American Psycho

Product Information

Where the book falters is, not surprisingly, when Ellis turns his eye to politics. He positions himself again and again as the rational centrist, the man swayed not by emotion but only by logic and arguments. He agrees with some of Trump's policies and disagrees with others. He chose not to vote as neither candidate appealed to him, but he's dismayed by the visceral reaction of millennials and affluent white coastal elites to Trump's success. His argument starts out small: at first he keeps the focus on his millennial boyfriend (22 years younger than Ellis). After Trump's election, the boyfriend grows his hair long, is untidy in his appearance, has nervous breakdowns, cajoles, shrieks, screams, argues, fights with Ellis over Trump. Reading between the lines, one wonders if the arguments are more over Ellis' apathy and political stagnation than Trump's policies. Silverblatt, M. (2016). Transgressive Fiction. Retrieved February, 20, 2020, from https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-01-bk-21466-story.html American Psycho is a brilliant book. Genius. It will no doubt deservingly be remembered as Bret Easton Ellis's masterpiece, his tour-de-force of sadist misanthropy.

C/ i already get a healthy dose of misogyny from reading about everything that the orange smegma says and does that this would likely cause me to be physically ill Since B.E.Ellis writes about the consumer society, the novel has an intertextuality device, which includes the names of songs, books, films, musical groups. Mainly the writer uses names of brands in a text: Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Louboutin, Hermes, Yves Saint Laurent ( Ellis, 1991). The device of an intertextuality can represent a conscious and openly underlined meaning element, and it can also be semi-open and unintentional ( Ryabukha & Troshina, 2018). In the “American psycho” the usage of an intertextuality is intentional as the author underlines the character's dependence on total consumption. People had previously commented about how annoying it was when the book goes off on random tangents where Bateman breaks down different musical artists' careers. I found this weirdly enjoyable - particularly the chapters where he discusses Genesis and Whitney Houston in great detail. Although I was not too impressed when Bateman described Bruce Springsteen as overrated (but he made up for it by later telling a stranger on the street that Brilliant Disguise by the Boss was the happiest song he could think of - how depressing and sad is that song... LOL). Bateman's obsession for serial killers also reminded me of myself, he would slide that chat in anywhere he could. Although he did get one of his quotes wrong, attributing a quote by Ed Kemper to Ed Gein - easily done I guess *shrugs*

Customer reviews

As much as I disliked reading this, I am not blinded by hatred enough to not realise that people like this exist amongst faces we see every day. It put me into a depressing mood but was the only aspect of this book I found unsettlingly interesting. While submerging into the story, I often forgot that good people do exist in this world and wondered, just how many of those "good" men play saints while thinking of me as a useless, good for nothing "hardbody"? I wanted to fall on the respect end because I understood why others rated the book high. But I can't overcome the fact that I hated reading the repetitive formula of : character talks about meaningless shit, character talks about or participates in unappealing (and super-extreme) sex, then character makes a gruesome kill. You don't skip over the bits about his facial creams, you absorb it and afterwards let your jaw drop that he is more passionate about it than any human life, or feeling. People ARE materials to him, just more useless and often tasteless ones. The rest of the review is driveling me about censorship because of violence in books and movies, so well, that was it regarding the book. But at least it inspired this thought, so it´s maybe at least a bit not too far off topic? No, a clear and definite, no.

The misogyny debate about this book greatly interests me. If there is one thing - probably above everything else - that I can't stand in books, it must be the positive depiction of sexism, slut-shaming and/or abusive relationships. But I've never thought that just showing the existence of something as part of a story equates to endorsing it. I suppose American Psycho might promote misogyny in the same way that any violent art might promote violence.Craig McDermott – Bateman's colleague, part of a social foursome alongside Bateman, Timothy Price and David Van Patten. Kelly, Alison (June 27, 2010). "Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on June 30, 2010 . Retrieved July 28, 2010. Deeply concerned with his personal appearance, Bateman gives extensive descriptions of his daily aesthetics regimen. Yeah, he could have been nicer but certainly didn't scream "SERIAL KILLER".................but this DID !

Mary: Recently I loved the title sequence for Westworld. I just think that’s gorgeous. I watched the whole show, and I always sat through and watched the sequence.A compelling meticulously planned piece of satire of the American Dream as seen and recanted by a first person... psychopath! What causes controversy is that the same detail and flat-tone Bateman uses to describe nights out and business, is used for his detailed very explicit and dark often sexually violenced themed murders, and it is the minute horrifying detail and the dispassion that it is documented that appears to have deeply offended some. especially as many of the victims are female and/or poor. Huge trigger warning for the detailed sexual violence. I've recently learned that before its release, 31 publishers worldwide wanted nothing to do with the novel due to its gory, disturbing, misogynistic content. While I can understand 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨 won't be everyone's cup of tea, one must remember that the point of satire is to exaggerate, so if you decide to venture into the wild mind of Bateman/Ellis, I would suggest not to do it with a straight face, as it is a social criticism, and a very well written one. So 𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦, 𝘺𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, and remember, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘵. You know, this book reveals how much of a different planet some people are on than the one I'm on. It's not a good feeling. At first, I'd thought about trying to do a “tongue-inside-the-cheek” review by imitating the narrator and describing what “designers” I was wearing while typing this review and what “brand” of shampoo and shaving cream I used this morning. However, the more I thought about, the more I realized I wanted to play this one straight given the profound effect the book had on me.

The research purpose primarily involves considering the author's style of B.Е.Ellis in the context of contemporary transgressive fiction, defining linguistic and stylistic features of B.E.Ellis's novel “American Psycho”, and interpreting the function of slang languagе and obscene vocabulary in the present novel. Research Methods The book is a heavy critique on consumerism and the ridiculous nature of it. Everybody is obsessed with the latest brands and most expensive products. The homeless are always remarked on as Bateman walks past them wearing his ridiculously expensive clothing. There are endless descriptions of goods and products. The use of such a device in the narrative was a perfect way to expose how out of touch society is. It doesn’t see what’s in front of it, which allows the real Bateman to explore his darkest and most evil of fantasies unnoticed as he enacts the charade that is his life. It’s an immensely clever book and though the narrative does become dry and repetitive, it was totally necessary to show the mind of a psychopath and his fixations. As a result of the research of stylistic features of the transgressive fiction, it has been revealed that their functional role is equated to the role of the semantic content. The understanding of using language units and also the knowledge of stylistic features of transgressive fiction considerably influence the perception of this genre of literature as satire, the specific forms revealing and ridiculing defects of people and the society. The main compositional principles of the text should include the fragmented presentation of information, as well as nonlinearity and multimedia. Ellis slyly balances the relative passion with which Bateman might discuss Huey Lewis in one chapter with a dispassionate yet detailed and horrific play-by-play of rape and dismemberment in the next.

Introduction

Mary: No. No! This was my idea for the title sequence, and we didn’t have any others. John Cale scored it afterwards and the music obviously helps. Christie" – a prostitute, employed and badly abused by Bateman on multiple occasions before he eventually murders her in a grisly fashion. Bateman gives her this name; her real one is never revealed. For this visitation to the land of cows, I still dressed nice, even though I’m running the risk of getting blood on some very, very fine cloth. “I’m wearing a six-button double-breasted chalk-striped wool suit and a patterned silk tie, both by Louis, Boston, and a cotton oxford cloth shirt by Luciano Barbera.”