American Psycho

Product Description

The modern classic, the basis of a Broadway musical, and major motion picture from Lion's Gate Films starring Christian Bale, Chloe Sevigny, Jared Leto, and Reese Witherspoon, and directed by Mary Harron.

In American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis imaginatively explores the incomprehensible depths of madness and captures the insanity of violence in our time or any other. Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.

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Top Reviews

My favorite novel of all time
by Author John Raptor (5 out of 5 stars)
April 30, 2018

The 80s: a time period defined by surface, cut throat capitalism, Reagan economics, Wall Street, cocaine, AIDS, night clubs, awesome pop music, and serial killers. This is the setting of Bret Easton Ellis's most controversial novel, American Psycho, which when published in 1991, garnered an F review in Entertainment Weekly, put Ellis on the FBI's watchlist, and infuriated a radical feminist named Tara Baxter.

American Psycho is about the infamous Patrick Bateman--Wall Street yuppie--whose extracurricular activities included clubbing; snorting coke; dining at New York City's finest restaurants; purchasing overpriced sunglasses, suits, brief cases, bottled water, Walkman headphones; and murdering prostitutes, animals, co-workers, and the homeless.

With graphic and detailed descriptions that include sadomasochism, decapitations, eviscerations, dismemberment, and torture, it is no wonder American Psycho garnered so much controversy. In today's culture (that has created a genre of film called torture porn), such a novel would probably not get national attention. But in 1991, before the novel was even published, the controversy was nearly as hostile as the protagonist. Most of American Psycho's criticism has come from the fact that it depicts scenes that are disgusting, vile, crude, and immoral. What these critics fail to mention is that the novel itself is a looking-glass, reflecting a society that is itself disgusting, vile, crude, and immoral. What the novel does not do, to any extent, is shy away from truth or sugarcoat the ugliness of a society obsessed with surface and possessions; a society overcome by greed. In the late 70s and in the 80s, America experienced a string of serial killers (Bundy, Gacy, and Manson), that both terrified and fascinated Americans. Nothing quite captures America's attention like murder. And this is exactly why Patrick Bateman, the antihero of the novel, is a serial killer set in a time period gripped with greed and fear.

Patrick Bateman is not the only sociopath in the novel. In fact, they populate the streets of New York City, the law firms, the finest restaurants and clubs. They are soulless individuals who do not care about others, only advancing themselves, only possessing, and accumulating more wealth. They are individuals who use others to their own advantage. In American Psycho, they are Wall Street yuppies, the upper class, the Marxist bourgeoisie--who destroy and use the unfortunate (homeless, prostitutes, children) so they can live in excess.

One reoccurring theme throughout the novel is that Patrick Bateman and his yuppie friends often mistake their co-workers for other co-workers, since there is no distinct individuality, only conformity to an ideal surface. No one really knows who anyone else is; as Patrick Bateman states, "Inside doesn't matter." They are so self-absorbed that they do not take time to notice anyone outside themselves or their possessions, unless a source of ridicule or competition. Patrick Bateman, competing for the Fischer Account (which is never clearly explained, except for the fact that it is the best account), literally axes a co-worker named Paul Owen in the face, in order to get ahead. Talk about cut throat capitalism!

The graphic, deplorable scenes of violence in Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho serve a purpose: to illustrate the inhumanity of a society that puts its value in objects instead of people. Or rather, treats people as objects. The murders and the sex scenes are not the only thing described in pornographic detail. Patrick Bateman is a character sick with obsession; obsession with all the wrong things. In many scenes, Bateman describes, in pornographic detail, his wardrobe, his apartment, brands of bottled water, his music collection, the food at his favorite restaurants. These are the things that consume not only Patrick, but his cohorts. In fact, one could say that a surface obsessed society creates monsters like Bateman. In a society gripped by fear, whose only solace is found in possessing and dominating, there is nowhere to go but down: into madness, psychosis; anything to try and feel, to escape the void. In a chapter entitled "Tries to Cook and Eat Girl," Ellis underlines the only real thing that can fill the void:

