Product Description
Ever heard of a culling song?It’s a lullaby sung in Africa to give a painless death to the old or infirm.The lyrics of a culling song kill, whether spoken or even just thought.You can find one on page 27 of Poems and Rhymes from Around the World, an anthology that is sitting on the shelves of libraries across the country, waiting to be picked up by unsuspecting readers.

Reporter Carl Streator discovers the song’s lethal nature while researching Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and before he knows it, he’s reciting the poem to anyone who bothers him. As the body count rises, Streator glimpses the potential catastrophe if someone truly malicious finds out about the song. The only answer is to find and destroy every copy of the book in the country. Accompanied by a shady real-estate agent, her Wiccan assistant, and the assistant’s truly annoying ecoterrorist boyfriend, Streator begins a desperate cross-country quest to put the culling song to rest.

Written with a style and imagination that could only come from Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby is the latest outrage from one of our most exciting writers at work today.Amazon.com Review
The consequences of media saturation are the basis for an urban nightmare in Lullaby, Chuck Palahniuk's darkly comic and often dazzling thriller.Assigned to write a series of feature articles investigating SIDS, troubled newspaper reporter Carl Streator begins to notice a pattern among the cases he encounters: each child was read the same poem prior to his or her death.His research and a tip from a necrophilic paramedic lead him to Helen Hoover Boyle, a real estate agent who sells "distressed" (demonized) homes, assured of their instant turnover.Boyle and Streator have both lost children to "crib death," and she confirms Streator's suspicions: the poem is an ancient lullaby or "culling song" that is lethal if spoken--or even thought--in a victim's direction.The misanthropic Streator, now armed with a deadly and uncontrollably catchy tune, goes on a minor killing spree until he recognizes his crimes and the song's devastating potential.Lullaby then turns into something of a road trip narrative, with Streator, Boyle, her empty-headed Wiccan secretary Mona, and Mona's vigilante boyfriend Oyster setting out across the U.S. to track down and destroy all copies of the poem.

In his previous works, including the cult favorite Fight Club, Palahniuk has demonstrated a fondness for making statements about the condition of humanity, and he uses Lullaby like a blunt object to repeatedly overstate his generally dim view.Such dogmatic venom undermines the persuasiveness of his thesis about mass communication and free will, but thankfully, Palahniuk offers some respite here by allowing for sympathy and love, as well as through his razor-sharp humor, such as his mock listings for Helen's possessed properties: "six bedrooms, four baths, pine-paneled entryway, and blood running down the kitchen walls...."At such moments, Lullaby casts a powerful spell. --Ross Doll ... Read more

Customer Reviews (284)

Highly Entertaining
5th book I have read by Chuck (Rant, Survivor, Choke, and Snuff) - actually that is the order I place them in of liking (Snuff being the least).Anyway, this is a sick and twisted book - in a good way.What would you do if you have the power to kill someone, anyone nearby without laying a finger on them.D-E-A-D DEAD, without any cause of death.The four main characters it this book, the narrator, a crooked real estate broker, a Wician, and her boyfriend all ponder this question as they go cross country searching for the origin of this power.

Best Palahniuk Book EVER!
I've read Fight Club, Rant, Survivor, Lullaby, Choke, and am reading Pigmy.I read Fight Club after I saw the movie about 100 times or more, so the book was basically the same thing as the movie, glad they actually stuck with the same script in the movie as they did the book (for the most part anyways).Since then, I'm a huge Norton and Pitt fan.Moving on.

The second book I bought, after Fight Club, was Lullaby.I was blown away... Speechless... The same sick, twists and turns as in Fight Club, but with a touch of supernatural.If Palahniuk ever comes out with another supernatural themed book, I'll be first in line.

If you like Palahniuk even just a little, go get this book.Like I said, it's basically the same story as all his books, the anti-hero, who's kind of a bad guy with sick hangups, but you kinda like him regardless, and you want him to win, and there are twists along the way + a supernatural witch hunt element.

I'm gonna stop reviewing the book now and go read it again.......What are you waiting for?


(**Pigmy is the only one I can't recommend....)

Entertaining, yet distrubing.Like a car wreck, hard to look away...
This is my second Chuck Palahniuk book, my first was Choke.But I'd heard really interesting and positive stuff about this book.And African culling song that s used to kill people at will.Pretty great plot.This is one of the craziest things I've ever read!

