this is not an exit

horror title cards — the contemporary homages to classic horror cinema 

Rosemary’s Baby (Polanski, 1968) 

The Love Witch (Biller, 2016) 

The House of the Devil (West, 2009)

disappointed that there isn’t a song of achilles film, but had to go ahead and make a criterion cover regardless. the cover is a nod to the recurring imagery of figs in the novel as well as the overall use of nature as a symbol. 

patroclus, specifically during the chapter when they first have sex, frequently compares achilles to nature: 

“he smelled like almonds and earth.”

“his eyelids were the color of the dawn sky.”

“he smelled like earth after rain.” 

“the cave smelled hot and sweet like fruit beneath the sun.” 

“his fingers were etched into my memory,  slender and petal-veined.”

“he pressed against me, crushing my lips to wine.”

“he was outlined against the painted stars.” 

as well, chapter 10, page 93, “it was spring, and we were fifteen.” the chapter begins by describing the blossoming season, the light breeze, the sun, the river, and the forest, before transitioning into a moment where the boys compare their growing bodies. “we watched the grass, the trees, and the nubs of new buds, just growing.” the novel uses nature as a symbol for adolescence in order to show the naturalism of the growing relationship between patroclus and achilles. the imagery is biblical, the way the forest is described during spring is very eden-like, and more obviously, the use of figs recalls the leaves used to conceal adam’s and eve’s genitals. nature links patroclus and achilles to the earth. 

american psycho is a difficult book to get through. the prose is dry and repetitive, mostly boring with little to glean from the details on reread. perhaps the most interesting aspect is further discovering more of the inconsistencies in patrick’s narration that escalate his unreliability. for example, the timeline of the novel is generally unknown because patrick recalls the months at random. in one chapter, he’ll be doing christmas shopping, yet in the very next, it’s april and he mentions how warm it is. details like those heighten patrick’s psychosis as well as the uneasiness of the reader, something, i feel, the movie simply can’t do because of the differences between the mediums. 

the most interesting aspect of the novel is the way in which it engages with form to highlight patrick’s descent. in some instances, sentences stop in the middle of word and leave the thought incomplete, as if patrick is losing control over how quickly his thoughts are coming and going. a highlight of the novel is towards it’s climax when the prose switches from first person pov to third person which, excitingly, allows the reader to truly understand patrick’s depersonalization. it’s incredibly effective and feels almost cathartic, in a way, to take a break from the monotony of patrick’s internal monologue. 

similarly, the dry repetition of the novel, though tiresome, acts as a way for the reader to drown in consumerism as patrick does. midway through the novel, i found myself growing annoyed with the instances in which patrick would detail, in deadening specificity, clothing, food, technology, and cosmetic products, but by the end, once we’ve reached the pinnacle moment of his insanity, these bouts of materialism are very sad, and that grief and nihilism grow once the novel ends with the now iconic phrase, “THIS IS NOT AN EXIT.”