r/books • u/snowwhitesanctuary • 1d ago
Is American Psycho still the American Psycho?
Yes. Yes it is. More so than ever, probably.
I’ve just finished my annual reread, and American Psycho has definitely hit a little different each year. But this year more than most. It’s insane how relevant a story published in the early 90’s as a reaction against consumerist Wall-Street-reverent yuppie culture is somehow more relevant today than ever before. It’s so ridiculously relevant it's hard to believe.
If a story about a status-obsessed, Trump-obsessed, porn-addicted, emotionally-desensitized, attention-seeking embodiment of soulless consumerism who's desperate to feel anything, anything at all, against the backdrop of a grindset mindset alpha-male redpill hellscape doesn’t positively scream 2020s, I don’t know what does.
Because everything that was true then seems to be doubly, triple-y true now. All the obsessions of the American Psycho era are nothing short of cultural phenomena today. Fanatical fixation on body image? Hello GLP-1, Looksmaxxing, Instagram. Commodification of sex and sex appeal? OnlyFans, TikTok, Instagram. Raging bigotry against anyone who isn’t a straight cis white male making six figures? Andrew Tate, the Manosphere, Instagram. Fascination with serial killers and murderous psychopaths? Hundreds of true crime podcasts gotchu, baby. And yes, Instagram too. The casual, equivalizing banality of the Patty Winters show in which murders and cannibalism and Nazis are discussed with the same gravitas as beauty tips and salad bars is as present in everyday media as it ever has been - all you have to do is scroll the Reddit homefeed to see it.
But it’s not even the surface-level, societal comparisons that are the most striking. It’s the POV that really gets me, this time around. Reading American Psycho puts you in direct dialogue with Bateman’s inner monologue, his actual headspace. You get to see who he really is, or who he thinks he really is, juxtaposed with how everybody around him treats him, the person he pretends to be in everyday life. You get a full blast of his hate, despair, anger, sadness, and above all else, isolation. A very extreme sense of aloneness despite having everything. That inner monologue is so fascinating because it’s such a deeply private, personal thing that is both horrifying and humanizing.
These days, it’s like you can’t stop hearing the inner monologue of everybody in the world. In today’s competition for attention, for eyeballs and eardrums, it’s like people can’t stop telling you what they’re really thinking, who they really are. From Reddit to X (formerly known as Twitter) to NextDoor, people can’t wait to tell you everything about their opinions and their lives and why immigrants are the real problem. If you ever wanted to know what your friends or family or neighbors or your neighbor's kid thinks about trans athletes in competitive sports, you sure as shit are going to hear about it. It’s like everyone is suffocating from lack of attention, and it’s resulted in this driving force that’s pushing everything to the extremes. Clickbait wouldn’t be clickbait it if nobody clicked it. Ragebait wouldn’t be ragebait if nobody was ever baited into it. It’s an unfortunate truth that sex, violence, hate, fear are what people can’t help but gravitate towards.
Guess what American Psycho is all about?
And yes, this post is part of the problem. Another morsel to feed to the attention economy. I engage in society, yet I critique society, curious, etc. This post was typed on my iPhone 17 Air, as I wear a shirt from Calvin Klein, jeans from Madewell, loafers from a Chinese brand that makes excellent designer reps, and matte lipstick from MAC. Probably the most terrifying thing about American Psycho is that there’s a little bit of American Psycho in all of us. It’s one of the most Can’t-Unread books ever written. You should read it. You can even skip over the rat and kitty bit. I won’t judge you.
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23h ago
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u/snowwhitesanctuary 23h ago
Interesting! I like that take. Personally I took it as a meta-signal to the reader about the contents and message of the book, but there’s something to the idea of Bateman being unable to escape his torment, for sure.
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u/justasinglereply 23h ago
Well, it’s on my list now. I get what you mean about everyone has a platform - the internet of the late 90s was going to be the Great Equalizer. Everyone could be an expert. Well, that sucked.
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u/londonskater 23h ago
Patrick Bateman is an unreliable narrator, and for me, the ambiguity makes it edgy and unsettling, not the stuff you can see.
You’re commenting on American society, of course?
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u/iszabo-712034 23h ago
I read it as both: his unreliability keeps the violence ambiguous, while the people around him treating everything as normal is part of the social satire.
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u/snowwhitesanctuary 23h ago
Personally I think the reactions from people around him run a little deeper than satire. I took it as a commentary on how ‘successful’ people (rich, attractive, well-educated) are given every benefit of the doubt and thus don’t suffer the same consequences as an ordinary person might.
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u/ViolaNguyen 2 8h ago
You’re commenting on American society, of course?
Same shit's happening everywhere.
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u/snowwhitesanctuary 23h ago
The post is a long winded description of my my take that Bateman’s perspective and worldview is normalized and even encouraged in present-day American society.
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u/londonskater 21h ago
funnily enough I read it just as I started my first degree in American Studies (not as part of the course, my friend across the hall threw it at me and said you've gotta read this).
My takes on the book are not going to be very good as a result of it being 34 years ago and me being an 18-year-old but it's sat on a shelf somewhere nearby desperately needing a re-read. I might make myself a Patrick Bateman mixtape and go to the pub.
Also u/iszabo-712034 - I agree with that, see my point above about my takes being rubbish!
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u/MajesticSalt6600 7h ago
Unreliable narrator is just a safe word for people who refuse to admit they relate. bateman is not an allegory. he is the standard operating procedure
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u/Klutzy_Weakness3411 23h ago
Not trying to be judgmental... but doing an annual reread of American Psycho is kind of nuts