American Psycho

 

Title: American Psycho

Author: Bret Easton Ellis

Genre: Transgressive Fiction, Satire, Post Modern

Time: 8 hours

2015 Book Challenge: a banned book

I originally planned to have Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita or Judy Blume’s Forever for this challenge but apparently Forever might not be banned anymore while American Psycho still is.  I decided to use Lolita for the book originally written in a different language challenge coz I was too lazy to find a book for this and since I already had more than one options for this one, why not?

 

I was hoping this would be a fast read but boy was I wrong.  It dragged on and on for the first 100 pages.  There were very lengthy descriptions on clothes’ brands, colors and style and same goes for home décor that you would think this was some sort of episode for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.  There was also pages and pages of description on certain singer(s)’ music albums, and the singles found in it.  The lengthy descriptions didn’t seem to have any relevance to the story, and if it there was, I missed it because I skipped all of it. 

 

The “interesting” bits and pieces slowly start to trickle after the 1^st 100 pages (if there were any before that, I missed it coz I kept skipping long descriptions about fashion brands and accessories).  I get why this is banned but I guess reading books by Tess Geritssen and J.D. Robb made me somewhat immuned to this.  Halfway into the book, I kept thinking, Eve Dallas would’ve caught him already.  But because this was set in, what? early 90s? Guess no CSIs then or cctv cameras.  Speaking of 90s, it was weird going back to a time where there were no smart phones and they had to carry around the Zagat guide, but I’m digressing.

 

In the end it was a bit confusing whether the narrator really existed or was he really mistaken for somebody or was he just making it all up.  I mean, for sure the answering machine confession he did would have nailed him.  And shouldn’t the manhunt still continue?  I could understand the homeless & streetwalker prostitutes not getting the attention of the police but Paul Owen and ex-girlfriend he killed would surely raise flags.  But then Paul Owen was positively identified to alive and well in London.  That’s why it’s confusing.. did all of this really happen or was this just the narrator’s imagination?  And how could his lawyer not know who he is?  Maybe I missed something because I kept skipping part parts of the book and I just really wanted the book to over already.  I planned to be on to the next book coz I gave less than a month to finish all the challenges, so I was rushing through this one.  And just like that, the book abruptly ended.  No closure, no whatever.  Felt really pointless.  Other than maybe to shock the readers by the character’s cannibalistic, sadistic, psychopathic tendencies.