Being one of those odd people who is truly fascinated by violent crime and people's motives for it (mainly because I can't possibly imagine anything motivating me to commit a violent crime...), I thought I'd really enjoy reading American Psycho. Hailed as a literary masterpiece by many, an unnecessarily gory romp by others, it seemed to contain all the ingredients to become one of my all-time favourite books. I was wrong. I shall never judge a book by its cover, or indeed its hype, again. I have a very strong stomach. It takes an awful lot to make me feel even remotely sick. I regularly watch the goriest of gory horror films for a giggle and have ...  Read the complete review

Most will have heard of the widespread talk that surrounds American Psycho, either as a film or a book. I have not seen the 2000 adaptation which stars Christian Bale, so my thoughts are based entirely on the book I have just read. American Psycho was written by Bret Easton Ellis in 1991, and looks at the preppy American society in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The book's protagonist is Patrick Bateman, a 26 year old 'totally GQ' man who by day works in Wall Street for an investment company and by night is a serial womaniser and torturer. The book is told by Bateman himself, allowing us inside the mind of this clearly dark and troubled ...  Read the complete review

American Psycho is a novel with a reputation as one of the most challenged works of fiction of the last 100 years. It is an incredibly disturbing book about a successful yuppie named Patrick Bateman, who moonlights as a sadistic murderer and sex fiend. While the novel begins slowly and timidly, by the 200 page mark, you'll be reviling the incredibly graphic depictions not only of sadistic torture and murder, but sexual violence. However, this isn't to miss the point of the novel; it is at its heart a satire of the emergent yuppie culture in the 1980s that came about after the fervour around the 1970s counter-cultural upheaval movement died down. Young people ...  Read the complete review

Yuppie-culture is in full swing in 1980s America. Patrick Bateman, the novel's protagonist, is a hugely successful business man, obsessed with using much of his hefty salary on the trendiest restaurants, the latest gadgets, the most fashionable and expensive clothes. However the other side to this gleaming, glamorous existence is, as evidenced by the title, that Patrick is a psychopath who gets his kicks from killing as many people in as horrific ways as possible. A first point to note about this book is the violence. Patrick murders repeatedly but unlike in many other serial killer novels these incidents are not glossed over or even briefly described - ...  Read the complete review

When i began to write this it turned out i need it for an essay, so it is a bit long winded. Sorry about that. I got good marks though!! Probably be locked, but least you can read it. Patrick Bateman is twenty-six years old, he works on Wall Street at a firm called “Pierce and Pierce”. He is described as “handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent”, but he is also extremely psychotic and takes pleasure in killing and torturing people and animals. Written in narrative as Bateman the reader experiences his highs, lows and killings in past and present tense. The book portrays a world we all can recognise, ...  Read the complete review