Bateman attempts to turn a dead girl into meat loaf, but then he starts to cry: "The smell of meat and blood clouds up the condo until I don't notice it anymore. And later my macabre joy sours and I'm weeping for myself, unable to find solace in any of this, crying out, sobbing "˜I just want to be loved'" (Ellis 345). This scene is gross and disturbing, but in some sick, morbid way-you may feel empathy for Patrick. There is only one thing that can fill the hole in Bateman's consumer-obsessed soul: love. But, living in the society in which he does, love is an illusory concept, just like truth, compassion, and morals. In this society, there is only one truth: nothing matters-except money. In this society, there is no love and there is no escape from one's emptiness.
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TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT !!
by TSteinyRN (1 out of 5 stars)
November 4, 2018

I decided to give this book a chance based on the reviews. This is the 1st and last book I will read from this author. I will not make that mistake again ha ha. Throughout the entire book there were way too many characters introduced that had nothing to do with the book. I never figured out what Patrick actually did for a living or if it was even a "real" job. Probably 30% of the book was describing what people were wearing. The types of fabric and the clothing designer was explained...it got SO old and tiresome. Patrick's criminal mind didn't even make sense. If he did do all these deplorable killings over that long of time, the NYPD would have been all over him. The only thing believable is this author has a sick and twisted mind and should not be left alone with females. Save your money, I just summed up the entire book for you!!
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Dark, vacuous, repetitive humor
by Candace Williams (3 out of 5 stars)
June 11, 2018

This book reminds me of the 1990s sitcom Seinfeld, described as "A Show About Nothing." Like the characters in Seinfeld, the Wall Street crowd the protagonist runs with are hip, shallow and self-absorbed creatures. Anyone in NYC can ignore the homeless, but why not demonstrate your callous disregard by holding out a crisp bill and pulling it away at the last moment as you walk by in your Armani suit. Oh, I get the dark humor, the social indictment, the vacuous preoccupation with designer labels and the latest trendy restaurant. But unlike Seinfeld, the book's humor wore thin with repetition and also repetition. Honestly I had a hard time finishing this one
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Incredible Indictment of America's Excess
by Ellen Jo (4 out of 5 stars)
April 3, 2015

An incredible indictment of the American tendency to be excessive in all things. The tale was inspired by Yuppie culture of the 1980s, though Patrick Bateman's dead soul transcends all eras. (Patrick Bateman is out there today, as vapid as ever, though he's probably much more evil... and his mobile phone is no doubt much smaller.)

Throughout the story Bateman hypnotically drones on and on about brand names, designers, furnishings, status symbols, pop music, numbing us (and himself) to the moments of sheer terror, gore and sexual violence that punctuate the book. The fashion houses, the expensive restaurants (with their corny fusion cuisine, each concept funnier than the next) and the fellow stockbrokers are all interchangeable. Don't pay too much focus trying to differentiate the characters. Nobody else in the book can either. Bateman is frequently mistaken for someone completely different, just as he frequently names others incorrectly. In the end it helps him carry on his double life for much longer than he otherwise could have.

The story is populated by a nameless swarm of bored big spenders, unhappily socializing in 1980s NYC. Patrick is different though. His mind is not right. He cruelly murders homeless people, prostitutes, small dogs...escalating to kill people from within his circle of friends. His taste in music is crap.

This book made my blood run cold, yet I was unable to put it down. Bret Easton Ellis is an incredible writer, bringing us into this highly deviant mind.
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Great novel!
by Timothy Collins (4 out of 5 stars)
June 30, 2017

I honestly don't know what to say. To warn a reader that this book is difficult to get through in some spots is old hat at this point so I won't even try. Let it be said that those with weak stomachs might want to try some other book. But here is the thing - all of that violence and detailed gore has a point. This book is not about a sociopath that kills a number of people - it is about a mindset and social structure that makes those lives into a commodity to be used and discarded. Is Patrick Bateman a monster or is he just a delusional person that capitalism in the 80's produced? Is there a difference? Is that even what the book is trying to say or am I just pushing a narrative on it that isn't there - is it maybe really a novel about a sociopathic serial killer? This is all stuff to consider. But it is worth reading and considering it, at the very least.
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"Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do?"
by Cynthia (4 out of 5 stars)
March 10, 2019

"Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do?"

