About the author

Hello to you!

On this blog, I will post my opinions and summaries on the international bestseller American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

Today's post will focus on the author of the book, Bret Easton Ellis. Ellis was born March 7, 1964 in Los Angeles, California. He is not only an author, but also a screenwriter and a short story writer. According to Wikipedia, Ellis is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark is the expression of extreme acts and opinions in an affectless style.

Ellis grew up in a middle class Californian household in Sherman Oaks in San Fernando Valley. His father, Robert Martin Ellis, was abusive and because of this, it was speculated by critics if the main character Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, was based on him. Bret Easton Ellis later claimed that the character was in fact based on himself.

Ellis was educated at The Buckley School in California, and he later attended Bennington College in Vermont, where he got an education in writing.

He made his debut in writing early, at age 21, with the book Less Than Zero (1985). It was written while Ellis was still attending Bennington College. The book was a success, and his next book, American Psycho, was an even bigger success. Ellis has written several other books, like The Informers, Lunar Park and Imperial Bedrooms. 

Four of his books have been made into films; Less Than Zero, American Psycho, The Rules of Attraction and The Informers. Both American Psycho and The Rules of Attraction achieved a cult status after their releases. The movie American Psycho is starring popular Hollywood actors like Christian Bale, Justin Theroux and Reese Witherspoon.

Journalists have been speculating for years whether Bret Easton Ellis is gay or not. He has given different explanations over the years to different journalists, like saying that he does not identify himself as either gay nor straight. After many years of being very unclear about his sexuality, he finally identified himself as gay in 2012.

In the next post I will start to summarize the book as I read it and give my opinions about it.


Until next time!


References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Easton_Ellis
http://breteastonellis.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0254735/