Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho: A Reader's Guide: Amazon.ca: Julian Murphet: Books

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Book Description

This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years – from ‘The Remains of the Day’ to ‘White Teeth’. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.

From the Publisher

This is an excellent guide to Bret Easton Ellis’s breakthrough novel. It features a biography of the author, a full-length analysis of the novel, a comparison of the novel to the movie, and a great deal more. If you’re studying this novel, reading it for your book club, or if you simply want to know more about it, you’ll find this guide informative and helpful.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars American Pyscho: Uncovered, April 23 2003

By

Elizabeth Nolan (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho: A Reader's Guide (Paperback)

We have been in need of a series like Continuum Contemporaries for a long time. Unlike the watered-down reader's guides produced by York Notes (and in the US 'Cliff's Notes') these little books tackle text's which have gained something of a cult status in the late twentieth century, and do so from a perspective which is at once approachable enough for the recreational reader, and rigorous enough for the advanced student. It is therefore fitting that a text so widely, and wildly, misunderstood as Bret Easton Ellis's 'American Psycho'. should be included amongst the Continuum survey.

Julian Murphet is one of the foremost critics of Ellis's work, and what you get here are all the benefits of the breadth and depth of his knowledge, boiled down into a slim and precise volume. He provides us with a short biography of the author; an exploration of the narrative voice at work within the text; a discussion of the themes of alienation and reification and a survey of critical responses. He is, however, at his most engaging in his discussion of violence and politics, the real heart of the novel itself.

He tackles the central, consuming question of whether the protagonist Patrick Bateman ever actually commits the murders so graphically rendered in the text's pages, in a manner that is exploratory and revelatory without ever being proscriptive. Thus we see an argument develop from the tentative suggestion that 'everything could well be contained to the level of fantasy,' to the final assertion that the violence within 'American Psycho' is 'an act of language' and never really happens at all. He ties this argument in very neatly with an understanding of the text in its political context, seeing Bateman as a 'pin-up boy for the establishment Right' during the Reagan era, and reading the real 'murder' within the novel, not as that projected by Bateman, but rather as the 'murder of the real' the erasure of all social difference and threat - what he terms 'the gentrification of the city.'

Murphet rounds this off with a great critique of the film version of the novel, his genuine academic appreciation of cinema in general, making this more than just a fan's opinion.

No reader of 'American Psycho' will ever wholly agree with any one theory, and indeed it is the paradoxical beauty of the novel that is never really gives you a definitive answer either way. Murphet's argument is one reading, but it is a very convincing one, and this text is a must for anyone who remains challenged by, and curious about, this work.

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5.0 out of 5 stars EXTRA CREDIT, Feb 23 2003

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M. R. ZOGLIO - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho: A Reader's Guide (Paperback)

Having read American Psycho several times since it's release, I'm surprised that it's taken somebody (anybody) this long to put together something (anything) that delves deeper into this book. This reader's guide is broken down into 5 sections (the novelist; the novel; the novel's reception; the novel's adaptation; and further reading and discussion questions) and is followed by brief notes and bibliography pages. Like Anthony Magistrale's The Shining Reader and David Sexton's The Strange World Of Thomas Harris, I can further explore my favorite books. A little extra credit for the fans and a little insight for those who are not.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Ellis is a sicko, but it is great, Jun 17 2002

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B. Weber (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho: A Reader's Guide (Paperback)

Brett Easton Ellis shows a very dark character in the book American Psycho. The movie did not even begin to scratch the surface of Patrick Bateman's "odd" personality. After reading this book, the movie adaptation is unbelieveable. You understand the pain that Bateman is going through when asking for reservations. He is so deeply disturbed that he onoly lives for outward apperances. If you only read one book this summer, and you really want to be shocked, pick up American Psycho

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Opinion on Ellis's American Psycho: A Reader's Guide
Very good analysis of Ellis' work American Psycho. Particularly interesting is the way the author, Julian Murphet, focuses on the historical and social conditions of American... Read more

Published on Jun 9 2002 by Nicole Schuster

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise & Well Researched
Ironically enough I learned about this on GQ's website. This is an excellent critical review of American Psycho. Read more

Published on May 13 2002 by -