American Psycho (Book Version)
 

hey all,

i was wondering if anyone out there has read AP by bret easton ellis? i just finished it and thought it was intriguing, horrifying, funny and very interesting.

i wouldn't mind hearing what other people thought about the violence being real or not seeing how the psycho is narrating the book.

i think it could go either way, personally. that is what makes it so interesting. i really liked many of easton's writing techniques in this book, particularily during the "chase, manhattan" chapter where (due maybe to psychological disassociation) the narration changes from 1st person to 3rd.

just one example. anyone else? i will certainly contribute more thoughts if this thread takes flight.

c_b

That's a fantastic chapter, I love how it ends abruptedly. I think it's to demonstrate Bateman is in his own world, kinda like a movie. Great stuff.

Plus which other book will detail putting a rattrap up a womans vagina and then chainsawing her in half so that the rat jumps free with it's tail cut-off?

I read that book when it first came out . I'd read a review by a guy I forgot who but he was no stranger to the shock genre and he said it depicted the most graphic violence he'd read. Of course I had to see for myself. Great book 2 thumbs up.

I liked it and the whole depiction of the 80's. The violence in the book was over the top in my opinion, but that is another thing I liked about it.

The book has a lot more than the movie. I enjoyed both actually.

I read it several years ago when someone described it to me as "great bathroom reading". I didn't find it exactly that, but I did enjoy it very much.

i think the violence was maybe a bit "over the top", but i felt that the descriptions matched patrick's way of analyzing and describing everything in complete detail.

i also think that bret easton ellis had to be very, very graphic since we are pretty desensitized. worked for me. my eyes hurt thinking about some of his torture scenes.

anyways, on the violence issue, i think much of it was very real (meaning i beleive what patrick narrates) though i do think there were a few times (e.g. "chase, manhattan") where patrick totally lost it and what he was experiencing wasn't really happening.

a very interesting book that i have still not figured out. i guess that is what makes it so good.

the movie is good too BTW, but the book helped me understand scenes in the movie that didn't make too much sense.

oh well. my brain is absolutely not working with me today, so i'll sign off.

c_b

Read it, was very disturbed by it, and loved it... I am still trying to digest all the imagery and ideas... The hedonistic life he lives is a good warning (though obviously a very extreme one) to make sure I take stock of what is valuable in my own life...

Hmm... that reminds me, I wonder if I can get reservations at this new resteraunt in town for lunch tomorrow...

Yeah right, like I have the option to worry about devoting my life to making lunch reservations.

i read it years ago and loved it. so many people just couldnt see past the violence of it.. but username hit it on the head:
thats exactly what the book was about. the 80's and our overindulgent society who was willing to go to any lengths to get their own personal satisfaction. egotism reigned and empathy was flushed down the toilet. the violence was used by ellis as a means to an end.

very disturbing, but very satisfyingly deep.

Read it when it came out. There was a lot of negative publicity about it at the time and some people were calling for it to be banned from the UK. I always felt that is was deeply misunderstood - a lot of readers couldn't get past the violence and see what Ellis was saying about the era.

It's a very well written, very clever piece of literature, but the bit with cooking bits of his victims came closer to making me chunder than any other fiction I've ever seen, read, or heard.

I found it a facinating book, though I really could have done less with the graphic violence...

I thought it was particularly insightful into the 1980's "consumer culture" boom.

All this talk makes me want to read it, since the movie got hella-confusing near the end. The twist was interesting, but not as clearly explained as, say, the twists in Memento or Fight Club.

I also read it when it came out. The first publisher backed out when some of the stuff in the book became publicized. A lot of people were especially offended by the misogyny in the book. I think everybody in the book is an object.

I think the book is very clever and that Easton Ellis knew exactly what he was doing with the over the top violence. For me the most disturbing parts were the detailed analysis of Whitney Houston and Huey Lewis and the News. The discussions about the right stereo equipment, clothes and all that is right on the money.

Making obscene amounts of money and killing people are just the same in the book. Bateman just does it in "real" life. I also like the fact that nobody will stop him. Nobody can hear him at all.

After reading about it in a magazine(forget which) I ordered it from my library and read it. I liked the story and the funky is this real aspect, but it was the only book I have ever read that left me feeling ill. I recomend reading it to everyone but be warned...this book is very graphic!!

Great book, but when he spends 2-3 pages on Huey Lewis and the News, he kinda lost me.

I thought it was a waste of time. Ham-handed allegory that continues to hammer long after its point is driven home (the main character's banal descriptions of the acts of shaving or the appreciation of the music of Phil Collins juxtaposed with banal descriptions of ultraviolence pointing out how awful yuppies are gets old really fast). Still I managed to finish the whole thing, which is more than I can say for some literature I've picked up.
sk

whats sad is that the guy reminds me so much of myself..except i dont kill/like to kill people or anything and im not violent at all..

I actually enjoyed the book, although at times I had to put it down for a couple of days. lol. Now don't get me wrong here; I have no problem with violence serving the story line, but I can't help wondering what made the guy write the book. I just hope that his motivation had nothing to do with wanting to act anything out, because that was some very sick sh*t. I'm sure he's just a harmless fruit-loop. lol. Very good book, So-so movie.