80's Power Killing (American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis)

Member Name: louiseypees

Product:	American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Date:	21/10/08 (170 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Boys seem to like it. Might be worth reading to say you have.

Disadvantages: It's horrible, repetative and not very well-written

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 a lot of shocking literature over the course of my education and my interests. Nothing has affected me like the super-violence contained within this book. I mention this before going on to a full assessment of the novel merely as a warning. This book is not suitable for many people at all. I would not recommend it to any reader as I wouldn't want anyone else to have to read the utterly disgusting descriptions of extreme sexual violence in it.

Ok, now on to a little more about the concept of the book...
Patrick Bateman is a highly successful New York businessman, completely immersed in the greed culture in existence in the late 80's and early 90's. He is, essentially, a yuppie (wow, I haven't used that term in a while!). He works hard, plays harder: spending a large chunk of his gigantic salary on dining at the trendiest restaurants; clothing himself in the most expensive clothes available; and buying the newest "status symbol" gadgets. He lives a shallow life, as does everyone he associates with. So far, so familiar. We all know of the yuppie movement - like it or loathe it, it was a real phenomenon back when this novel is set.

In a fairly obvious satire of the meaninglessness of yuppie culture, Patrick Bateman, our central character, is also a psychotic killer. Now, hands up, who didn't see that one coming in the title?!

The whole of the narrative in this book is in the first person, a well-known ploy to make a story feel more real, and encourage the reader to engage with the narrator. I'll admit, in this instance, the first person narrative can add a slightly more worrying edge to the brutal murder scenes, but they still manage to read like bad pornography for the most part (predictably enough, most of the murder victims are women, and yes I have read my fair share of bad pornography!). Engaging with the central character, however, simply will not happen with this book. I was of the opinion that this was deliberate, and that Bateman was intended to be viewed as an entirely remorseless and psychopathic character. This does not appear to be the case, however, as there is a vague attempt later on within the novel to introduce some feelings on Bateman's part with a couple of feeble and ignored "cries for help" which feel a lot like an afterthought on Ellis's part. This seems to fall flat on its face, however, and we are left with no more insight into Bateman than the old "Psychotic Businessman" cliché. The whole book is ruined by this one thing for me. Without an attempt to humanise Bateman the book would be powerful and hold its message successfully. The inclusion of this half-hearted cry for help really did undermine the whole book for me, turning it from a book with a message into a pile of pointless violent pornography.

You may have gathered that I did not particularly enjoy reading this book. I fully appreciate that to many, this is a significant black comedy, satirizing the greed culture that we were all living in in the late 80's and early 90's. I can even see why many hold this view of the work. It is an effective black comedy on some levels. I cannot help but think, though, that on top of being unnecessarily violent, it is not particularly well-written and is incredibly repetative. The reader is not given enough credit to have "got the joke" before having endured all 385 pages of dinner, clothes, music, gadgets and brutal murder. It really isn't that complicated a concept to pick up - he's a shallow yuppie killing machine, and no-one notices, despite the fact he tries to tell people on a regular basis. There is no noteable deterioration in Bateman's psychological state, excepting the pitiful attempt to hint at some genuine feeling for his secretary (i.e. he tries his best not to chop her into little pieces or feed her brain to his fish...) and the entirely unconvincing "oh but I want to be caught really"-ness of the failed cries for help. There seems very little point in writing at such length about a character who could have been studied in sufficient depth in, say, one or two murders and a couple of nice dinners - why on earth did I need to read about countless nice dinners and so damn many murders?!

So, would I recommend this book? Well, I would recommend it if you have an incredibly strong stomach (the murders really are some of the worst things I've ever had the displeasure to read about - made all the worse by the fact they're in print and have to be brought about by your own imagination - *shudder*), and if you can cope with being patronised for 385 pages or alternatively are a little bit slow and feel you may take 385 pages to pick up the central "yuppies and greed are bad and money will corrupt you until you have no values at all" message. It might be worth reading if you are unfamiliar with capitalism and how evil we are supposed to believe it to be. It might also be worth reading if you're a bit of a psycho yourself and like the prospect of reading detailed accounts of gruesome, sex-related murders.

If, however, you don't like reading bad porn; aren't particularly fond of bloody murder; are perfectly familiar with yuppie culture and aren't very slow, I seriously would recommend that you steer clear of this novel.

Summary: Psycho Yuppie kills lots of women. Er, that's about it.