American Psycho Book Review 2

American Psycho is a book by Bret Easton Ellis that I have only just got around to reading now.I have seen the movie starring Christian Bale and liked it a lot.Usually I try not to see the movie until the book is read as its very hard to get the images of the actors out of the mind once they are there! The books are usually superior to the film anyway though there are exceptions to that rule.I have not read any other books by Ellis prior to this but I do remember listening to a radio interview that he gave and he seemed very interesting.He had read excerpts from this and his other book Lunar Park and I had him on my list to read ever since!

For those who haven't read the book or seen the film, American Psycho is about Patrick Bateman who is the main character.He is twenty six and is handsome,intelligent and works on Wall Street which sounds like he is a great guy! But he is also a Psychopath!!!! Though the title of the book may have given it away already! It is set in the 1980's and follows him around as he lives his life.We learn that he and his friends are obsessed with appearance and how they dress.He loves to work out and use all kinds of face creams to look good.Then we learn that this is his carefully kept persona and that he harbours deep homicidal rages against people.For most of the first half of the book it's about how he and his friends go out and look for beautiful women and do drugs in clubs.

Then his darker side comes out as he begins killing people.Ellis (Pictured right) goes into gory detail about how he kills them and this would not be for the faint hearted! Once you are fine with the grisly details I think that people will think that this is a great book.I thought it was a great read definitely and I was reminded of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club that I have read.Of course this book was out first but I have only just gotten around to reading it!!

American Psycho is a book that will have you thinking about it and discussing it long after it has been finished.We wonder did he really kill people? Did he imagine it? Did he imagine some and do others? I think its purposely not made clear and that's what is so intriguing.Some pages are devoted totally to the character's thoughts of musical albums so we are left guessing about everything throughout! I would thoroughly recommend you getting a copy and reading this if you have not already.It is definitely a modern classic.

American Psycho (9/10)