The Brand Catalog

Long stretches of American Psycho are detailed lists of clothing labels, stereo specs, and skincare routines. These passages are deliberately tedious — Ellis makes readers feel the numbing effect of consumer obsession from inside Bateman's mind.

The most quoted scene shows four bankers comparing the typography and paper stock of their business cards with rising anxiety. The cards are nearly identical, yet the terror is real. In a world stripped of authentic identity, brand distinctions become existential crises, because they are the only way these men can tell themselves apart.