In my opinion, subject matter aside, I don't really see much substantial difference in how Bret Easton Ellis writes Patrick Bateman's narration opposed the different narrators in his other works. I certainly don't see him as being written deliberately worse than any of Ellis's other narrators.
If anything, I find Bateman's narration to be closer to self-parody of Ellis's other work than it is to deliberately awful writing. Consider, for instance, how One-Hour Work Week frequently crops up in his novels, where characters are described as having some lofty occupation or responsibility but are never seen or described doing any real work in their respective field and are, instead, more often found mingling at parties, having sex, and doing drugs, yet it's never been more appropriate in American Psycho where it helps shape its anti-yuppie satire.
Edited by SeanMurrayI
Regarding recent edits, the definition of Unreliable Narrator should not be strictly limited to "a deliberately lying narrator" but include any instance of a narrator who, plain and simple, cannot be relied on to tell a straight story—be they crazy, manipulative, biased, stupid, unassuming, or some combination of these traits. It's possible and perfectly acceptable for an example of an Unreliable Narrator to be someone who sincerely believes in their own story while being caught totally unaware of all objective details that are otherwise apparent to a viewer (Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump, for instance) and be neither a brazen liar nor maddeningly insane.
The term Unreliable Narrator can no doubt apply to Patrick Bateman. Author Bret Easton Ellis himself has even used the term to describe Bateman both in personal interviews as well as in-character in his later novel Lunar Park.
Edited by SeanMurrayI
consider adding: Memetic Mutation. the amount of reaction images, particularly the "doubles" shot, on 4chan more than justify this.
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Who chose that picture for the page. Its rather disturbing. (Don't remove it).
Edited by bud001 Hide / Show Replies
Yo. Recalled from a random Google search, some great magazine write-up that was blurbing the movie and talking about Christian Bale coming into his own. Makes for a fun ironic joke when underlined with paraphrased dialogue from the movie.
Does the American Psycho novel qualify as Stylistic Suck? Been wanting to add that trope, but would like some advice. Unlike the fairly captivating and likeable movie, Ellis's book is FAR from a pleasant read. When it's not being obscenely violent, it's obscenely boring and inane. Ellis butchers every single rule of conventional, appealing writing with the same intensity as Bateman does his victims, to convey how narrow-minded and ignorant his protagonists are, and how little connection they have with reality - Patrick Bateman being the most prominent and extreme example of such character. So, this is why I believe Stylistic Suck definitely applies to the novel.
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