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gawdz0rz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Torture, Gore, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Racial slurs, Fatphobia, Classism, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Body shaming, Racism, and Homophobia
Minor: Drug abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Vomit, Antisemitism, Abortion, and Eating disorder
crock_potiii's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Was it real? Or some of it real? Or not at all?
But as a satirical story it does an incredibly good job and really tearing down toxic masculinity and just how depraved Patrick is mentally. It critiques so many things that, while prevalent at the time of the books publishing, is still prevalent or even more so than before.
However, I also think that the message it was trying to give sort of failed too. Many people want to be Patrick, they strive for his everything and THAT'S NOT THE POINT OF THE BOOK OR MOVIE.
But whatever. I made a pretty great slideshow presentation and analysis on this book in the 10th grade and accidentally read it during Holy Week so it made the stakes higher than ever lol.
Graphic: Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Vomit, Murder, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Rape, Gore, Fatphobia, Antisemitism, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, and Abortion
spherocytosis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Torture, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Gore, Blood, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Cursing, Murder, Violence, Animal death, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Drug use, Ableism, Antisemitism, Alcohol, Body shaming, and Classism
Minor: Pedophilia
serenspace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Murder, Torture, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Misogyny, and Pedophilia
dupeskara's review against another edition
Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Stalking, Vomit, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Classism, Murder, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism
ok damn too many warnings the book store owner was right this shit crazy asfclowningaround's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Tldr: he is really an american psycho.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Cursing, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Rape, Classism, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Animal death, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Antisemitism, and Pedophilia
solspringsreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Death, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Excrement, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Stalking, Cursing, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Abortion, Alcoholism, Child death, Classism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, and Sexism
saint_eleanor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I'll start off by saying this book gets 5 stars bc it deserves nothing less but that doesn't mean I enjoyed reading it 100% of the time, in fact i actively hated reading a lot of it lmao.
There are like 2 main camps when it comes to American Psycho: one camp says it should be banned bc its misogynistic, horrible, far-right, etc. The other camp says that it's the alpha male handbook, and that patrick bateman is peak male performance. Both are really off-mark imo.
In the first place, misogynistic characters do not make a misogynistic book. Pretending misogynists don't exist in our writing is completely counter productive. Additionally, this is literally the most anti-masculine, anti-capitalist, anti-yuppie, anti-1% book I have read in a long time. The author paints Patrick Bateman as the most pathetic, bootlicking, bandwagoning, whiny, narcissistic P.O.S. and I really don't understand how you could come away with any other impression.
Ellis repeatedly makes the point that Bateman is in love with Donald Trump and will do/say anything Trump does/says (80's NYC remember), including switching up arbitrary opinions. He is a self-proclaimed pedophile, rapist, racist, and necrophiliac. Additionally he is completely materialistic, lost in a Kafka-esque nightmare ruled by sound systems and skincare products and is totally obsessed with 'having the best thing'. Not to mention his obsession with every single person's outfits throughout the whole book. I hated him so much i was actually seething half the time. This book is especially terrifying because Bateman is as real as any real-life wall street psychopath, there are so many men like him IRL.
Some of this book was hilarious actually, the monkey TV thing, the 'kill all yuppies' napkin that struck fear into the heart of poor pathetic patrick, and the 5-men-choosing-where-to-eat thing was hilarious. Additionally, Patrick keeps telling everyone over and over that he's homocidal (if we believe his narration, not sure i do) , but his handsomeness and his wealth overshadow his obvious lack of a soul and social skills. He is the opposite of charming, he is actively unsettling, and yet the environment that he's in completely pushes men like him to the top of social circles. When people tell you who they are, LISTEN!! Also I personally think that his absolute hatred of women paired with his love of men is evidence of internalized homophobia and that Bateman is in fact, gay. I think is is especially plausible due to the fact that Ellis has said that he based parts of Bateman on himself when he was in a really bad place (Ellis is gay & talked about how he used to sleep with women and hated it, which would translate well to this point in Patrick's character), which seems like a really complex and maybe overlooked aspect of this that the Sigma Males don't want to acknowledge. Additionally the only character in the whole book that really freaks him out is
Anyway, loved this book. I really couldn't put it down even when the gore was almost too much for me and I wanted to rip Patrick's head off. You can also tell it's good bc of how long this review is. Fuck Patrick, fuck wall street, fuck yuppies, and fuck the guys co-opting Christian Bale's photo for their dumbass Alpha Male grindcore instagram accounts, yall did not pay attention.
Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence
bethany_rose5's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Homophobia, Sexual content, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
emadisonc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A curtain of stars, miles of them, are scattered, glowing, across the sky and their multitude humbles me, which I have a hard time tolerating. She shrugs and nods after I say something about forms of anxiety. It’s as if her mind is having a hard time communicating with her mouth, as if she is searching for a rational analysis of who I am, which is, of course, an impossibility: there… is… no… key.
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Classism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fatphobia, and Child death
Minor: Abortion and Antisemitism