Review - American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis) - Book Review, Summary, and Analysis 

20:06 I watched the movie first, and when I read the book, I heard Christian Bale in my head, it didn't lessen the book it actually made it funnier in my opinion

This video was great..especially because both had their own opinnion! Real review+discussion.

The overkill of Bateman’s thoughts in the book describing clothing, music etc has the intended effect the author set out to achieve. You are drowned in the overkill of his monotonous thoughts so that you begin to look forward to the next horrific event to break it up. I think this book is genius. I love this book, one of my favorites. No book has ever punched me in the mouth like this one did. There are parts in this book that made me bust out laughing, and others that made me cringe in horror. It’s in my top 10 books of all time, maybe even top 5. Love me some American Psycho! Good review 👍🏼

I found the book to be both a pleasure and a chore. The first half has some hilarious bits and the second half became increasingly depressing and cumbersome. The passage about vacationing in the hamptons was beautifully sad and there were some surprisingly touching moments in the book The violence and gore, however was very extreme and haunts my memory. I found the story to be a scathing satire on fitting in and consumer culture, but more deeply, an introspective look into the desperate animal that seethes just under the surface of our thinly civilized facade. I can only recommend the book to those with extreme sensibilities and tolerance for violence.

American Psycho takes the everyman trope and turns it on its ear. Bateman is the "everyman" living in a world driven, not by people, but by consumer goods. The everyman in literature reflects a basic truth about the human condition; Bateman reflects a society in which humanity no longer has value. The human condition has been supplanted by stuff (surface). Keep in mind, the novel was published right after Reagan's eighties, a time when the US came into its own as a consumer society. That's the point of the excessive descriptions of clothing and possessions. None of the characters, including Bateman, have what we might call a soul or humanity. They ARE their possessions and, as a result, they all look, act, and talk the same; they are indistinguishable one to the next. In short, there is no "there" there. American Psycho is a hard read, but it's one of the great American novels.

One thing I enjoyed about Bateman was how he self analyzed himself. Whether these killings were all but a dream or they actually happened, he understood that he was not like the peers he hung around, yet per society, this was the “success” he had to portray. By people undermining him, or even brother Sean aging him and letting him know how times have changed, Bateman had to have had a sense of knowing all this stuff, even getting a seat at Dorsia, was more than being a status symbol, it was having the ability to garner lasting connections with people. Bateman could not do that for too long if these people were not within his sphere of success. He knew that. He was trapped. That’s what I think was his biggest obstacle

This book is a masterpiece, I finished it months ago and I can't stop thinking about it.

Dalton, at the start you should have replied to Adrian's shady comment saying 'and I'm Dalton Gentry and I have better fashion sense'. (Sorry Adrian) ;)

Great review, guys. I appreciate the post-structuralism lens and "the boy next door" reading. I have not read this before, but it sounds like a doozy. Definitely agree that Adrian should read Clockwork Orange, though.

I really enjoyed to hear them talk about the book with differed opinion. :-)

Bateman and everyone else in the book is unreliable, due to the narcissistic nature of the characters. Mistaken identity is a huge plot line in the novel. The book leaves you learning nothing. The most telling chapters in my mind are the music chapters, they foreshadow the ending of the book. I personally love the ending, it completes the book, figuratively and literally. It’s all ‘surface, surface, surface.’ I personally am out to lunch on the murders. The scene with the realtor and lawyer is usually the ‘he didn’t kill them’ I’ve read this book over fifty times, I love it. Every time I read it I come to a different conclusion. In terms of time frame. I believe it takes place from 1987 - 1990. The clubs are playing music which is brand new, happening, hip music. Clubs close as do restaurants within months of opening in this book, everything has to be the latest. In regards to Bateman monologuing about clothes and the way his hair looks in certain light and his routines etc. It has to be there, it has to be every few pages. It’s his life, it’s all his life is. He most likely has OCD, Schizophrenia and anti social personality disorder. Out of hundreds of novels I’ve read, I honestly don’t believe any is more relevant to our society as American Psycho.

