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Bret Easton Ellis

American Psycho Paperback – 1 Jan. 2015

by Bret Easton Ellis (Author), Irvine Welsh (Introduction)

6,021 ratings

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A cult classic, adapted into a film starring Christian Bale.

Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do?

Patrick Bateman has it all: good looks, youth, charm, a job on Wall Street, reservations at every new restaurant in town and a line of girls around the block. He is also a psychopath. A man addicted to his superficial, perfect life, he pulls us into a dark underworld where the American Dream becomes a nightmare . . .

With an introduction by Irvine Welsh, Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho is one of the most controversial and talked-about novels of all time. A multi-million-copy bestseller hailed as a modern classic, it is a violent black comedy about the darkest side of human nature.

ISBN-10

9781447277705
ISBN-13

978-1447277705
Edition

Main Market
Publisher

Picador
Publication date

1 Jan. 2015
Language

English
Dimensions

13 x 2.6 x 19.8 cm
Print length

416 pages
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Product description

Review

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

Serious, clever and shatteringly effective, Sunday Times

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

Our killer nonchalantly takes his blood-splattered clothes to the dry cleaners and gives them attitude when they complain about the stains . . . You'd think at least one of these witnesses would get suspicious or complain, but they don't -- Bob Mack, Spin

The first novel to come along in years that takes on deep and Dostoyevskian themes . . . Ellis is showing older authors where the hands have come to on the clock, Vanity Fair

From the Back Cover

Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do?

Patrick Bateman has it all: good looks, youth, charm, a job on Wall Street, reservations at every new restaurant in town and a line of girls around the block. He is also a psychopath. A man addicted to his superficial, perfect life, he pulls us into a dark underworld where the American Dream becomes a nightmare . . .

American Psycho is one of the most controversial and talked-about novels of all time. A multimillion-copy bestseller hailed as a modern classic, it is a violent black comedy about the darkest side of human nature.

'A seminal book'
Fay Weldon, Washington Post

'Serious, clever and shatteringly effective . . . For its savagely coherent picture of a society lethally addicted to blandness, it should be judged by the highest standards'
Sunday Times

'The first novel to come along in years that takes on deep and Dostoyevskian themes . . . Ellis is showing older authors where the hands have come to on the clock'
Norman Mailer, Vanity Fair

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1447277708
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Picador; Main Market edition (1 Jan. 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781447277705
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1447277705
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 2.6 x 19.8 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 1,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 3 in Horror Parodies & Satires
- 6 in Classic Horror
- 11 in Parodies (Books)

Customer reviews:
6,021 ratings

About the author

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Bret Easton Ellis

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Bret Easton Ellis is the author of five novels and a collection of short stories; his work has been translated into twenty-seven languages. He lives in Los Angeles.

Customer reviews

5 star		69%
4 star		17%
3 star		7%
2 star		3%
1 star		4%

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NotSherlock

Unreadable - as it should be

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 December 2016

Verified Purchase

I wonder if there is any other book that I could describe as “unreadable” and still mean it as a compliment. The writing is meticulously crafted to let us watch Patrick Bateman losing himself to his psychopathy. That it is unreadable is only natural.

The soullessly pornographic play-by-play commentary of the sex scenes, and the unflinchingly matter-of-fact descriptions of torture and mutilation; these passages become harder and harder to read, until finally I could only skim them as lightly as possible, and yet they’re so necessary to give you a frank representation of Patrick Bateman’s mind, and his unblinking detachment from these acts.

Even in his more mundane day-to-day dealings, his compulsion to break down the components of outfits, the catalogue-like descriptions of home furnishings and technology, and especially the whole chapters dedicated to his reviews of music artists – these also wear thin over time, but are just as important to show that in which he consistently places value, and on which he relies to maintain his mask of human sanity.

Although Patrick makes for a difficult narrator, Ellis’ skilful writing comes into play outside of this narrative too, in giving a fuller sense of the world he moves in: the repetitive, shallow conversation topics; the interchangeability of Bateman and his peers; how he can give blunt warnings and even admissions of guilt without ever being heard. It’s these touches, as well as Bateman’s increasingly frantic and futile attempts to retain control of himself, that make this book compelling in spite of Patrick’s narrative.

