Painting Fakes

I read American Psycho  so you don't have to.  It's a harrowing read and I don't recommend it unless you have a strong stomach. Bret Easton Ellis's 1991 novel is narrated by Pat Bateman, a young man who does something or other on Wall Street.  He seems to have an unlimited amount of money which he spends on designer clothes, gym and health club memberships, high end sound gear and eye-wateringly expensive dinners at exclusive restaurants.  Much of the novel consists of Bateman's descriptions of his dinners and socialising with various companions (you couldn't really call them friends) in which he describes in great detail what they are wearing, the appearance and sexual desirability of the women, the food they order and their absurd, inconsequential conversations.  This is not the harrowing bit. Amidst all the tedium of his day-to-day life Bateman also describes, in the same matter-of-fact tone, a series of gruesome murders which he commits.  The violence i...