It was not a chore, I breezed through it in 3 days. I also blasted the songs he mentioned in spotify during the reading of those scenes. There was one consequence: the taxi driver that identified him, then he got robbed. My normal interpretation: It is about values, self values. That if you do not set your values, society and marketing will set them for you. Sure is impossible to be original, nothing new under the sun and we stand in the shoulder of giants. If you don't have a protected mind, the influences will overflow you. Depression (and madness) will come when you try to fit in things you don't value, but you think other people do value. One's got locked in pursue of comparison and obcess too much about details, forgeting what was the purpose of that in the first place. Bateman cares too much about the texture and font of his calling card. (some booktubers care too much if the book series match height and binding, great, so the same product can be sold many times to the same person) Bateman does not have a true opinion of what he likes, it comes from a magazine or a guide. How much are we like that and don't know about it? Now a sci-fi wacko interpretation: A theory that his mind alternated between 2 realities, one he was boy next door and the other he was the killer. The case of mistaken identities would be that other people were saying him as someone else. Like mental body swapping between alternate universes. And not exactly one of those realities was our own, because even with his paranoic knowledge of music, at least 2 times he atrributed a song to the wrong group. At least two years passed, and in the end he was still 26. Like time would not have the same pacing. Last questions: - How the late 80's was the last era that he could be the killer because there were not cameras everywhere? - Why everytime he went to the club, the first song was the same? (INXS - new sensation) - About the gay subtext. His porn reflected that and he masturbated to calvin klein models, that most of the time were men. What your thoughts? - Following that, since Luis coming to him was upseting him so much, why he did not consider killing him again? It was very good reading and it should have deserved more screen time here.

I also think this book is fantastic, One of the best things about this book is that EVERYONE in the book hasn't got a fucking clue what is going on in their lives. They are all fucked up. Each person is completely screwed up and that makes it so much better than oh its just one crazy guy. None of them are in control. He is an unreliable narrator because he can't tell what is a hallucination and what isn't and I think he has blackouts (not read it in ages). Did he kill anyone? I doubt he killed anyone at all. The movie is funny and disturbing all at once.

Dalton, you are right! I feel like I got everything I was going to get out of the first few pages of "suit talk" and couldn't go on. And I am a "literary fiction reader." I'd really like to hear you guys discuss A Clockwork Orange so keep pushing Adrian on that one.

I finally got through the book for the first time this year and yeah, wow. It's definitely a new favourite. I loved the totally ridiculous contrast of daily clothing/routine descriptions with the more gruesome scenes, and though I have no idea whether Pat actually committed any of the crimes, I tend to think that maybe he did. And like Adrian said, there were many times when I found myself laughing - often from the absurd bluntness of Patrick's admissions. I really liked the book, and though I don't know what that says about me as a person, Dalton, you're wrong. Also, I think it's interesting everyone's go to non-woman-mutilating scene is Pat's treatment of dogs, when I can't get the scene with the kid at Central Park zoo out of my head.

I need to re-read it, my favorite book of all time

I LOVE American Psycho. I'm so glad you guys got to review it.

my favorite scenes is when that guy said " I just had dinner with paul owens ten days ago in london" and when that real estate lady realizes patrick is a serial killer

Batman's problem he lives in his brain not in his heart and body he is a brain in a jar

My favorite part was when he had his girlfriend eat that chocolate-covered urinal cake. That was epic. Made me laugh so hard!

