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A review by togidemi
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
2.0
technically a 2.5 but i'm bumping it down because when you're THIS glad for a book to be OVER, it's probably not all that great. i did not realize a book could have so many brutal, merciless murders and still be so damn BORING
I'm aware, yet again, that this book is once again another book that is too smart for me. A point is being made. Messages and themes are being woven in. I KNOW Ellis is being intentionally vapid to drum in how vapid Bateman's life (or, I guess, society is). But you know what? I cannot possibly give less of a liquid shit. I was already warned this book would be boring, but godDAMN I was not prepared for my brain going on autopilot, skipping paragraphs and pages and chapters at a time. Ellis just seemed determined to waste as much of my life as possible. I actively looked forward to murders just so I could feel something, ANYTHING, but eventually even the murders got old. CAN YOU IMAGINE? CAN YOU IMAGINE A STORY BEING SO MIND-NUMBINGLY BORING THAT YOU CAN READ THE GRAPHIC MAIMING AND DESECRATING OF INNOCENT PEOPLE AND THINK "sweet, only 40 pages left"??
But yes, the violence is very graphic. I read from reviews that even true crime and horror fans would reel from this, and my hubris (" I really liked Pretty Girls and Dead Tube, though! :) ") did not adequately prepare me. However, again, eventually you get jaded and it's just. Wow. Blood. Intestines. Nipples. Degloving. A'ight.
I do give the book props though for being funny when it feels like it. (Which is not nearly enough times to save it. GOD.) The running joke of Patrick saying incredibly violent shit out of nowhere and having NO ONE notice or care was hilarious. If anyone says " I need to return some videotapes" to me, I might actually cackle. The urinal cake scene was a riot as well. I'm so pissed that the absurd dark comedy aspects of this story, which are pitch-perfect and American Psycho's only saving grace, is buried under metric tons of BULLSHIT.
I probably should have just watched the movie, as it would've cost less hours of my life I'm never getting back, but reading this has at least taught me that I'm probably never going to like surreal, AP-style storytelling and should thus stop forcing myself to read them. So... thanks, I guess.
I'm aware, yet again, that this book is once again another book that is too smart for me. A point is being made. Messages and themes are being woven in. I KNOW Ellis is being intentionally vapid to drum in how vapid Bateman's life (or, I guess, society is). But you know what? I cannot possibly give less of a liquid shit. I was already warned this book would be boring, but godDAMN I was not prepared for my brain going on autopilot, skipping paragraphs and pages and chapters at a time. Ellis just seemed determined to waste as much of my life as possible. I actively looked forward to murders just so I could feel something, ANYTHING, but eventually even the murders got old. CAN YOU IMAGINE? CAN YOU IMAGINE A STORY BEING SO MIND-NUMBINGLY BORING THAT YOU CAN READ THE GRAPHIC MAIMING AND DESECRATING OF INNOCENT PEOPLE AND THINK "sweet, only 40 pages left"??
But yes, the violence is very graphic. I read from reviews that even true crime and horror fans would reel from this, and my hubris (" I really liked Pretty Girls and Dead Tube, though! :) ") did not adequately prepare me. However, again, eventually you get jaded and it's just. Wow. Blood. Intestines. Nipples. Degloving. A'ight.
I do give the book props though for being funny when it feels like it. (Which is not nearly enough times to save it. GOD.) The running joke of Patrick saying incredibly violent shit out of nowhere and having NO ONE notice or care was hilarious. If anyone says " I need to return some videotapes" to me, I might actually cackle. The urinal cake scene was a riot as well. I'm so pissed that the absurd dark comedy aspects of this story, which are pitch-perfect and American Psycho's only saving grace, is buried under metric tons of BULLSHIT.
I probably should have just watched the movie, as it would've cost less hours of my life I'm never getting back, but reading this has at least taught me that I'm probably never going to like surreal, AP-style storytelling and should thus stop forcing myself to read them. So... thanks, I guess.