54 people found this helpful

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A.J. Sefton

Disturbing, anti-materialistic tale

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 May 2020

Verified Purchase

American Psycho is the modern equivalent of The Great Gatsby, where money is king and shallow appearances are the only thing that matter. Where Gatsby focuses on the American Jazz era, Psycho is the Yuppie (Young, Upwardly-mobile Professional) decade of the 1980s, set in Wall Street, New York, at the time of the great economic boom.

The first half of the book demonstrates, in great tedious detail, the superficial lifestyle of the wealthy. Every character in every scene is described by their designer clothes, from their sunglasses to their underwear and socks; grooming and television rituals; where and what they eat in expensive trendy restaurants and hotels; their crass and vacuous conversations about other rich people and how to match handkerchiefs and socks.

However, underneath this frivolity is a very dark and disturbing theme. There is plenty of wealth but no value. Racism is cruelly obvious as the homeless and low-paid workers are not part of the Yuppie elite and are ridiculed, mutilated and murdered for no other reason than that. The grotesque objectification of women is taken to the level where they are literally bought and treated as things to be used and discarded in obscene scenes of depravity and horror.

The protagonist talks about how he would like to murder, or has murdered or tortured people, but none of his peers listens or takes him seriously. There are frequent cases of mistaken identity or name confusion. Characters swap partners as there are no emotional bonds. None of this matters because everyone is the same and therefore interchangeable.

As the story develops, the violence, obscenity and murder increase. Sometimes the protagonist feels as if he is a film, another superficial and fake version of reality, and he refers to himself in the third person with exciting action scenes typical of Hollywood. He is not sure what has taken place is in his head or not and tests his peers about missing persons he believes he has murdered. He obviously thinks the ramifications would be more satisfying or at least acknowledged.

This is very much an anti-materialistic tale. These characters have everything money can buy, but they are empty and hollow inside, devoid of love, compassion and fulfilment. Perhaps torture and murder is a way to connect with the living and life because the designer clothes and gadgets don't fill the hole. What is missing is a heart, something the American Psycho, the consumerist capitalist, does not have.

13 people found this helpful

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Emma

Pointless

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 May 2021

Verified Purchase

I don't believe the point the writer is trying to make comes across at all. He does explain his point in the afterword but I'm afraid it was lost on me. I saw the film years ago and enjoyed it, so I expected the source material to be even better. Ellis explains in the afterword that this book is meant to be how men are expected to look, behave and dress a certain way, an unattainable standard men are held to and their struggle with it. This didn't come across in the book at all, in fact all the characters seem to enjoy the materialism and shallowness, never once is it described as an annoyance or something they resent. If it was written better, he wouldn't have needed to make his point separately!

Only once have I ever given up on a book, and this was almost a second time.
The painful monotony and repetition makes this a very frustrating read. Only because I'd seen the film did I understand why we were subjected to paragraph after paragraph describing every item of clothing, furniture, drink and everything else - I don't think this was clear from the writing alone. From the readers point of view this was a tedious waste of time. On top of this, 20 plus mentions of Les Misérables. For a book based in New York City, I'd expect the author to be able to name at least one other Broadway show, for crying out loud. If I missed the point of this repetition, I'm way past caring.

There were 3 chapters that served absolutely zero purpose, and they were describing the songs and albums of Genesis, Whitney Houston and Huey Lewis and the News. My goodness, that was boring, and again, no explanation as to why the reader was subjected to it. The film definitely does this better and it doesn't feel quite so random.

The violence portrayed is certainly shocking, but that is what the author wants as far as I can tell. He wants to shock, to offend, to revolt - in this, he is successful. I am no stranger to crime, horror and thriller novels but the degree of violence in this book is excessive. The animal abuse, the defilement of women, all makes for very uncomfortable reading. How any of it related to his point made in the afterword, I'm afraid I really didn't understand.

In summary, I despised this book, I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy. Quite frankly a very poor execution of what should have been a great story.

8 people found this helpful

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