American bore (American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis)

Member Name: hshearer

Product:	American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Date:	19/04/02 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: clever

Disadvantages: dull

American Psycho undeniably has a cult following and to give Ellis his due the subject matter and literary style do even today come accross as being both fresh and raw. From this perspective I would agree that American Psycho is probably a groundbreaking work.
The novel centres around Patrick Bateman, yuppie and paid up subscriber of the 'me me me' generation. Bateman to all appearances is just that a suited and booted slick moneymaker. However he has a hobby, mutilating and murdering for fun. American Psycho charts his spiralling killing spree, graphic descriptions of torture are intersperesed with detailed accounts of Bateman's daily yuppie lifestyle and meticulous beauty regimes. There are hilarious moments within the novel, one famous example being the tense rivallry Bateman experiences when comparing business cards with a co worker.
The novel is indeed a clever satire on the egoism of the 80's and has been hailed as a postmodernist masterpiece, however as much as I admit it is a very clever anaylsis I did not really enjoy American Psycho as a work of literature. Ellis' style although fresh does leave the reader a little cold and the detailed descriptions of what Bateman and co are wearing and where they are dining are a tad dull. This is probably intentional, it would indeed make alot of sense, exposing the shallowness of the 80's money fixiation.
American Psycho works remarkably well as a social comment but tends towards being a bit hard going as a novel. Ellis certainly divided audiences with this one and people are generally devotees of American Psycho or care very little for it. I'm afraid I belong to the latter. However I would reccommend those who have not yet read this to give it a go as i would say it is definitely a book everyone should read.

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