American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
My rating: 5/5 cats
THIS IS FULL OF SPOILERS – FULL TO THE BRIM. THESE ARE SOME MUSINGS THAT IN NO WAY RESEMBLE A BOOK REVIEW. YOU CAN READ IT, BUT I AM TELLING YOU STRAIGHT UP – THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.
actually, it’s not that bad, spoiler-wise.
paul bryant recently reviewed/revised his review of this book (hi, paul bryant!) and i read it and the dozens of intelligent remarks his negative review sparked, both pro and anti-this book, and there isn’t anything i can add to the discussion that hasn’t already been said by people far wiser than little old me, but because the review made me think about this book, i decided to add my two cents. and that’s all it is—just some thoughts about a book i haven’t read in years, but remember really liking and feel, for some reason, compelled to defend.
the assertions that this book is misogynistic demand a response. patrick bateman kills women. he also kills men. and animals. if he could kill a robot, i guarantee you he would give it a try. is there something i am not understanding here?? he’s a serial killer. misogyny is really the least of his character flaws. and even if he is misogynistic, it is the character that is misogynistic, not the book, which does not portray him as a hero of any kind. and even the people who are not killing other people are pretty shitty. bret easton ellis and neil labute should probably never hang out, because it would be a real downer.
the fact that this novel is written in first person means that everything is happening through a sociopathic filter. it is only one character’s perspective, and things are going to necessarily be dark dark dark because of this. did i mention he is a serial killer?? and not a cuddly one like dexter, either.
and if you tally it all up, he kills the exact same number of men as women, but some of the women get more…extravagant murders. is this what makes it misogynistic, or is this simply a standard of the genre?
in the eighties, when i was a little girl, i would wander through the video section of this department store while my mom paid for stuff. and the horror section was the one that always drew me over to get my little frisson of creepiness. and back in the 80’s, before movies became a little more subtle, every single vhs box featured a girl in a bikini covered in blood or a men’s dress shirt without trousers, screaming. this is just how the horror genre rolls—women, girls, are portrayed as vulnerable targets for the killer. i’m not saying it’s the healthiest of all genres, for the socializing of our people, but that’s just the way it is, baby. and the genre has certainly become more sophisticated, even in the slasher subsection of horror, but at the time, these were horror’s rules.
and i know—i know—the rat scene. when i first read this book, that scene made me have to take a little break, put the book down, and stare at something safe. since then, i have read much much worse in books, but at the time, it really affected me. and how awesome is that??!! from a book!! from a reader’s perspective, it is amazing that a book was able to give me such a visceral reaction. from a writer’s perspective—honestly at that point in the narrative, it was the only thing he could do to show bateman’s escalation. i hate to say “nothing else would do,” but at that point, the desensitization has taken root pretty deep in the reader, and the only way to increase the tension is something unprecedented and monstrous.
and i totally agree with p.b’s reaction to seeing the bookseller’s placard regarding the book. but just because it appeals to men who probably already have these feelings towards women, does that make the book to blame?? and really, aren’t there just as many damaged women who buy into this shit? tucker max is, i think, as dangerous to women as bateman—but there are tons of women throwing themselves at him. if there weren’t women in this world with no problem being exploited, there would be no girls gone wild. i’m not saying that world wouldn’t maybe be better, but it’s not the world we have.
it is so easy to have a knee-jerk reaction to this book, it is, but it isn’t even the most disturbing book on the block: joyce carol oates has a book called zombie, and there is of course cows, which caris has just endured, the one boris vian book i read was pretty rough. it’s not a new story, but i like the way ellis tells it the best.
and it is more than 50 pages of chopping girls up. it is about the way he chops them up. at first, you are on board, because it is a book, and you knew what you were getting into, reading a book called american psycho. you bought it—you thought it would be entertaining. did you? well, how do you like this?? still here?? okay, now i am going to throw this at you?? still retaining your readerly disconnect?? what about this?? yeah—it’s the rat scene. still with us?? yeah, i didn’t think so.
writer wins.
it is the same experiment as the movie funny games. i have seen the original and the american and was bored by both of them. this is because i am able to compartmentalize my emotions when i read and when i watch movies. the message of those films, yeah i totally understand and i admire them for being made. but—lord—are they ever boring to watch. but the same thing there—for people who were traumatized by funny games. you know what it was about when you went to see it. if you were appalled by how it felt to basically watch a snuff film, maybe you should have gone to see something else.
the best moment in this book is the abrupt switch from first to third person. i love this. nick cave does it (and better) in and the ass saw the angel, and i love the dizzying effect it has on the reader—the moment where you have to stop and say, “oh, yeah, this motherfucker is crazy”
i don’t think bret easton ellis is a great writer, but i think with this one, he accidentally wrote a great book. or at least effective. can i call it effective? any book that can cause such polarized reactions from readers is wonderful in my eyes.
that was probably more than two cents, but i am feeling pretty flush today…
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