I saw American Psycho, the movie, when it first came out with a friend of mine. i have only laughed out loud twice at the movies, and my friend and i were perhaps the only two doing so. Other people just didnt seem to understand it. so finally nearly ten years later now, i see the book at the library and decide to see how it compares. i was not disappointed. there are multiple ways of interpretting this book, all basically covered in the reviews here. this book is terribly violent, but it is not a horror in my mind. just as "City of God" was so much more than the violence that it displayed. the violence is a necessity. if that sort of thing is not your thing, then dont read the book. you can say that what the book tries to say is cliche - oppulence, bad; superficiality, bad; society going down the toilet, etc. but i look at pat bateman, either who he actually is or who he desires to be, as part of all of us. the worst of what we all are taken to the extreme to show it to us. when we can and do have it all, what's next if not more boredom. all our lives are just the search for happiness, avoiding boredom. we all either distract ourselves from this mess or avidly pursue it. both really. so what can we learn about what we are doing. that is the question that one has to ask themselves after reading this book. perhaps the theme has been used before, but i feel that this book does a fantastic job at awakening thoughts in oneself that are very important to contemplate.
also, i want to say that this book is readable not just because of the message and commentary that is thought provoking. it is the humor that makes it truely readable. i have read many a book that is supposed to be the greatest work of fiction of all time that says so many new things, bla bla bla. this book like every other book says the same thing, maybe in a new way relating to new societal situations, but the same really. it is the constant humor that makes this book special. it is funny on every page. no one knows anyone's names; people disappear but someone saw them, but not really; the obsessive detail in description of clothes, music, etc. this book is great because it is a marvelous satire filled with meaning. nothing compares to the brilliance of satire in my opinion. |
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