"Carl Streator" is our hero, or anti-hero, I suppose.He is a highly disturbed man, who unwittingly kills his wife and child by reading them a seemingly innocent poem ina collection of poems for children.Years pass, Streator is living on his own, working as a journalist, and continually despising the noise and "quiet-ophobics" in the world.Until one day, he discovers that all the "SIDs babies, and also children and parents that have passed on mysteriously lately are connected by this one special page ina book...a book he knows and recognizes.

You can read this book purely on a surface level as a "scary" book about spells and magic, or you can read it as a treatise against the world we are all currently living in, full of people, noise, greed, nonsense and a lot of evil.This book is highly readable, but has nightmarish quality about it.I can't go into details, because I would NEVER want to ruin this book for anyone else, but just steel yourself for disturbing imagery!

I give the book 4 stars, but it is more of a 3.5.

One of my favorite Palahniuks
This is without a doubt one of my personal favorite Palahniuk novels for a lot of reasons. I feel this novel starts off great and takes less time to really engage you then some of his other works. From the first few pages, I really felt engaged and "into" the novel. And that feeling stayed the same throughout the entirety of the novel.

This novel also had a very good thriller feeling at times. Especially during the middle of the novel, it really felt like the characters were in a race against time with such clear conflicting motives and it kept the reader on edge to see what would happen at every turn. There was a real sense of imminent danger looming in the novel that some of our characters were trying to prevent from happening, and this created a very thrilling experience.

The overall message of the novel also really hit home at the end of the novel. The spread of information in our era is fast as well as wide. And if dangerous information reaches this network, it can have scary effects.

This is a great novel to for both Palahniuk fans and people looking to give him a shot alike. I think it is one of his more enjoyable novels for those who have not had any experience with him and want to give his work a shot.

Similar, yet hauntingly different
Chuck Palahniuk has said that all of his books are the same: "All of my books are about achieving the isolation that our culture tells us should make us happy.Someone has gotten onto an island or into a high-rise condo and is completely cut off from all of the "jerks" in the world.That's supposed to make them happy, but they are more miserable than they ever were.So they create circumstances - whether or not they are aware of it - which force them on a quest to reconnect with people."

And there is a certain degree of "sameness" from one Palahniuk novel to another.You notice some of the same plot devices, a few of the same verbal tricks, a few well-worn character devices that seem as familiar as every steak dinner seems familiar.The thing is, however, that just because you've had a steak dinner before - you won't pass up the next one.

Lullaby is not my first Palahniuk novel, and now that I'm finished with this one, I can safely say that it will not be my last.And while each novel has some familiar contours and tastes, each novel also brings you something special that is native only to that novel.

Lullaby is a book about the words that we say, read, write, and hear - and the effect that they have not only on us, but on the people around us who we love and hate.

Lullaby is also a book that makes me continue to wonder about Palahniuk's relationship with God.There seems a little too much of a hat tip toward Francis Thomson's "The Hound of Heaven" in this one for it be placed entirely in the realm of "the secular" (whatever that is).

If I must be critical, just moments after closing the book, I will say that there are perhaps a few too many turns just at the end of the book -- similar to the quick turns at the end of "Choke".

Yet overall, if you pick up a copy of Lullaby, don't expect to be put to sleep.It will haunt you throughout your days as the characters follow you around the next day and the day after. ... Read more

Product Description
The hyperactive love child of Page Six and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? caught in a tawdry love triangle with The Fan. Even Kitty Kelly will blush.

Soaked, nay, marinated in the world of vintage Hollywood, Tell-All is a Sunset Boulevard–inflected homage to Old Hollywood when Bette Davis and Joan Crawford ruled the roost; a veritable Tourette’s syndrome of rat-tat-tat  name-dropping, from the A-list to the Z-list; and a merciless  send-up of Lillian Hellman’s habit of butchering the truth that will have Mary McCarthy cheering from the beyond.

Our Thelma Ritter–ish narrator is Hazie Coogan, who for decades has tended to the outsized needs of Katherine “Miss Kathie”  Kenton—veteran of multiple marriages, career comebacks, and cosmetic surgeries. But danger arrives with gentleman caller Webster Carlton Westward III, who worms his way into Miss Kathie’s heart (and boudoir). Hazie discovers that this bounder has already written a celebrity tell-all memoir foretelling Miss Kathie’s death in a forthcoming Lillian Hellman–penned musical extravaganza; as the body count mounts, Hazie must execute a plan to save Katherine Kenton for her fans—and for posterity.

