American Psycho

kinda funny, mostly gore porn. don't get lured into finishing the novel hoping that Bateman gets caught or something otherwise changes. i feel like part of the point is that chapters are totally disconnected, could happen in any order and there's no real connection of actions and consequences. but for that same reason, a random sampling of 25% of the book would provide the same takeaways and it's a pretty long book, gets very tedious and disgusting. actually would be at least four stars if it were just 1/3 as long.

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.

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.