Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant and unconventional!
Review: I can easily understand why this book is not enjoyed by everyone. It mixes wry humor, clever social commentary, and brilliant shock tactics to produce an intense and memorable reading experience. The plot is so tightly and cleverly controlled that it is able to terrify the reader without resorting to the usual conventions of horror novels. It will have you laughing at it's witty charm one moment, then reeling at the extreme brutality the next, while all the while maintaining the odd sense of detachment which Ellis delivers so well. Truly a memorable book.
Rating: 
Summary: Underappreciated
Review: I don't think most people grasp the meaning of this novel when they read it the first time. The majority of people will look at this novel and think of it only as a morbid story about an egotistical wall street [...]who gets off on killing people (literally and figuartively). But if you read it with a closer eye, you notice that the novel is a satire of the American culture in the late 80s early 90s. Yes, every character in the novel is only concerned about him/herself. The materialism and idiocy of these people astound me. And Bret Easton Ellis, through Pat Bateman, shows how ignorant and oblivious people are to...well...people! Among other things... After I read this book, I went back and read the quotes on the first page before the novel starts and it all comes together. I thought it was an amazing read, and I probably enjoyed it way more than I should've.
Rating:
Summary: "And as things fell apart, nobody paid much attention"
Review: An interesting paradigm...take the world of privilege and wealth; of Wall Street retinue and upscale Manhattan haberdashery and insert a psychotic serial killer, one who murders and dismembers without feeling and then transitions back to his sartorial splendor of a life like nothing's happened and you get the essence of "American Psycho", an important and ferocious work bt Brett Ellis.The mantra preached here is that "image is everything" and that this philosophy masks the true personality of all the characters...Patrick Bateman is 26 years old, works on Wall Street and enjoys the life of a wealthy, urbane iconclast. His story is told with heavy emphasis on the "material" side of life: "He's wearing a linen suit by Canali Milano, a cotton shirt by Ike Behar, a silk tie by Bill Blass and cap-toed leather lace-ups from Brooks Brothers. I'm wearing a four-button double-breasted linen suit by Redaelli, a cotton broadcloth shirt by Ascot Chang, a patterned silk tie by Eugenio Venanzi and loafers by Allen-Edmonds..." and establishes this as the ideal of social acceptance. The problem is that all this covers his increasing dimentia and driving urge to torture, kill and mutilate. Ellis presents this dichotomy in a fast paced, sometimes hilarious, sometimes unnecessarily graphic tome that speaks to the diverse elements of psychosis and necessarily shows that this disease can infiltrate all walks of life. The book establishes the characters as faceless noveau-riche (one person is constantly mistaken for another) and we see life directly through the eyes of Bateman, who's slowly sinking into the depths of life as a psychotic murderer. He describes all things in minute detail from his clothes, music, workout routine and equipment and the people he associates with. Conversely, he also describes the brutal rape, torture and murder/dismemberment of his arbitary victims and trys to draw conclusions of what life really means from all this. The reader is purely along just for the ride here and I for one enjoyed this perspective. Notwithstanding the ending (viewed as a disappointment by most reviewers), I thought that Ellis presented a compelling story and one that needed to be told. Indeed, these personalities are undoubtedly ensconced in our society and continue to wreak havoc daily (read any big city newspaper crime section) and by describing Bateman's life the way he did, Ellis shows that this portion of society continues to exist. I think that this is the underlying message here and to me it becomes clear fairly early in the book. True, the prospective reader of this work should be warned...the violence and sex is very graphic and many of the story's turns are disturbing and upsetting. This is not for every person to read (certainly children and teenagers will not read this for the true message). But if the reader can get past that, one finds that Ellis issues a timely and necessary story about society, one which made a deep impression on me and one that I also found to be a real page-turner. A referendum on modern life, Ellis, I think, should be applauded for his continuing commentary on our social existence and I would have no trouble recommending this book for the mature audience.
Rating: 
Summary: Total Worthless Garbage
Review: After 42 years of reading in all genres, I've finally found a book that is total worthless garbage, never to re-read again, and will find no place on my shelves. While I have nothing against violence and gore, and reading about serial killers is in my top five list of books to read, this book simply stinks. Besides the characters, whom you cannot get into at all, the book jumps around and even includes reviews of various musicians! Several chapters are totally devoted to this. The book doesn't tell a good in-depth story, has no discernible plot, lousy characters, and ridiculous reviews which add nothing to the book. I'm sorry I wasted money and time on it. Save yours and read something much better and worth your time and money.
