American Psycho

I don't know what to rate this so I went middle of the road, although this book is anything but 'middle of the road'. I want to give it zero stars and forget I ever read it but at the same time, doesn't the fact that this book conjured such feelings in such a strong way deserve a 5 star rating? I do not recommend this book. At all. It's seriously f'd up. It's horrifyingly well written and gut wrenching. Like others who have reviewed this, I like the horror genre but this one is something different. I try to explain it to people and it makes them want to read it, even though I try to warn them not to. Like I said before; I don't know what to rate this, I really don't. I did not enjoy reading this, but couldn't put it down. I hated it, but I think I'm supposed to and that's why it's good, right? I was uncomfortable reading it, but that's why I did, didn't I? I don't recommend it to anyone, yet want to talk about it to others who have read it. I worry about the person that gave me the book with such glowing reviews. I believe that you are supposed to be disturbed by this book. If you're not, it might be an indication of something, I don't know. I'm not squeamish and I enjoy the horror genre in all media forms, and I'm still surprised how this one got under my skin. I had to take regular breaks while reading and knew when I didn't want to get on that ride for the evening. You're in the mind of a psychopath. He's an 80's Wall Street dick that's just like the next 80's Wall Street dick. All the characters are interviewing and that is brought up multiple times. Everyone is confused for everyone else. He idolizes Trump, (which I find a little funny this side of the decade.) Patrick Bateman is the worst of the shallow white guys. He gets away with murder by being a shallow, rich, white guy that's interchangeable with the other guys he is around. He's devoid of personal character and is only (very) concerned with what he and others look like, what brands they're wearing, and pop music. His friends suck too, there's no redeeming characters here, but you'd like to assume he's the only one this twisted. It follows his mental unraveling throughout the book as he gets a little crazier as the pages turn. Reading this I see the influence it has created in characters since. The extreme consumerism, late stage capitalism, product, designer, status driven, 80's Wall Street yuppies make you hate them before anything truly troubling happens. The murders are graphic and read from inside Bateman's mind (most of the time), completely void of empathy, are quite unsettling. There's a lot of gross misogyny, sexual activity, and brutal rape here too. The worst and most brutal killings happening after what reads as pornographic smut. The scenes are very detailed and get longer and worse as the book goes on. You might read about a mundane yuppie lunch with disturbing bits of inner monologue about a rape or murder. There's a brutal scene followed by a full in depth chapter reviews about pop music bands and albums; Genesis, Whitney Houston, and Huey Lewis and the News. Just as you get sick of the brands being listed for the hundredth time there's some brutality sprinkled in, until it's more awful scenes than brand descriptions. I'm pretty sure you get that this book is not for the easily disturbed, but I'm honestly not sure who it's for or who I would recommend it to. It's f**ked, it's hard to read at times. I get it, you're not really supposed to love it; but wtf?! There seems to be a whole feminist argument around this book too, which I get but without the womanizing that book prob wouldn't be the same. You need to hate this guy one way or another. I am happy to rid myself of this book.

This book should come with *ALL* the trigger warnings.

Also its REEAALLY boring.

I wouldn't recommend reading it unless you have a burning need to know what goes on inside a psychopath's head. Just be warned, it is not as glamorous as TV shows and other books make it out to be. This book is full of racism, misogyny, homophobia, explicit sex, horrific violence and WAY too many descriptions of designer clothes. Really. He's obsessed. He's also obsessed with Donald Trump.

This book was absolutely gut wrenching and made me feel like I needed to take a shower after some parts. The movie doesn’t come close to the graphic content in this book. The writing is impeccable and as long as you have a strong stomach you can actually see the beautiful literary devices used to critique consumerism, materialism and the lowest and most degrading forms of misogyny. Some sequences you can tell that he just hates women for simply being women and gods forbid if anyone especially women made him feel inferior. Trigger warnings for just about everything. Make sure to check them before diving in bc the first sequences has abhorrent racism, classism, misogyny and homophobia.