American Psycho- Bret Easton Ellis

When I first met my boyfriend, we had an actual conversation about books. My ex didn't read so I was completely enamored with this boy from the start. When he asked what my favorite books were I rambled off the standard list and asked for his favorite. This was the book he named and when I said that I had never read it and he said that I should, I knew I would order it as soon as I got back to the library.

In retrospect, if I had read it before I met him I would have been a little more cautious about dating him. I would be worried he was going to pop my eyeballs on the first date.

Let's talk about the good before I completely slam this book. American Psycho is a satire of the yuppies in the 1980's. The characters work on Wall Street. They have the best of everything. They all look so much alike that they constantly mistake people for different people. Women are valued for their physical beauty and how tolerant they are of their boyfriend's affairs. Every time a character enters a scene, his or her clothes are described in great detail down to the designer. They are constantly eating out and if the bill is less than $300, it's not worth it. Everything is mixed up and crazy without the hallucinations, which are a huge part of the book.

Now the bad. I read an article about how violence only takes place in about 5% of the book. However, the violence is so intense that it overrides the rest of the writing. What I will take from this book is not the message that is being conveyed but gruesome images of torture. The kicker is that Patrick Bateman, the main character, is on so many drugs that he hallucinates constantly and it's been said that all of the violent scenes are hallucinations. The whole thing is written in train of thought and towards the end we also get clued in that Patrick has a split personality. Sometimes he refers to himself in the third person as Patrick and even gets upset with Patrick.

One sign that Ellis could be a better writer is that he uses what I began to call "come down chapters". After a particularly nauseating and violent scene, he will cut to a chapter that details music or electronics in such a manner that it calms the reader down and allows him/her to read on. This, I thought, was a brilliant tool.

I was disappointed in this book and I honestly only made it through because I felt I had to prove that I could. I wouldn't really suggest it and the ending really gives the reader no peace.

I'm ready for something a little more fun now..