American Psycho

· Sold by Vintage
4.4
513 reviews
Ebook
416
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this modern classic, the acclaimed author of The Shards explores the incomprehensible depths of madness and captures the insanity of violence in our time or any other.

"A seminal book.” —The Washington Post

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.

“A masterful satire and a ferocious, hilarious, ambitious, inspiring piece of writing.... An important book.” —Katherine Dunn, bestselling author of Geek Love

Look for Bret Easton Ellis’s latest novel, The Shards!

Ratings and reviews

4.4
513 reviews
Toni FGMAMTC
October 4, 2016
I read this book for Banned Books Week. I can absolutely understand why it was challenged. I can't even think of how to write a proper review about it. I just want to throw out expletives and wild hand gestures. Bateman scared the *** out of me! He's the guy everyone wants to date and wants around, and he's completely freaking psycho. He's a serial killer that has total breaks from reality. He commits atrocious violent murders. He even comes right out and tells people, but everyone is so caught up in what's the latest most expensive trend in the city that they just blow it off as jokes. The sexual torture scenes are so horrifying that I had to take breaks. Everything is so detailed that I almost threw up once. The way the author divides the insanity with completely mundane who's wearing what and going where and eating which item and drinking which drink and so is genius. It winds the reader down and then he hits us again. This is so scary because society is really like this. We have to actually be hit upside the head with something before we recognize the evil from the normal. Inside Bateman's head is a terrible place to be, but sadly it's interesting too. He has some kind of crazy appeal. This story completely disturbed me. I don't think I could reread it or recommend it, but I still think it deserves a high rating.
10 people found this review helpful
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Samantha Bouwman
August 23, 2019
The inner monologue writing style was interesting, but all-in-all, this was a pretty painful read. Comes across as a nonsensical, gratuitous snuff novel. I feel that the point of the novel could have been made even if the very intensely gory and pornographic scenes were toned down. It was on my reading bucket list, but I don't think I could ever be convinced to read it a second time.
1 person found this review helpful
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Eric Sheffield
November 18, 2015
I could write a master's thesis on how brilliantly this novel tackles our social ills. I could go on & on about how rather than being provocative just for the sake of sensationalism, Ellis is wrestling with controversial issues such as mysogyny, class, and race to bring social truths (that are taboos & thus largely left undiscussed by the general public) to the fore. Ellis' use of the unreliable narrator, an overused and risky trope, is used masterfully here. This book is a Postmodern Masterpiece.
12 people found this review helpful
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About the author

BRET EASTON ELLIS is the author of Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, The Informers, Glamorama, Lunar Park, and Imperial Bedrooms. His works have been translated into twenty-seven languages. Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, and The Informers have all been made into films. He lives in Los Angeles.

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