Made famous by the film of the same title with Christian Bale, the new and stunning Batman, playing protagonist Patrick Bateman (no, not Batman, Bateman). In the opening chapter — rather a long one, to convey the tedious tone the book furthers — the leitmotif ¹ of the book as well as the overall subject matter is almost all but revealed; this is a book that is about much more than its narrative. The first words of the book, in bold capitals, read Abandon all hope ye who enter here², a fitting epitaph for those who are expecting something positive and unprovocative from the this novel; the sign is soon replaced with a passing advert for Les Misérables (later this play is replaced by Brecht's 'Threepenny Opera', Brecht's bitter indictment of the aristocratic establishment), an ironic reference to a play based on the struggle and triumph of the poor and virtuous to become rich and remain with their values — once again, anyone who wishes for this should abandon all hope as Easton prepares to probe deeply at the American Dream.

It is not until four or five pages in that the reader is made aware that the novel is written in a first-person perspective of Bateman's. Up until then he — and the reader — have been subject to the pointless, heartless, yuppie rantings of Tim Price. Despite being able to buy a place in the Hamptons at his merest whim, he begrudges the existence of any and every beggar in New York. This is reflected by the entire entourage of this story who all toy with beggars by waving money in front of them and then snatch it away at the last minute. Though the story centres around Patrick it is reflective of the lives of all these people who, as the eighties are coming to a close, seem to be totally in control and have more money than sense; Bateman is not too miffed about being mugged as it 'amounts to online three hundred dollars since I didn't have time to stop at an automated teller.' As the book goes on, Patrick becomes more and more bored with his life and subsequently tries to find weirder and more wonderful ways of making him feel alive and in touch with reality, though his ability to realise what a worthless existence him and his friends have does not place him on any moral highground — as his antics soon prove.

The narrative, if there is one, is merely Patrick trying to find meaning in his life while being constantly mistaken for a whole horde of other people, reflecting how nobody really cares about anyone else: from varying stockbroking companies; being asked constantly the etiquette of ties, jumpers and jacket wearing and deciding on the most difficult of decisions, often taking up to an hour to decide, where shall they eat for dinner tonight? Patrick, for all his faults, is a likeable character, though, especially when surrounded by his friends and in particular his girlfriend, Evelyn, who cries upon hearing that her Waldorf Salad (which the caterers made) was not very nice. Compared to these sycophants, Bateman is funny, refreshing and intelligent — though it must be remembered that being a first person perspective, the entire novel is a subjective account.

The style of writing is similar to Virginia Woolf's stream of consciousness, following the mind as it wanders. Though it has more precision than some of Woolf's novels there are still some passages which amount to nothing and leave unimportant questions unanswered. It also allows Bateman's mind to wander on to humorously incongruous subjects and, more often than not, the subject of that morning's Patty Winters Show, a talk show which is his only eye into the struggles of the real world. As Bateman becomes more detached from reality, his favourite show does also; it starts with 'women with multiple personalities', whereas one of the much later episodes features 'a Cheerio [that] sat in a very small chair and was interviewed for close to an hour'. One other repetition in this novel, other than the tedious and inconsequential scenes, is Bateman's long descriptions and judgements of
1980s music albums which are used as an overtly obvious symbolic device to reflect Patrick's superficiality, lack of 'real world' experience and a quick ironic mockery of the 'stream of consciousness' style. If nothing else, you'll learn a lot about Genesis, Whitney Housten and Huey Lewis and The News.

Ellis' storytelling proves him to be comically sound, making comments that are laugh-out-loud funny, but juxtaposing them with the most innappropriate and disgusting of scenes: certainly, his keen eye for description will have the more sensitive of readers feeling nauseous. Though the reading is often tedious and the elongated description of clothes feels very boring (unless you really do have a keen eye for fashion, but then again the book may offend you before you get to this part) it is still a thoroughly good read
in terms of humour, emotional provocation and its moral message. Also, there is enough ambiguity in it to keep any reader on their mental toes. Indeed, by the end you may start to wonder how much of it even happened — after all, it is from Patrick's own perspective and the first chapter is called 'April Fools' despite there being a lack of any prank (this could of course, be referring to the people as fools though); that theory does not, however, detract from the themes and writing of the novel. This graphic novel should
come with an age warning, though it would seem that there is not one high enough for it.

Tony2Times

15.09.05 Front Page

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