American Psycho

by Bret Easton Ellis

Patrick Bateman is twenty-six and works on Wall Street; he is handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent. He is also a psychopath. Taking us to a head-on collision with America's greatest dream - and its worst nightmare - "American Psycho" is a bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront. "Serious, clever and shatteringly effective." - "Sunday Times." ""American Psycho" is a beautifully controlled, careful, important novel...The novelist's function is to keep a running tag on the progress of the culture; and he's done it brilliantly...A seminal book." - Fay Weldon, "Washington Post." "For its savagely coherent picture of a society lethally addicted to blandness, it should be judged by the highest standards." - John Walsh, "Sunday Times." "That the book's contents are shocking is downright undeniable, but just as Bonfire of the Vanities exposed the corruption and greed engendered in eighties politics and high living, "American Psycho" examines the mindless preoccupations of the nineties preppy generation." - "Time Out."

• ISBN10: 0330448013
• ISBN13: 9780330448017
• Publish Date: 3 November 2006 (first published 26 April 1991)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 8 March 2011
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Imprint: Picador
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Cameron Trost]

I had been meaning to read this book for quite some time and I'm glad that I finally got around to it. It is most famous as a controversial work and, after reading it, I understand why. I'm not going to write a lengthy review because thousands of Goodreads members have already shared their thoughts. I just want to make a couple of comments for my Goodreads friends and fans who might be interested in my opinion. Firstly, as a short story fan I often get bored with novels of this length, but I found American Psycho very easy to read (the language - although sometimes bizarre, is quite simple - the book is written in first person and reads the way Patrick Bateman thinks). Secondly, I found Patrick believable (as scary as that idea is) and could imagine his lifestyle and daily escapades with ease. Thirdly, I enjoyed the social commentary on the way of life of a New York yuppie circa the 80s / 90s even and even though I know nothing of high fashion and other yuppie interests I found the obsession with such things somewhat interesting. Lastly, the book contains very violent scenes and would definitely disturb many readers. Obviously, a book about a homicidal psychopath has to contain violence but it was a bit overdone and gratuitous and was included more for the sake of shock than as part of the actual storyline. All in all, I don't regret having read American Psycho but it doesn't make my favourites list.