This has been the ongoing in question I have been asking myself while reading this book. What happened to Pat Bateman in his life to cause him to become this homicidal, cannibalistic murderer? From what little we learn about his family, we learn that he is not very emotionally tied to anyone, but this could either be from 1. neglect or 2. because he is mentally broken causing him to be emotionally detached to everyone.

So the question remains; Is evil something Pat Bateman is, or is it just something he became?

The question was never answered throughout the book because truthfully, Pat doesn't know what made him the way that he is. He accepts the fact he has crossed a threshold of sanity he can never return to, he understands he may be able to receive love, but can never give it. He also understands the fascade he allows people to see is not his true identity and the emtionally turmoil it takes to carry on this charade of normalcy causes him to spiral even further out of control and self medicate himself with anex, valium and cocaine. It's a sad life Pat Bateman leads but it's an even sadder situation for anyone who crosses his path.

While I typically do not read books of this genre and could hardly stomach the animal abuse, child killing and just plain disgusting descriptions of sexual mutilation, something kept me invested in this story. Mr. Ellis climbed so deeply into the mind of a psychopath that I couldn't help but read on. There are so many undertones in the book that carry enough meaning, they can be theorized amongst books clubs for ages. Les Misérables mentioned throughout the book, The Patty Winters Show, the descriptive details of everyone's clothing, the entire chapters dedicated to the ramblings of music typically follow up after a horrific murder scene. I can go one for a very long time about what I believe this all to be, but that would cause me to write a novel of my own, so I will just say, though I could barley stomach this book, the writing was certainly one of a master mind.

I was a bit dissatisfied with the ending and tonight, when I watch the film adaptation for the first time, I hope to be a bit more satisfied.
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A Brilliant Disguise
by Reader2307 (3 out of 5 stars)
December 22, 2018

American Psycho is about the very wealthy, good looking and successful Patrick Bateman who has a great job on Wall Street, equally well heeled friends and a 'hardbody' of a girlfriend. The only problem is that Patrick is a; soulless, materialistic, narcissistic, racist, homophobic, misogynistic and murderous psychopath. Patrick is the physical embodiment of all that is wrong in the world.

I wanted to love this book. I really did. But it is very boring. It is chock-a-block with passage after passage about what people are wearing, what people are buying, where people went to school, who people know, where they live, who they have slept with and which hot spots they frequent. I understand its purpose is to highlight how superficial the yuppies are but its tedious and gets really old really fast.

I also found it boring because despite very graphic sex scenes and depraved violent acts Bateman does not feel like a real psychopath. He does not scare the reader or unsettle the reader the way reading a true crime novel would or watching a documentary about an actual serial killer would. He feels like the kind of psychopath we see in movies. Over the top, sexy and shallow.

So, why did I give it three stars if its so boring? Ellis is a darkly humorous author who makes lots of biting and acute social commentary which is the scariest part of the novel because in the twenty-seven years since Ellis wrote the book all of the commentary is still completely relevant and accurate. Ellis also does something very brave. He refuses to moralize which he easily could have done considering how appalling some of the behaviour that Patrick and the other characters engage in is. I like books that leave you thinking or even a little confused and American Psycho does both. Once you have finished you can not say for certain if Patrick is an out of control serial killer or if he is still hiding in plain sight and simply imagining all the ways he would act on his violent impulses.
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Kindle Edition has no table of contents
by A. Brunelle (4 out of 5 stars)
October 27, 2018

I read this book awhile back in paperback form, and when I bought the Kindle version, I assumed it would have access to the Table of Contents so that when I fell asleep listening to it, I could go back to where I had been. No such luck. Every time I woke up and it had gone through the whole book, I had to manually turn the pages to get where I thought I was, which was very inconvenient. I wish I had known that this book was going to be so hard to navigate because then I would not have gotten it.

Some of the descriptions are too wordy in this novel. Ellis describes what EVERYONE is wearing in almost EVERY scene. I guess that was the yuppie thing to do back then, but it does start to get exhausting after awhile. I may attempt to get this book in audio form instead of Kindle because I'm sure there are at least some semblance of chapters that you can go to. There are a ton of "chapters" in this book and trying to list them would be very cumbersome I guess.

