American Psycho Is Leading To My Psychosis

American Psycho had been on my list of books to read (actually, that's several lists now and organized by themes - Classics, CanCon, books of the 90s, etc) for a while now, so of course I bought it when I saw it on the shelf at Cheap Thrills. Finally, I thought, maybe I could understand the '80s, at least in a deeper way than just listening to Sussudio on repeat. Although I'll swear the answers to that decade lie deep within that song, somewhere in the cryptic lyrics.

The first part is slow, although not so slow if you have an idea of what's coming, because you pick up on the little clues that are left about brutal stabbings and decapitations. Although Bateman's constant classification of everyone he meets by the brands of clothing that they're wearing is effective at putting you into the headspace of a status-addicted yuppie, it's also deeply boring. And dated - some of the brands don't even exist any more and others, like Pierre Cardin, have become the kind of thing that gets plastered on men's underwear boxes at Sears. I found myself hoping that Patrick Bateman would get around to killing someone soon.

Then he finally did, and I wished that he hadn't. The murder scenes started out being incredibly graphic and the more I read the more unpleasant they became. I don't think I can finish the book. I would rather watch Hostel in a damp concrete basement.

But this books is also grossing me out because it feels like the parent of all the CSIs, Law And Order: SVU and Criminal Minds. The murders on those shows are just as excessive, torturous and meaningless as the ones in the book. And since they can't really show them on TV, they're often left to describe the killings verbally. Sometimes that ends up feeling more like the book than the 2000 movie ever did. But those shows are like getting comfort food on the TV.

It's not a matter of being desensitized if the book can still shock. Maybe it's because the TV shows are better at finding the line where it's just enough, where women are brutalized just so we're titillated and not repulsed. And then they make sure the crimes get solved so we know that society's part of the solution and not the problem. Still, I would rather have that, then wonder if maybe I'm not starting to get off on the murders and executions (or mergers and acquisitions) of the book.