Well, thanks to you the book finally found its way from the shelf into actual reading schedule. For me it was definetely a rewarding read and I found the extensive descriptions more world-building than annoying (as I was starting I was afraid it might not be the case, because I've read books with name-branding before and suffered through the entire process - Bateman would totally flip minutes into a conversation with me ;) "You're suit looks nice. Is it... black?"). I got used to the way Pat sees the world: first someone's name, then what their wearing and if there is enough time maybe what the conversation was all about. The number of characters sure got me confused at times (wait was that human mentioned before?), but I can't help to think that it was partially intended on Ellis's side - to make the characters melt into one big pile, so the names didn't matter to you as much as they didn't matter to Bateman nor the various passerbies that kept on using wrong names and not recognizing each other on the street. I wonder how much of the pages-long popular music 101s were Patrick's actual thoughts and how much of it was him just mashing random informations he's read in papers and presenting them as his own. He sure does hold himself high in the food-chain by being the fashion etiquette expert. All of those informations he had to get from somewhere too. Without a copy of Zagata, he sure had no idea where he wanted to eat, so... I liked how int he background "Les Miserables" kept on poping up, reminding the reader that everyone in this book is miserable and unhappy, and that their ploy to replace human connection with things and objects is simply not working. I'm strongly for the interpretation that Bateman hasn't actually killed anyone, but is bad shit crazy nevertheless. It makes me wonder about, what actually happened between him and Luis in the bathroom. I also think that he hasn't tried to harm Luis later on, because deep down in his craziness he knew he wasn't killing anyone and Luis was so present in his daytime life, that he couldn't just make him dissapear in his "serial killer" reality, beacuse he wouldn't leave the other part of it so easily. As for gore, I was a big fan of Hannibal the TV show, so I guess I'm quite immune to graphic violence going forward... but Ellis sure had to had some weird conversations with his editor and proof-readers. The funniest part of novel for me, was a chapter near the end, when Pat and one of his colleague are seting up dinner with one other guy and they have no idea where they want to eat and Pat ends up sending Evelyn and one other girl to a bar and later forgets about them. The whole thing I found quite amusing. Bateman celebrity crush on Donald Trump was pretty funny too. More on a dark humor side of things now, but still. That was... long. Well it won't be until someone clicks "show more", so I won't be worrying about that.

Great video hit that button !!!

If you laughed at or enjoyed this book, you really need intensive psychological help.

17:34 To be fair, I haven't read the book. But I get the gist from your video and the movie. Is there "an" American Psycho or does the title describe a condition/ethic a lá American Gothic?

i love you.

i go with dalton

Totally agree with Dalton on this one.

Sorry I'm replying late just read American Psycho after never watching the movie, I understand both points of view, however I think it being a rough read is more a benefit of it, I dont think this novel should be fun, I love that he recommended Clockwork Orange I also had thoese vibes, however when I read clockwork I thought that was the most brutal thing I had ever read, until American Pyscho. I also have never read Lolita even though I'm tempted but that subject matter is sickening, after American Psycho I feel like I'm emotionally ready to read through something that heavy. And I loved when u talked about passing out to guts, I'm a huge Palahniuk fan and even his darkest works havent made me as I'll as American Pyscho did. I definitely plan a reread one day! Great video guys!

Suggestion book to read after: ''The Fall'' by Albert Camus. If Adrian somehow ends up reading this comment, I would recommend this very short (500 words) review from Riku Sayuj on Goodreads. I believe this might sell ''The Fall'' to you: www.goodreads.com/review/show/1074045075?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

I just finished reading the book now I'm rewatching this video.

Finished the book tonight. I’m left with more questions than I started with, and little to no answer. I am guessing that’s the point.

The film is almost word-for-word but scattered around in differnt parts. I'm under the impression that it takes place in a one year time. It starts on April Fools Day and comes to end around Valentine's Day the next year. Also, it seems to me that Bateman "gets away" with all his carnage because the folks who mistake him for someone else, always seem to describe the Bateman they know as a "weak, stupid and incompetent" type of guy. Example: at the end with the lawyer or Paul Allen at the dinner talking about Bateman's girlfriend being to good for Pat. Great review, btw.

Hm, I feel like reading this, just because I'm curious of it in an Abnormal Psychology sense. I'm wondering if the title is literal and it's actually about someone with Antisocial Personality Disorder or if it's a kind of Psychosis. But, I'm not a huge fan of books with too much description. But I wont find a copy on clearance for a while, so I have a lot of time to thing about it. hah

I just subscribed because i love this book review's you're doing. Will you come back to doing those?

and I recommed "Our Lady of the Flowers" by Jean Genet

11:31 Bateman is almost proud of killing Paul he adds it as a after thought

I have to return some videotapes

Have yet to watch video... I LOVE American Psycho....*happy dance*

I think you guys should read other books by Bret Easton Ellis: Less than Zero and Glamorama.

I'm afraid I'm #teamAdrian on this. Violence & mayhem at it's finest. My personal favourite is Lunar Park

Adrian the Chad, Dalton the virgin