I was never much of a reader in high school or college even.

I think you'd benefit from reading an analysis of the book. See what you caught onto and what you didn't. Then read your next book with a relaxed but keener eye.

>>8419665

Are you saying I should've been more fascinated by how the writer tried to show how obsessed people were with buying stuff? Please elaborate. You can yell at me. I want to learn.

>>8419696
No not necessarily. I can't really know what you extracted from the book but if you're just getting into reading it's good advice. Just mull over any book you read a little you know. See other opinions.

>>8419634
This book is 75% 80s fashion designers and food 20% decent into madness and 5% sewer rats in vaginas.

>>8419865
>implying fashion has nothing to do with the descent into madness

>>8419634
All of Ellis' work is brilliant, Glamorama is his best.

>>8419634
>Descent into madness
But he was already insane from the start.

>>8419634

You'd like Notes from the Underground; American Psycho is redolent of Dostoevsky.

Also, sad backgrounds don't excuse, only explain. Even in this book Patrick Bateman is meant to be pitiable; the implication is that he's the product of his culture, taken to the extreme. To quote a line from the musical --

Am I just an effect of the modern age
Am I just the end point of a grand parade?

(Also strongly recommend The Killer Inside Me; first-person narrative of a sheriff who succumbs to his baser instincts. Kubrick loved it, interestingly.)