Yesterday I was reading a group of mini-reviews posted by Mo at her blog Unmainstream Mom Reads and one of them reminded me that I had this title still sitting on my shelf about 3/4's read.
I hate to get that far into a book and abandon it, so last night I pulled it out and finished it.
I was quickly reminded of why I didn't finish this book, and I'm not talking about all the disgusting, horrific ways (and there were loads of those) that the main character, Patrick Bateman murders people.
I mean, come on, I expected him to kill people-after all he was a psycho.
What made me yawn and dislike this character was his incessant name-dropping.
Frankly, the man was a "Label Whore".
God, he prattled on and on about Hugo Boss this and Ralph Lauren that until I couldn't stay awake.
He didn't limit his spiel to just his own wardrobe either-he would pick apart bit by bit every other character in the room's attire as well, so by the time you turned the page you knew the brand-name of every stitch of clothing they had on, right down to their drawers, and all their accessories to boot.
When he went out to eat (which was often) you were rewarded with the name and ingredients of every item on the menu, including all the labels on the wine list, plus whatever his companions were eating and drinking as well.
OK. I get it that the author was showing us some weird OCD going on with this man, but seriously, when he bought a new entertainment center and went on and on about every single component imaginable, from the CD player to the sub-woofers, right down to the gold-plated AV jacks, I just wanted to stab myself in the eye.
Maybe this is what the author was trying to achieve-if so-Brilliant!
After reading this book, my dislike for Patrick Bateman was so intense that I felt I could strangle him myself...preferably with a silk Hermes' scarf from Bergdorf's or a pair of Perry Ellis trouser socks-black of course.
After all, plain old pantyhose just wouldn't do.
About The Author from randomhouse.com
Bret Easton Ellis is the author of four previous novels and a collection of stories, which have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He divides his time between Los Angeles and New York City
No comments:
Post a Comment