Section 2

American Psycho
Bret Easton Ellis
Pages 105-199

Plot Summary/Characters

• Jean, Patrick's secretary is introduced. She is a very good secretary, but everytime Patrick mentions her, he refers to her as "Jean, my secretary who's in love with me."
• Patrick continues to go out with McDermott, Price, and Van Patten. McDermott is angry with him because Patrick criticised the pizza at Pastel's, a restaurant.
• At the video store, Patrick rents the film Body Double for the 37th time because he likes the scene where a woman is drilled to death.
• Patrick goes to dinner with Evelyn, who is upset because her neighbor was murdered. Patrick reveals to the reader that he decapitated the woman with a chainsaw, but he doesn't say why. While on this date, Evelyn discusses marriage but Patrick doesn't want to marry her.
• Patrick commits his first murder that isn't part of a flashback or a memory. He stabs a homeless man in the eyes and stomach with a knife, then stomps his dog to death.
• For one chapter, all Patrick does is discuss the band Genesis.
• When he goes to a U2 concert, Patrick apparently has a hallucination of Bono sending him a psychic message, saying they are similar.
• One chapter consists of Patrick wandering around the city, with no memory of where he is or what's going on. It is never revealed what happened, but I assume he was high.
• Patrick attempts to kill Luis Carruthers, Courtney's boyfriend, in a restaurant. He doesn't because Luis tries to come on to him.
• Patrick kills another man and his dog. This time he stabs the dog to death, then stabs and shoots the man.
• Two prostitutes, Christie and Sabrina, come to Patrick's apartment. After they have sex, Patrick brings out a coat hanger and butter knife. The two girls leave bruised and bloody, but it is never revealed exactly what he did to them.
• On the way to Evelyn's Christmas party, Patrick kills a young Chinese food deliveryman. At the party, he talks to Paul Owen for the first time in the novel. They make plans to have drinks together.
• Patrick convinces Evelyn to leave, and they steal Paul's limo and go to a club. Patrick gets cocaine, but then he and Evelyn get in a fight. She leaves, but he stays to hit on girls.

Personal Reaction

The book has definitely gotten more interesting. Much more happens in this section compared to the first, and I liked reading more about his daily life than reading repeatedly about his dinners with coworkers. McDermott, Price, and Van Patten were featured less in this section. I think that was a good thing, since they all have more or less the same personalities and didn't do anything for the plot.

Evelyn becomes a more prominent character in this section. She seemed to be in a better mood, despite her neighbor being decapitated. I realized that she does like Patrick, and it's him that doesn't really care about their relationship.

The murders described in this section were pretty graphic and nasty, particularly the murder of the homeless man. Patrick describes stabbing him in the eye with a knife, and it made me hurt reading it. Very effective.

Additional Thoughts

The style of the book is very straightforward and easy to understand. The only time it ever gets wordy is when Patrick goes into detail about what people are wearing. Other than that, it's an easy read. I don't think it compares to anything we have read in class. As I Lay Dying was harder to understand, since so little of it was explicitly stated. I guess American Psycho would be more similar to Things Fall Apart. I thought that book was easier to understand, other than the names.

I think the theme of the book is things aren't always as they seem. Patrick appears perfectly normal, and no one seems to suspect that he is crazy. But also, Patrick and his coworkers are always mistaking people for other people, since they all look alike. Patrick's descriptions of the guys he works with all seem the same: suits, slicked back hair, etc. Paul Owen repeatedly refers to Patrick as Marcus Halberstam, and has no idea he is wrong. So Patrick's personality is not what it seems, but the people themselves are not who others think they are.

Jean is one of the new characters. She seems to be the only genuine person, and is sweet to Patrick no matter what. I would say her purpose is to have someone the reader can relate to, since most of the readers are not ridiculously wealthy, snobby, druggies, or psychotic.

Paul Owen, who was mentioned in the first film, has conversations with Patrick. He causes Patrick to show his jealous side, since Paul gets to handle the Fisher account that Patrick wanted.

The only other new characters that are worth mentioning as Sabrina and Christie, the two prostitutes. They don't have much of a purpose yet, but in the movie Patrick murdered them. While it is not guaranteed, I think they will end up dead soon.