Rating:
Summary: Trash
Review: The endless descriptions of what the characters are wearing...wears thin after the first couple of chapters. Boooorrrrinnnngggg.
Rating:
Summary: A book for all the psycho's out there
Review: I saw the movie a few years ago, saw references occasionaly on the internet to American Psycho being a must-read, and got round to borrowing it from the library (they kept it under the desk). The book comes across as energetic but amateurishly written at first, then you get used to the style that Ellis employs and you're in for the rollercoaster ride that is American Psycho. It's a challenging book. In giving you the picture into the Wall Street world through Bateman's eyes little is skipped over, and once Bateman finally starts killing people each murder event is covered in all it's detail as ugly and disturbing as Ellis can come up with. In my opinion Ellis could have used consulted an expert on human anatomy, eg. an axe to the face would probably have quite a different effect to what was described in the book.
There are also a few reviews of pop artists/groups of the period that must be straight out of Ellis's 'musical reviews' personal journal, a little out of place here. American Psycho keeps you going, and you might find it hard to not follow Bateman's journey to the very end (unless you couldn't handle the gore). For anyone who's been frustrated with modern society, even if it isn't Wall Street, American Psycho is an enjoyable ride into a man being nothing more than a facade and acting on almost every murderous impulse.
And to all those people who are obsessed with the idea that Bateman comitted none of the murders, there is far too much incidental evidence (like the taxi driver recognising Bateman's face from a wanted poster at his taxi depot, put there after Bateman killed one of the taxi driver's colleagues), but then if people will believe man never landed on the moon they'll believe anything.
Rating: 
Summary: All the gore killed the shock value
Review: This book revolves around 26-year-old Patrick Bateman, a successful Manhattan yuppie. He seems normal enough in the beginning of the story, but soon the readers come to realize that Bateman is more than just a little psycho. I liked the movie way better than I liked this book, but the book was... addictive. This book was just awful. I think I've said that 1,000 times now. This book was so awful I had to keep reading it. It was mesmerizing. It was like looking at a car crash. It's horrible, but you can't stop looking. The obsessive name-dropping and label-whoring annoyed me to no end and the intricate detail of shallow habits was enough to kill me. But I had to know what was going to happen. Add a very anticlimatic ending and feeling of "What's the point?" after it's all over with. I confess that I also skimmed over some of the gorier scenes because it all become redundant and not very shocking after a while. Honestly, I can't think of anything or anyone I actually liked in this book. Reading about pretentious rich people usually doesn't render very many likable moments. There was one scene that made me die in fits of laughter, and now, I can't remember what it was. Damn, it was the one scene that made me smile. Anyway, this is one of those books that you get something out of with each read. I plan on rereading it in the (distant) future. I feel like I've probably missed small details, and perhaps, I'll enjoy this more in the future.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it
Review: I loved everything about this book except I found myself trying to hurry through the pages that were about singers. Theres probably a total of 3 or 4 chapters just on Whitney Houston & Phil Collins. It's not that I don't like them, I just wanted to get back to reading what I enjoyed, the story.
If there was another book about Pat Bateman by Bret, I'd read it.
Rating:
Summary: Frightening and enlightening!
Review: American Psycho should be read by anyone obsessed with having the perfect job, body, mate etc. as a wake up call to the shallowness of that pursuit. The book is told from the perspective of someone completely lacking connection to humanity and how what is celebrated in our culture (success, good looks, etc.) has nothing to do with happiness. Devoid of feeling, the narrator eats people, takes drugs constantly, works out, rapes women -- nothing ever forges a connection for him. I actually cried during one of the torture scenes, the violence is abhorrent and ceaseless but to a cynical audience perhaps neccessary to break through the callousness developed from constant exposure to horror in the media. It's damn well written and a very important book for the twenty somethings and up out to rule the world.
Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: What can I say? I'm a fan of Bret Ellis' work. The description in this book is unreal. Ellis makes you feel as if you are in the room with Pat Bateman. He describes everything, from his apartment, to his sex, to his morning rituals to get ready. If you have read Less Than Zero and Rules of Attraction and you still don't think Ellis has completely lost his mind, then go out and buy this book. Ellis is a person who is telling us how bad our culture has gotten and no one wants to listen.
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