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American Psycho is a novel written by Bret Easton Ellis. Released in 1991, it tells of socialite narcissicst Patrick Bateman and his murderous life. It has become notorious due to its graphic violence (being marked 18+ and having to be sold shrink-wrapped in Australia). Despite this, it has become Ellis' best-known work due to its transgressive qualities.
Characters[]
- Patrick Bateman - the novel's narrator and antiheroic protagonist, a narcissistic and extremely egotistical executive at a Wall Street company with murderous and psychopathic tendencies
- Evelyn Richards - Bateman's fiancée
- Timothy Price - Bateman's best friend
- Paul Owen - one of Bateman's colleagues
- Jean - Bateman's secretary
- Luis Carruthers - one of Bateman's colleagues and a closeted homosexual
- Courtney Lawrence - Carruthers' fiancée
- Craig McDermott - one of Bateman's colleagues
- David Van Patten - one of Bateman's colleagues
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
Patrick Bateman is twenty-six and works on Wall Street; he is handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent. He is also a psychopath. Taking us to a head-on collision with America's greatest dream - and its worst nightmare - "American Psycho" is a bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognize but do not wish to confront.
Author's continuity[]
- Patrick Bateman was first mentioned in Ellis' novel The Rules of Attraction, where he is the brother of one of the main characters.
- Alison Poole first appeared in Jay McInerney (a friend of Ellis')'s novel Story of My Life. She reappears in Ellis' novel Glamorama.
- Timothy Price reappears in Ellis' novel The Informers.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime and Punishment | Fyodor Dostoevsky | 1866 | A novel with a similar premise and similar themes |
| Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov | 1955 | A novel that similarly explores the concept of an evil narrator |
| The Butcher Boy | Patrick McCabe | 1992 | A novel with very similar themes |
| Bright Lights, Big City | Jay McInerney | 1984 | A novel with similar themes |
| A Clockwork Orange | Anthony Burgess | 1962 | A novel with similar themes |
| Fight Club | Chuck Palahniuk | 1996 | A novel with similar themes |
| The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | 1925 | A novel with vaguely similar themes |
| Crash | J.G. Ballard | 1973 | A novel with vaguely similar themes |
See also[]
- Wikipedia
- Goodreads