American Psycho

By: Bret Easton Ellis

Narrated by: Pablo Schreiber

Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

In American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis imaginatively explores the incomprehensible depths of madness and captures the insanity of violence in our time or any other. Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.

As an added bonus, when you purchase our Audible Modern Vanguard production of Bret Easton Ellis' book, you'll also get an exclusive Jim Atlas interview that begins when the audiobook ends.

This production is part of our Audible Modern Vanguard line, a collection of important works from groundbreaking authors.

©1991 Bret Easton Ellis (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Bret Easton Ellis is a very, very good writer [and] American Psycho is a beautifully controlled, careful, important novel....The novelist's function is to keep a running tag on the progress of the culture; and he's done it brilliantly....A seminal book." ( The Washington Post)

"The first novel to come along in years that takes on deep and Dostoyevskian themes....[Ellis] is showing older authors where the hands have come to on the clock....He has forced us to look at intolerable material, and so few novelists try for that anymore." ( Vanity Fair)

"A masterful satire and a ferocious, hilarious, ambitious, inspiring piece of writing, which has large elements of Jane Austen at her vitriolic best. An important book." (Katherine Dunn)

Did you know I'm utterly INSANE?

What did you love best about American Psycho?

I loved the sporadic, mind boggling character: Patrick Bateman.

What was one of the most memorable moments of American Psycho?

This says something psychologically about me, but the murderous adventure scenes are the most captivating.

Which character – as performed by Pablo Schreiber – was your favorite?

PATRICK BATEMAN!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Thrill ride.

Any additional comments?

Not for the weak stomach readers.

Better than the movie could ever hope to be

I went in not knowing much about Ellis or the novel itself. I knew there was a movie starring Christian Bale that must have been pretty good, but I’d never seen it. And i really didn’t have any other context for the book. Having sat through it over the course of two weeks, it’s easy to say that this is one of the best audiobooks out there. It’s a novel that’s made to be performed, with a unique writing style that never ceases to surprise and inform, but also a complex narrator that hooks you with the first few scenes. Add to that Pablo’s inspired reading and due consideration he gives every character and it’s an easy 5 stars. I even went and watched the movie after i was a few chapters in. (Also very good.)

My only warning is to anyone uncomfortable with gore, violence, being triggered, etc. The depictions of violence in this book are at the limits of what can be conveyed in print. The movie contains less than a shadow of the horror of what you’ll hear described within. But the entertaining dialogue and dramatic propulsion of Patrick’s internal monologue make it near impossible to stop listening, even through the gratuitously graphic scenes.

This is a unique story that can only be told through narrative; no movie or visual could ever really do it justice. So give it a listen.

once was enough

title says it all lol wow. well written. but so so sooooooooo descriptive. and some much v p and c words.

now I have to return some video tapes

Tough but worth it

Excellent read!
WARNING
It's graphic. like REALLY graphic. I have seen more than my fair share of gore, but this got to me a couple times and I skipped some parts near the end.

The book is so much more than that though. It is a comment on the TV culture of the time and a critique of faux masculinity. If you like dying malls and vapor wave then you may like this book.

great performance but the movie is slightly better

Pablo Schreiber does an excellent job voicing the story and all of the narration. However, there is something darkly humorous and charming about the movie interpretation that wasn't quite achieved in the original text. While the violence in the book was vivid, and so delightfully extreme that the movie couldn't possibly match it, the Patrick Bateman character in the movie, as portrayed by christian bale, seemed so much more cohesive. Sometimes the dining scenes in the text, while interesting and descriptive, didn't offer any new insight into Bateman's character -- and were therefore, forgettable. on the other hand, every dinner scene in the movie was tied into some critical character development.

definitely give this a listen for the blood and gore and torture... that is undeniably well done, but go for the movie again for a better overall story experience.

Spectacular.

Better than the film (which itself was epic), if you enjoyed the film than you'll probably love this book.

The book and movie stand alone and together

Great narration! The book was a pleasure to get though and I'll definitely listen again in the future. I look forward to exploring Ellis's other works! W

A dive into the mind of a broken man

I went into this book without watching the movie first, and I think that’s the best way to do it. American Psycho is an amazing peice of literature about exploring the deeply disturbing mind of Patrick Bateman with some metaphors and symbolism throughout. It runs a bit long, and the man who voice records is good sometimes, but very monotone for the rest. 10/10.

Real or fantasy? You decide

An introspection of the mind. One of the great narrating style writers of the 80’s can describe what a drone in the reality of the 80’s was like.
Psycho can mean a lot of things. Did Batemen really do these things? You decide, not even the author knows….
Instead I suggest you listen to this gentlemen of the 80’s yearn for empathy in a way only Ellis can describe. Have fun cringing.

Holy hell

narration is great. story is wild. gets a bit tedious on some of the detail but it's a thinker