Ca ne peut plus attendre, je vous présente l'ami Patrick Bateman, le héros ... hm, personnage de American Psycho. Au-delà de ce que la presse peut en dire et qui n'a aucun intérêt (des théories fumeuses sur une prétendue schizophrénie, ou une totale misogynie, homophobie, xénophobie, et autres culpabilité d'une vingtaine de meurtres sadiques), j'ai beaucoup apprécié le côté dandy fashion flegmatique, glacé et sophistiqué du bonhomme.
Genre, d'entrée de jeu, le deuxième paragraphe:
- «I'm creative, I'm young, unscrupulous, highly motivated, highly skilled. In essence what I'm saying is that society can
not afford to lose me. I'm an
asset»
- «Hi. Pat Bateman,» I say, offering my hand, noticing my reflection in a mirror hung on the wall—and smiling at how good I look.
- (...) she gives me a look so hateful that it seems doubtful we will have sex later on tonight
- «What do we want to eat?» Me.
- «Something blond with big tits.» Price.
- «Oh wait, guys, listen, I got a joke.» Preston rubs his hands together.
- «Preston,» Price says, «you
are a joke.»
[ils sont à 4 dans un bar
after hours]
- «Where are we
eating?» I ask, my patience at an all-time low. «We need to make a reservation. I'm not standing at some fucking
bar»
[en arrivant à Pastels, un resto branché downtown Manhattan]
- I'm on the verge of tears by the time we arrive at Pastel's since I'm positive we won't get seated but the table is good, and relief that is almost tidal in scope washes me over in an awesome wave. (...) It's really impossible to get a reservation at Pastels and I think Van Patten, myself, even Price, are impressed by, even envious of, McDermott's prowess in securing a table. (...) Things seem to be going smoothly. The Ronettes are singing "Then He Kissed Me", our waitress is a little hardbody and even Price seems relaxed.
Scott Montgomery walks over to our booth wearing a double-washed wrinkled-cotton striped dress shirt with red accent stitching a red, white and blue fireworks-print silk tie by Hugo Boss and plum washed-wool trousers with a quadruple-pleated front and slashed pockets by Lazo. He's holding a glass of champagne and hands it to the girl he's with—definite model type, thin, okay tits, no ass, high heels—and she's wearing a wool-crepe skirt and a wool and cashemere velour coat, all by Louis Dell'Olio. High-heeled shoes by Susan Warren Edwards. Sunglasses by Alain Mikli. Pressed-leather bag from Hermès.
(...)
I was wrong. She
does have an ass.
(...)
- «She is
hot,» Van Patten says, ignoring the scallop sausage,
- «Hardbody.» McDermott nods in agreement. «Definitely.»
- «I'm not impressed,» Price sniffs. «Look at her knees»
While the hardbody stands there we check her out, and though her knees do support long, tan legs, I can't help noticing that one knee is, admittedly, bigger that the other one. The left knee is knobbier, almost imperceptibly thicker than the right knee and this unnoticeable flaw now seems overwhelming and we all lose interest. (...)
- «This isn't what you ordered either. That's
sushi, not sashimi.»
- «Jesus,» McDermott sighs. «You don't come here for the food anyway.»
Some guy who looks exactly like Christopher Lauder comes over to the table and says, patting me on the shoulder, «Hey Hamilton, nice tan,» before walking into the men's room.
(...)
«I have,» Van Patten says, pausing for maximum impact, «a tanning bed at ... home,» and then he takes a large bite out of his scallop sausage.
(...)
The hardbody brings the check over. The total is $475, much less than we expected. We split it but I need the cash so I put it on my platinum AmEx and collect their bills, mostly fresh fifties.
Si ça continue, je vais transcrire tout le bouquin et je vais avoir la mafia des droits d'auteur sur la poire, alors que je fais de la pub en plus! Sans déconner, le meilleur bouquin que j'ai lu dernièrement. A lire en anglais je pense.
College St., Avant...
College St., Après...
College St., C'est le bordel complet...
