American Psycho(-analysis)

After having finished reading the novel, my favourite thing about American Psycho is decidedly the unique insight into Patrick Bateman as a character where his perception, thoughts, actions, and mental state is so much more interesting than any other character I have read about. Personally, I tend to read books where the characters are relatable, familiar, and comfortable. Patrick Bateman is none of these things, which makes the whole American Psycho experience so interesting. My favourite thing about this book is the narrative consistency about such an emotionally inconsistent narrator, since there are so many consistently recurring motifs that perfectly encapsulate Bateman's character. Once I finished reading the book, I watched the movie. I was excited to see how the book could be translated into a movie and to compare that with the version that played out in my head. At last, I can conclude that, although the movie portrayed the story well, the movie simply does no justice ...

After reading the first third of the novel, I had a brief sense of regret for choosing to read this book for this project. I thought that the novel was not demonstrating Patrick Bateman to be an interesting or complex enough character for me to truly be engaged in it. However, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much the second third of the novel proved why American Psycho is such an iconic book. There are so many things that I can talk about in this section of the novel, but the overlying constant is the fact that Bateman is losing his mind. There are so many differences between the first and second third of the novel with respect to Bateman's narration, thoughts, and actions that demonstrate his increased delirium. Just to give a clear contrast, here is a scene from the movie that shows how put-together Bateman was previously: From the second third of the novel, there are so many fantastic examples that I could talk about where Bateman loses his composure, status, and res...