American Psycho (thing)

My take on this is that Ellis attempts a comedy of sorts, a satire about the emptiness of a Wall Street yuppy's life. This may seem outlandish when one considers the main character Bateman's campaign of misogynistic butchery, probably the most-remarked upon feature of the book. But I think this is what is intended. For example, it is impossible to find a non-humourous reading of Bateman's homage to the artistry of Phil Collins.

Ellis strongly implies to us throughout that Bateman in fact imagines these brutal murders; they are just fantasies fuelled by his designer-drug taking. In reality his life is concerned with most trivial ephemera, like getting a table at the latest fancy restaurant, endlessly flossing his teeth. It's also barely credible that he could get away with so many murders, particularly as he is fairly disorganized. We cannot really believe that his faithful cleaner washes away the evidence after each bloodbath without question. Bateman even confesses at one point but suffers no consequences.

The question then becomes: does this interpretation get Ellis off the hook for the queasy voyeuristic violence against women of the novel? I would say no, the fact that it is intended as something of a joke makes the book even more disturbing.

Although reading this nasty book was thought-provoking afterwards I really wished that I hadn't. I gave my copy away as I didn't want to keep it in the house. If you are still considering it I suggest looking at the earlier work The rules of attraction. Ellis' apparent misanthropy is already detectable, but at least we are spared the stomach-churning violence.