One of the most infamous and controversial novels of recent time, American Psycho is both an amusing satire and a gruesome power fantasy in one.
Ellis parodies much of the yuppie lifestyle that dominated a bustling New York in the 1980s. The author’s snark and self-amusement, alongside his slight disgust with a capitalist world, can be felt throughout the entirety of the story. This is probably why Ellis designed Patrick Bateman, the incredibly vain and narcissistic narrator, to be an insufferable and psychotic man that only cares about others’ perception of him.
The events of the story flip-flop between mundane living and extreme violence. It sometimes comes out of left-field just to shock you. Bateman murders and rapes with no real regard for his victim’s emotions or circumstances. He tortures, brutalises, cannibalises, and more. It’s honestly sickening to read, and I really am not surprised when people proclaim that Ellis is a deeply disturbed author.
However, I don’t dislike these graphic moments one bit. They are what makes the novel unique and controversial. The minimal amount of normalcy that Bateman displays (in his actions, personality, and relationships) really calls into question whether or not his murderous and sexual episodes are real, or simply fiction conjured up by a bored, mentally-ill stockbroker.
It is a story that will make you feel foolish for taking it seriously, and yet, much of its satire points to the truth of the era. In America, cash is king, and there is a certain irony that one of fictions most notorious bigots was written by a homosexual man. The novel rips through the American facade with a sickened grin of sorts, and the more you read it and attempt to peel back layers of Bateman and his peers, the more you discover that there really is depth and commentary lurking within its crazed writing.
American Psycho really is therefore a bizarre read. A black comedy, a thriller, and a commentary in one relatively long novel. Its graphic and brutal content, as well as its cutting cynicism and exploration of self, show how liberating and varied one piece of literature can be.
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