American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis, 1991)

American Psycho is, without a doubt, the most violent book I have ever read. The scenes of torture and murder go further than anyone, even a hardcore gore-hound, would want to go. But it isn’t needless violence for the purpose to shock (although shock and disgust are definitely what you feel). Our protagonist is psychotic, insecure and has a desperate need to fit in and, in being a book that is told in the first person narrative, his psyche is portrayed as that of a manic and fractured obsessive, so whilst the violence is told in a truly horrific, graphic and casual manner, so is everything else, like sex (which is the literary equivalent of hardcore porn) and everyday mundane events, like what people are wearing, with entire chapters devoted to Bateman’s musical preferences and items that he’s furnished his house with. The narrative itself is fractured also, never fitting what would be a conventional structure, just many random moments from Bateman’s life thrown together, adding cadence to the mundane and nonchalant ways in which he describes things (be it having dinner with a colleague or fucking a severed head).

The satire on the yuppie culture is not so much implied as it is up front and centre, with every character portrayed as a repugnant, self-centred weasel. Everyone, Bateman included, are confused as to who many of their acquaintances are, due to all looking and dressing the same, and when Bateman states quite clearly that he is psychotic, many either aren’t listening or hear something else entirely (murder and executions is mistaken for mergers and acquisitions). The men are especially horrid, mainly toward women, with Bateman’s killings emphasising as such, albeit in an extreme and hideous fashion.

Controversial? Yes. Harmful? No. Brilliant? Most definitely. What Ellis does is cleverly hide the social subtext with a near pornographic sensibility. There is a purpose for the debauchery, it is not needless. It’s just a shame, as always, that the sex and violence is what it’s remembered for, not the dark streak of humour or the fact that it is excellently written.

I will definitely read more Ellis after this. Glamorama or The Rules of Attraction maybe.

5/5