I'm a big fan of Chuck Palahniuk and most of his novels, and have them on Audible. Maybe I should add this one and listen to someone reading the novel rather than text-to-speech and no chapter movement. It might be worth it.
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MISOGYNISTIC. CONTROVERSIAL. GRATUITOUS. SENSATIONAL AWESOMENESS
by Thomas S Flowers (5 out of 5 stars)
March 13, 2015

Bret Easton Ellis' novel, American Psycho, has just about as a precarious history as the contents held within its blood splattered pages. First released by Simon & Schuster in early 1991 and soon after quickly sold to Vintage by the publisher for undisclosed reasons and for an undisclosed sum of money. For us folks doing a review in 2015, almost a quarter of a century down the road, this sounds quite bizarre for a publisher to boot such a phenomenal piece of horror fiction -- however, apparently during the early 90's, American Psycho was received a tad bit differently than one might expect today. Today, American Psycho is heralded as a postmodern cult classic, used no less in hip English lit classes and sociology classes, hell maybe even psychology classes, and if teachers were really smart, criminology classes! Its very strange looking back at American Psycho's first release and reading all the vile contemptuous swings reviewers and readers and the media alike took at Ellis. Especially considering how during the same year Silence of the Lambs was released theatrically and went on to win dozens of awards, including: The Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, etc. etc. How can a movie and book about cannibalism, the most taboo thing imaginable, shine with audiences while at the same time American Psycho can be chased away by a mob with flaming torches and pitch forks? According to Ellis, who stated in a somewhat recent interview, "It was feminists and The New York Times. Hand-wringing liberals [who] were upset about "˜American Psycho.' I don't think there was a single peep from conservatives or anyone like that. It was a liberal witch hunt and I was at the center of it" (The Oregonian, 2010). In a previous interview with Roger Cohen, from the New York Times, back during his books initial release, in response to the numerous death threats he had received in the mail, Mr. Ellis said that he "had no idea the novel would provoke the reception it's gotten, and I still don't quite get it" (New York Times, 1991). It is so bizarre how Anthony Hopkins chewing some dudes face off can be considered highbrow, while American Psycho, which had more to say regarding the quiet submission to consumerism and desensitization of the silent majority than any other work of fiction at the time, can be held with such contempt.

In retrospect of heavy criticisms, Mr. Ellis follows with one of the most profound statements regarding the craft of writing, something I believe all writers should well remember, when he states: "You do not write a novel for praise, or thinking of your audience. You write for yourself; you work out between you and your pen the things that intrigue you" (New York Times, 1991). And with American Psycho, as this humble reviewer understands it, Ellis was "working out" how society during the late 1980's had considered the "surface" things, such as: food, clothes, money, etc., to be the only means in which a person can be defined. And this comment on society becomes obviously apparent and satirically metaphorical when you begin to read his book. In the very first pages, Ellis numbs the mind by using the narrator, Patrick Bateman, who also so happens to be a complete lunatic, to list off in excruciating detail all the many "surface" things he sees on the day to day, such as: designer suits, Walkman's, music, movies, furniture, TV shows, restaurants, food, etc., etc. These things are important to him, while at the same time, not important. Even the murders are so brutally detailed, eventually at least (the book does have a sense of pace to it), that we become, in a way, desensitized to the violence just as much as we are desensitized to the material. Everything becomes banal. Here is what Pat Bateman has to say for himself towards the end of the book after he emerges from a near-psychotic break:
"There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there..." (American Psycho, pgs. 376-377).

