This post comes from two ideas in my brain,
I suppose. First of all it relates to the most recent book in my ‘read’ (past
tense) collection: American Psycho by
Bret Easton Ellis. I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time and,
obviously, I finally have. A lot of people, I think, were a bit disturbed to
hear about me reading this. And to be honest, even though it is a bit of social
commentary, satire, and dark comedy, it’s not for the faint of heart. Although
the book doesn’t get violent right away. It’s more of a gradual journey that
you feel you’re slipping down. The main character, Patrick Bateman, does reveal
past ‘indiscretions’ from earlier times in his life, but you (at least I)
really get the feeling that his descent is gradual while getting more progressive
as the book nears the end. As though his behaviour gets worse and worse the
more he is enveloped in his own culture. The more his society gives to him, the
more limiting these possessions and options actually become – and he totally
loses touch with reality; he becomes increasingly psychotic.
Obviously the author is ‘saying’ something
about 80s American culture – and it definitely still resonates. But, at the
same time, I couldn’t help feel that the book was ‘saying’ something about me.
Not in a psychotic way, like the book was actually talking to me so fear not.
Naturally I felt a bit disturbed at some of the things Bateman does. But
mostly, I felt desensitised to it all and even intrigued. Yeah, it made me
cringe to imagine these things happening to me, or to anyone really. But I felt
worse for the animals that were mutilated. Obviously, it’s just a book and it’s
natural for me to detach myself from these events. But, I guess, I am wondering
how most people feel when reading this book, what their reactions are....
I was recently talking with a friend of
mine about it and he says he thinks, at the end, that Bateman never did any of
it. Basically that it was all a delusion. I can see his point, especially when
Harold Carnes claims to have had dinner with Paul Owen, one of Bateman’s
‘victims’. But, maybe Carnes just confused someone else for Owen, like everyone
does to everyone else in the book. Still, the point is totally valid, and I can
see it from that angle as well...even though I don’t necessarily believe it. I
will just have to read the book again and see what I think a second time round.
What are your thoughts?
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| Feel free to comment on the movie adaptation as well |
The second idea in my brain is something I
wanted to write about ages ago, but never did...The Banned Books exhibit at the
National Library of Scotland, which I went to over the summer. The reason I
think of this at the same time as American
Psycho is because the exhibit talked about how in Australia, American Psycho is only sold shrink-wrapped
to people over 18. How do you feel about such book censorship? I find it
innately wrong, but then again I was reading Stephen King when I was like 10, and
I’ve always read what I wanted to (thanks mom and dad for letting me!!). The
exhibition was very cool, and although it is not on anymore, you can read about
it here: http://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/banned-books.
The exhibition included lots of other cool books, including A Clockwork Orange, one of my favourite
books ever (even though I’ve only read the American version – lame I know). This
finally (well, not finally...my thoughts keep going and going, but I realise
this post is wearing on) brings to mind the new, censored version of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in which
all ‘n’ words are censored. If you haven’t heard of this, read about it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/05/huckleberry-finn-edition-censors-n-word.
This is ridiculous, and I think it needs its own future post, so stay tuned.
