-place, as if the book didn't really need to be about a psychotic killer. Certainly, the idea that a soul-less, empty murderer would actually get on quite well in The City is deliciously, horribly true, but the murders all seem so unreal it's hard to see why they are there. If they are all in the mind of the main character, it makes a bit more sense - in that case, Patrick Bateman is a dweeb, living an imaginary life in which he is a god.

All in all it's a great success, and any book that makes you think twice about buying expensive water-activated gel cleansers is a Good Book, in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Hmmmm, interesting
Review: Having read many of the reviews before reading the book, I was intrigued as to how it would be. I won't repeat the various opinions by other reviewers - I can understand that some found it great, some disgusting. For me, it was middle of the road.

The torture scenes REALLY are revolting - all I can say is that I hope Ellis got his ideas from other sources, otherwise he has to be one sick motherf----r to even come up with these scenarios.

It seems like some people were confused by the fact that people seemed to have different names all the time. I understood this to mean that all of the protagonists in the book were so similar (with their designer clothes and, especially, not forgetting their standard hair- cuts and -styles) that they were completely interchangeable.

What I could NOT understand were the sudden references to the various musicians (Genesis, Houston etc). What did they have to do with anything? If somebody could explain, please e-mail me at [e-mail] - I'd be grateful.

Rating:
Summary: Who Cares?
Review: How can people like this book except if they think they're being intellectual by saying they liked it? Great, it's a satire, but half of it is just sex and torture scenes. The character has no redeeming qualities. People who like it because it allows for an in-depth look into the mind of a psychotic are being silly, who wants an in-depth look into the mind of a psychotic unless they're a psychologist or sick? People who think its a great satire of the materialism of the 80's are wrong, too. The movie manages to accomplish this in a much better and interesting way. Ellis could have written a 150 p. book with a couple murders and proven his point, but scene after scene of it is just Ellis trying to score some shock value. Added to this is the fact that it's poorly written by a mediocre writer. The only good thing that came out of this book is the movie- much better- and it captures the spirit of Am-Psycho very well. And they somehow managed to accomplish this without a scene of a 5 year old boy slowly dying with a knife halfway in his throat.

Rating:
Summary: hated it
Review: This book is a total waste of time and money. I found it to be a horrible account of a sick life. I certainly would hate for a young person to read it. Disgusted and will not read any other books by this author in the future. I hope the publisher reconsiders printing this type of novel.

Rating:
Summary: Beware the Small Minded Reviewers
Review: This book is most definitely not for everybody. In fact, most of the people who I know I would be mildly disturbed by this book. The rest would be absolutely horrified. This is a very well written and often humorous book. However, many people who read it will not like it because they are not prepared to look beyond the horrific portrayals of violence to the deeper meaning of this book. These are, I believe, that same people who will not like the movie. It requires a certain level of intelligence and willingness to look beyond the surface of graphic violence to truly appreciate this book. Ellis goes well beyond simply good writing, and is able to make his readers laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of Batemans actions (for example: graphically describing a scene in a pornographic video he watched the night before, then in the same paragraph going on to explain his reasoning for buying the album, cassette, and CD copy of a recently released album without missing a beat) This is a great book if you are ready to read it, and accept that it does not have a traditional plot/storyline. It is merely a commentary on a time period gone past, and the ridiculousness of it all. An excellent book if approached with an open mind and the intellect to appreciate it

Rating:
Summary: See this movie, then read the book!
Review: I would recommend seeing the movie first, then reading the book. I found this easier as I was able to appreciate the story better than if I would not have seen the movie. Although the book is very detailed and graphic, it is a very enjoyable read, a very clever and well-written story. It is very hard to put this book down.

Rating:
Summary: Worst I ever read
Review: This book has no redeeming qualities that I can find. Maybe it does have a message about the superficiality of people, but I can think of better story lines to get the message across.

Rating:
Summary: A less-than-helpful bonafide Nick review.
Review: It's been nearly two months since I finished "American Psycho", and I'm still not quite sure what I thought about it. One thing is a certainty: it's memorable..to say the least. A couple of images imparticular still haunt me when I close my eyelids at 3 AM. Not that they're scary necessarily. But stomach-churning? You betcha. Hence, as many others who've read the book have warned, it's definitely not for the squeamish. The simple fact that I only found time to read it on my lunch breaks made it difficult. Call me what you will, but let's see YOU try to digest a fishwich while reading in grueseome detail of dismemberments and sexual acts with not only deceased but decapitated individuals. So again, weak-stomached ones beware!

But all in all, I can't say I didn't find it intriguing. Perhaps that's a wee bit morbid, but there was obviously something that kept me turning the pages. If I had to pinpoint it, I'd guess it was his knack for satire and sarcasm.

Not a bad book. Well, principles and decent morals aside, that is. It's an interesting enough read if you're up for it.

I kidded myself into thinking it wouldn't affect me. After all, I've been reading Stephen King books passed down from my father since I was eleven. I'm invincible, right! Psh, not even in the same ballpark, ladies and gents..

And as an added sidenote, those who HAVE read it and were disturbed, so much so that you're fearful to see the movie (as I was), I can assure you they toned it down considerably. (There's no way they couldn't've, blecch.)Excellent flick.