The characters are predominantly concerned with material gain and superficial appearances, traits indicative of a postmodern world in which the 'surface' reigns supreme. The novel opens with a sign scrawled above a New York subway station: "Abandon hope all ye who enter". If he only needs to repeat something five times to really get his point across, Ellis will repeat it a thousand times.

He throws confessions about his love of guns or his lust for violence into restaurant conversations, but his inanely sophisticated companions carry on conversing about the varieties of sushi or the use of fur by leading designers. It follows the life of Patrick Bateman, a wealthy and handsome investment banker living in Manhattan in the 1980s. He’s not one to hold back and many have referred to him as a pariah and one of the US’ finest cultural critics for some of his views on the American psyche. A quarter century after its release, American Psycho remains a scandal, controversy, pop-culture phenomenon, and a flashpoint for heated argument arguments about censorship, free expression, misogyny, violence and pornography more than a book people might actually read, and even more improbably, enjoy. His books echo one another, with Ellis often using recurring characters and settings which often make ‘cameo’ appearances, and his comments on society and the arts have led him to become one of the most controversial figures in modern culture.A multi-million -copy bestseller hailed as a modern classic, it is a violent black comedy about the darkest side of human nature.

My life is a living hell,' I mention off the cuff, while casually moving leeks around on my plate, which by the way is a porcelain triangle. It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. When one of his many girlfriends weeps at the abortion she is about to have, he points out to himself how poor her taste is.Before we begin, here’s a warning: This Blink contains references to violence, pornography, and drug use.

e. most of the women in the book) while clubbing with friends reads, “One is wearing a black side-buttoned notched-collar wool jacket, wool-crepe trousers and a fitted cashmere turtleneck, all by Oscar De La Renta; another is wearing a double-breasted coat of wool, mohair and nylon tweed, matching jeans-style pants and a man’s cotton dress shirt, all by Stephen Spouse; the best-looking one is wearing a checked wool jacket and high-waisted wool skirt, both from Barney’s, and a silk blouse by Andra Gabrielle. Only when he devotes a hilariously earnest chapter to the analysis of all Whitney Houston's albums does he talk about emotion or confess to being moved. Almost every sentence out of Patrick’s mouth included a description of a specific product “brand” or status symbol.

Christian Bale famously modeled his brilliant, hilarious, star-making performance on Tom Cruise after watching the famed Scientologist on television with David Letterman. Elizabeth – a dinner date of Bateman's, drugged and coerced into having sex with "Christie" before being violently murdered. One of the great puzzles at the heart of American Psycho is that Bateman frequently shares his murder fantasies with people around him. V. Club and the author of four books, most recently Weird Al: The Book (with “Weird Al” Yankovic) and You Don’t Know Me But You Don’t Like Me. Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages.

Although Bateman’s mental deterioration prevails from the beginning of the film, would eventual downfall soon come to what he had implanted through his merciless actions on others, or would society allow for his actions due to his status? Social media and platforms such as 4chan, Reddit or TikTok have seen in him a reflection of the modern culture’s obsession with sex, money and physical appearance. Deeply concerned with his personal appearance, Bateman gives extensive descriptions of his daily aesthetics regimen. The novel was first serialized by Ellis as a 27-part audiobook released between September 2020 and September 2021 through the “Bret Easton Ellis Podcast” on Patreon.

Taking us to head-on collision with America's greatest dream—and its worst nightmare— American Psycho is a bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront. The novels are also linked by common, recurring characters, and dystopic locales (such as Los Angeles and New York). Part of this is accomplished by making Bateman the most unreliable of unreliable narrators, a madman who regularly describes things that could only exist in the fevered imagination of a confessed lunatic. 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. Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is one of the most controversial and talked-about novels of all time.