American Psycho

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Few books in recent memory have aroused as much controversy as "American Psycho". I don't want to give too much of the story away in case you're new. If you've never read it, here is what the back cover of the book says:

Patrick Bateman is handsome, well educated, intelligent. He works by day on Wall Street, earning a fortune to complement the one he was born with. His nights he spends in ways we cannot begin to fathom. He is twenty-six years old and living his own American Dream.

American Psycho is set in a world (Manhattan), and an era (the Eighties) recognizably our own. The wealthy elite grows infinitely wealthier, the poor and disturbed are turned out onto the streets by the tens of thousands, and anything, including the very worst, seems possible. Even so, Bateman, who expresses his true self by torture and murder, prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront. And he remains, in the end, at large. This is not an exit.

This story is a first-person narrative describing a part of the life of Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street executive who is also insane, and a serial rapist and murderer. The story has no real plot, it follows no coherent time line. It's just a series of events in Bateman's life, told from his point of view. It is probably the most graphic book, sexually and violently, that I've ever read.

It is also very funny in many areas. Bateman has an incredibly twisted, dark, and cynical mind. Many of the things he says are hilarious. He regards his friends, girlfriends, and yuppie acquaintances with the same contempt that he gives to a prostitute. The great disparity between what he thinks and how he seems to other people gives rise to some very humorous situations.

Despite the occasional humor, however, we never are able to forget that Bateman is a monster. Some parts of the book are so descriptive that it almost made me physically sick. The impact of this novel will knock you off your feet. If you are thinking of reading "American Psycho", be prepared to laugh, be prepared to gag, and be prepared to see the most horrible side of American society bared fully before you.

Brian Kotec
American Psycho is copyrighted by Bret Easton Ellis and published by Vintage Books.

Click here to go to the official American Psycho Website. It is one of the best Flash pages I have seen so far. You need to install the Flash player available at Macromedia.