It feels deeply appropriate to Cannonball with a book that I read for the first time four years ago, a book that set off my dissertation in motion and is now in process of becoming my (hopefully) next published article. Cheers!
I first read this book in Spring of 2013 and was horrified/piqued by the content. I was so piqued that I wrote my first dissertation chapter on it. I’ve spent the last year and a half trying to get an article published, and the new focus I’m taking meant a re-read with fresh eyes.
Holy shitsnacks. This book is so relevant 26 years later. It’s like Bret Easton Ellis saw a fragile thread of masculinity, tied up in consumerism, racism, misogyny, and violence, and explored it to its logical end. He sets up the pathological character of Patrick Bateman, explores his darkest homicidal psychopathic tendencies, and then implies that he is interchangeable with every other kind of yuppie like him.
Oh. Guys, I think he has a point.
It’s a dark commentary on humanity, and one that I did not fully understand until 2016.
And now I do.
The spectre of Donald Trump hangs over the text, and I firmly believe that this is no accident. When I first read the text, I skimmed over his name, because it was 2013, and he was just the mercurial and overly tanned old man on The Apprentice. Much has changed between that first reading and this one, and this is where I hope to mine my article. I must give enormous credit to a student in my Fall 2016 Comp 1 class, because she read American Psycho for her book project and mentioned Trump’s presence in the novel. X, I thank you for reigniting my scholarly curiosity. Now it’s off to write the article!
*I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a warning for those of you who need it. This book is *graphic.* It’s a violent glimpse at white male anger against women, minorities, the homeless, LGBT individuals, animals, and the disabled. If you’re not in a space to read it, I wouldn’t. There are some absolutely gruesome murders that I fully believe Ellis intended to be gruesome to make a point. But that doesn’t make the reading of it easier or less painful. This time around, reading about the killing of the homeless was a gut-punch to me. I had forgotten how utterly cruel Bateman and his cronies were to the homeless individuals pan-handling on the streets.
Cross-posted to my blog.
Happy Cannonball!
Thanks, Malin! :)
Happy (?) Cannonball!
I tried reading this years ago and just found it so….methodical. Pages and pages of male clothing and I just couldn’t take it. I get what he was going for, but this is one of those few examples of the movie being better than the book (in my opinion).
You’re spot on, though, with the connection between the world of Bateman and Trump. It’s a fitting analogy.
Oh, yeah. The clothing and the lowbrow music and the Les Mis obsession and the weird avant-garde food descriptions is all so overwhelming. No wonder everyone in the book is on anxiety medication and anti-depressants!
I saw the movie for the first time a few years ago and really liked it, though I think Mary Harron accomplishes something totally different than the book. The violence and misogyny are toned WAY down, the funny parts are amped up, and the horrifying bits are cut out almost completely. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but it conveys a very different mood and purpose than what Ellis was going for, in my view. What’s interesting, too, is that the best line in the book isn’t in the film (“It’s so…minty”) and the best line in the film isn’t in the book (“Sabrina, don’t stare at it. Eat it”). Both have a real thread of dark humor, but the movie plays it up and brings it out a bit better. I think I might be due for a rewatch, now.
Congratulations! I read this one back in 2011 and HATED IT. I wanted to burn it to the ground, but your review reminds me its relevance. Still not rereading it though. RAGE.
Rage is absolutely an acceptable response. And there is plenty of fodder for it.
Yeah, I won’t be reading this for probably similar reasons that made Beth Ellen rage, but Happy Cannonball!
Congrats on your Cannonball! I’m not sure I could handle the violence but I would love to read your article. Good luck!
Happy Cannonball on a book I will never read! Your reading fortitude is a thing of wonder.
Happy Cannonball!
Happy Cannonball!!!
I remember reading this when it first came out and not liking it much. And then later I read The Rules of Attraction, which features some of the same characters, and I decided I hated both books and the author as well.
I may or may not still have a tiny soft spot for Less than Zero, but mostly because of the movie soundtrack.
Congratulations! I’ve read this a few times now and got something different from it each time. I know it’s not to everyone’s taste what with the ultraviolence and obsession with the superficial, but it’s one of my favourites. I may have to re-read now given the new context in which to read it.