AMERICAN PSYCHO

I can still remember the furore when Bret Easton Ellis' novel appeared in the early 1990's. The original publisher pulled out after reading the manuscript; there was a much discussed scene involving a rat; every newspaper and magazine had a view on it. But I didn't read it at the time; nor have I ever seen the film made in 2000.

When my daughter turned 18 in April, one of her Danish friends bought her the book as a present. I am not sure that the friend knew much about it, other than it was a well-known book in English. Anyway, it is now part of the family library, and I have just read it.

And think it is actually quite good. True, the sex and violence are quite gratuitous; but twenty years of time have done wonders in this area, and it doesn't shock in anything like the same way as it did then. And in some things, the author was in fact very prescient. The obsession with money and Wall Street, conspicuous consumption, the need to be seen and be famous, the way people can die without the neighbours knowing, the shallowness of a lot of urban life. The themes were packaged in a peculiar way, but they were important themes nonetheless.

If you haven't read it, I recommend it.

Walter Blotscher