American Psycho: How insane was Bateman?

[GoudX]

I just finished reading the book yesterday... It's good if you can put up with ultraviolence, anyway...

 

I was wondering how mad people think he was, in the sense were the murders imagined or did they really occur?

 

I couldn't really make up my mind as:

 

 

-One of the people he 'murders' "Paul Owen", was seen repeatedly in London, and the person he confessed his problem to (on the message) claims to have had lunch with Paul since the alleged murder. And when Bateman returns to the appartment the keys will not work and the realtor acts strangely towards him.

 

-The cab driver mugs Bateman, because he is wanted for a murder...

 

-Bateman has obviously lost touch with reality by 2/3 into the book (the ATM which tells him to feed it a cat), did any of the graphic scenes exist???

 

 

Oh well, just want to see other peoples views really...

[Kell]

I think drug-induced psychosis is a probable cause - after all, he and his friends do a LOT of coccaine throughout the course of the book. He obviously has mental/personality problems that are exacerbated by his drug use.

 

I LOVED this book. I did get some strange looks from colleagues who witnessed me laughing my head off at the funny bits whilst reading during lunch hour. All they knew is that Amercian Psycho is a very violent book - none of them realised it has a thread of ultra-dark humour running through it too!

[Gelfling]

This was a great book, but very hard going due to the sick content.

 

I'm not actually sure about the murders now that you mention it. I think they happened, or most of them, but you're right that he's a bit out of it for a lot of the book.

 

 

I thought Paul Owen was one of his victims and the bit with the realtor was a result of them (realtor) presumably finding the body in the appartment. If I remember rightly, he went back later and found they had put loads and loads of flowers in the appartment, which I took to be because of the lingering smell, and the realtor was abviously a bit suspicious, but I guess it could have all been down to paranoia on Bateman's part. Not sure how to explain the sightings of Paul Owen after his supposed death though.

 

[Kell]

Not sure how to explain the sightings of Paul Owen after his supposed death though.

I can't quite remember exactly, but I know Bateman posed as another character for large parts of the book (was it Paul owen? I wish I could remember, and I no longer have my copy so I can't check!) and was constantly mistaken for him. Perhaps the sightings of Paul Owen, even in London, were as a result of further mistaken identity on the part of those who saw the person... I think a major point in the novel was that they were all identikit yuppies (which was borne out by the fact that they all wore the designer suits and all had business cards that were practically identical).

[Gelfling]

Yeah, I think he did pose as Owen actually, that must be it.

 

Have you seen the film? They did really well with it I think. The actor (can't remmeber his name off the top of my head, even though IMDB is just a few clicks away, hehe) really got the character of Bateman right I think (especially in the scene when he's bubbling up inside about the business cards).

[Kell]

Yes, I have the film on DVD, but haven't watched it in quite a while. It's Christian Bale who portrayed Bateman (excellently, I thought too). I think they did a very good job of getting across both the psychotic nature of Bateman and the dark humour in his situation - and I didn't find it even half as gory as I was expecting from what other people had told me. I watched the film first, then read the book. Yes, I thought the book was better, but they did a very decent job with the adaptation ni my opinion.

[Gelfling]

The book is always better, Kell

[Spooncat]

I read it as though he had actually committed the murders - I do recall throwing this book down in disgust at one point as I thought it was truely horrific in some descriptions:irked:

[Gelfling]

Yeah, I know what you mean, it's a really sick book. The puppy torture and murder of homeless people nearly made me stop reading. I only continued because I needed close, haha.....which never actually came, come to think of it.