The above statement was made popular with the release of the theatrical version of the book, staring Christian Bale, back in 2000. And the madman goes on, of course. Bateman questions the very banality of evil, "is evil something we are or something we do?" etc. etc. And by the end, he finds what we "normal" folks might consider to be the deeper things in life, such as: war and politics, family, discoveries, sunrises, heroes, falling in love, blah-blah-blah, to be also utterly dull. Bateman can only find one clear emotion within him, greed - oh and perhaps, as he suggested -- disgust. The most pungent scene, for me, that invokes this macabre bland worldview is at the beginning of the book. Patrick is waiting on Patricia who so happens to be late for their date. When she finally arrives, Patrick narrates, nonchalantly, that she is safe from his knife, safe from him cutting open her throat and watching her bleed with mild disinterest, not because of any kind of luck, and not really because she comes from a wealthy stock, but simply and callously because Bateman made the choice. Bateman states: "Patricia will stay alive, and this victory requires no skill, no leaps of the imagination, no ingenuity on anyone's part. This is simply how the world, my world, moves" (American Psycho, pg. 282). When I first read this line...my bones were chilled by the eerie ordinariness of it. The stylization is so humdrum you can actually feel madness slipping on like an old pair of slippers as you read the narrators ghastly horrific plunge further down into the rabbit-hole. When he finally emerges, you're expecting some earth shattering revelation, but his only revelation is that nothing matters. It is what it is. He is what he is. The world is what it is. And there is nothing special in that. And there is nothing special in monotony.
When thinking what American Psycho means to me in 2015, I'm struck by an overwhelming sadness in how some horror books and movies are never appreciated in their day. The heinous reception of American Psycho in 1991 and how it has now become this beloved cult classic reminds me so much of John Carpenter's adaptation of "Who Goes There" with The Thing (1982). Both were completely hated and bashed by not only critics (which we should expect) but also by audiences. American Psycho stands out to me, not only because of its quip attitude toward yuppie culture during the 1980's, an excellent timepiece for modern day writers to resource, but also because you can feel the character, the crazed loon, desperately trying to be normal even though he is anything but normal, till the end when he finally snaps and the story whips from first person to third and finally back to first when Pat Bateman realizes there is no "normal." It's oddly human and somewhat farcical, something we might even call dark comedy. Everyone around Bateman is, in a lot of ways, similar to one another. They have little to no empathy towards others, not even with each other. This is often seen in not only how they talk and what they discuss, what's of importance to them, but in how grossly they mistreat the homeless, which during the 80's was witness to some of the highest percentages in American history. And the very same brutal detail in what they wear and what they eat and who they sleep with. In this, they are mirror images. The only difference, the only way Patrick sets himself apart, is his murderous and sexual appetites (though you could argue his sexual desires are also in line with everyone else). But this is all beneath the "surface," and when it comes to the criticisms of the book, perhaps those same voices who threatened Bret's life could only see what was floating on top. On the "surface" are the boring albeit grim details of every little aspect in Pat Bateman's life, the clothes, the music, the food, the women, and even the way he imagines lacerating those same women. Beneath are metaphors, how we see society, how we place value on meaningless things, how we look at those around us as things, how we've become completely callous toward suffering. This is why the book is still so popular and important for readers today. If we can get past the brutality and sink our heads beneath the lapping waves of the mundane, to peer into the depths of consequentialism, for a moment at least, before we're gasping up for air, we can walk away with some realization or dare I say an awakening. If even for only a moment.
If you have yet to read Bret Easton Ellis' 1991 masterpiece, American Psycho -- well, as the saying goes: there is no time like the present. Just be forewarned that the book is written from the first person perspective. Today, few stories are told from the first person narration. Personally, the only first person stories I've read are Lovecraftian. However, I suggest you give the book a fair amount of patience. And patience you will need. As mentioned in my review above, the author goes into grave detail about everything. You will be numbed -- but isn't that the point?
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Ellis's BEST work by far
by Noah dimitri (5 out of 5 stars)
August 11, 2018

American psycho has a frightening and hypnotic ability to keep the reader interested and attentive in its happenings even in the most (objectively speaking) mundane and bland moments of its pages...to be perfectly honest i have no clue what makes AP entirely perfect but i do have a couple points of argument for why *I* enjoy it so much
1. It's understated comedy
When one opens AP for the first time they would not expect the novel to be as absurdly funny as it is
2. The mundane juxtaposed against the violent
The novel is usually writren in two types of scenes the first being the hedonistic shallow and narcissistic lifestyle of pat batemane and the 2nd being the vicious and strikingly GORY murderous acts of the same charecter often times the most violent and sinful acts of bateman directly were preceded by a more "civil" and calm scene of bateman in his day to day life
3.the satire of american obsession with the material AND the surrealism of bateman as an unreliable narrator through out the story
I think the headline explains this point well enough

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