Tell-All is funny, subversive, and fascinatingly clever. It’s wild, it’s wicked, it’s  bold-faced—it’s vintage Chuck.Amazon.com Review
Questions for Chuck Palahniuk on Tell-All

Q: A casual observer might be surprised at the depth of knowledge of 50’s-era movies that you display in Tell-All.Where does this come from?
A: That vast wealth of 50's film info comes from my editor, Gerry Howard (who has a life-long crush on Gene Tierney, so feel free to tease him about it. He still carries her photo inside his wallet). Originally I'd written Tell-All chock-a-block with references to silent movie stars from the 'teens and 1920's, but Gerry thought they were too, too esoteric and forgotten.Ask me anything about silent movies--did you know that Lon Chaney was such a brilliant master of gesture because both his parents were deaf and mute--and I will bore you with trivia until you weep like a little girl.

Q: What is your favorite movie of that time, and why?
A: Anything by Douglas Sirk.All I have to do is hear the opening strains of Earl Grant singing the theme to Imitation of Life and I collapse into a quivering heap. Susan Kohner throwing herself across her dead mother's casket... that's movie magic!

Q: What is your favorite star of that time, and why?
A: Gloria Grahame, and I don't want to know anything intimate about her.In my mind she must remain a glorious, perfect object.In particular I do NOT want to know if she was dubbed when she sang in Oklahoma!.

Q: What is your favorite black and white movie, and why?
A: This question is nowhere near fair.Almost all of my favorite films are black-and-white: Wuthering Heights ("I am Heathcliff!"), Suddenly Last Summer ("So we went to Cabeza de Lobo...") and The Last Picture Show (Hank Williams is god) are all my favorite of the moment. No, wait, now my new favorite is Mildred Pierce. See...it changes by the minute.

Q: How do the films of that era differ from, say, the movie adaptations of Choke and Fight Club?
A: Back then, the studio system seemed dead-set on producing stories with happy endings. Now we're willing to accept something closer to real life, i.e. everyone gets divorced and dies.

Q: How has movie star celebrity changed since that time?
A: My guess is that the explosion of media outlets--the internet, cable television--have fragmented the world of celebrity into smaller and smaller fames.The growing monster of mass media needs so many new "reality stars" that the entire world has become a stool at the counter of Schwab's Drugstore. Hey, anytime I can work in a Lana Turner reference, I gotta go there.

Q: Speaking of Kitty Kelley, what do you think of the whole Oprah phenomenon?
A: I think Oprah should invite me on her show, then shower me with endorsements. She and I will become best-friends-forever and bad mouth about Jonathan Franzen. As her new BFF, I promise I will make her thin.

Q: What are some favorite recent movies?
A: Notes on a Scandal. The Hunger.Paper Moon.Wait, what year is this?Did George Cukor die?

Q: What did you think of Avatar?
A: I haven't seen it yet; I'm waiting for the Douglas Sirk remake with Lana Turner and Sandra Dee.Just imagine... Sandra Dee in 3-D.When Troy Donahue beats up the black girl, it will be like he's slapping me around.

Q: What are you reading these days?
A: Honestly, no lie, I'm reading Judy Blume books.Of course I'm reading her to study her style and "voice" but as an added bonus I now know how it feels to have my hymen broken by a high school boy who didn't really love me that much in the first place.Sigh.

Q: What are you listening to?
A: The internet machine is playing some thing-y called Pandora, and that's playing Blondie's Heart of Glass. Otherwise, Hank Williams is god.Because I somehow love both Country music and New Wave... that should qualify me for a handicapped parking permit.

Q: Any particular challenges/joys in writing this novel?
A: For me, anything involving keyboarding is a challenge.Oh, and spelling. The joy came mostly from reading 75+ Joan Crawford biographies and getting to tax deduct them all.

Q: You’ve been coming out with a book a year for some time now.Is that a pace that works for you for any specific reason?Any thoughts on producing more or less?
A: The moment I find something that's more fun than writing--and is NOT drugs--I will retire so fast it will make your head spin.I am addicted to the fantasy, research, the writing process.Seriously, I need an intervention.

My only other dream job would be to work as Oprah's butler.

Customer Reviews (80)

Palahniuk Delivers Again
In the hit or miss sequence that Palahniuk has been writing over the past few novels, this one far surpasses Rant and Pygmy but doesn't quite make it as high as Snuff.The story is brief, fast paced, in the style Palahniuk used in some of his best (or my favorite anyway) novels: Lulluby, Choke, Fight Club... The story is pure Hollywood noir.Told from the point of view of a movie star's housekeeper, this is a tale of the Hollywood inside, where everyone is someone.

The book starts off a bit slow, and I was thrown a bit by the way every "dropped" name was highlighted.Bret Easton Ellis did the name dropping trick (to a much greater degree)in his book Glamorama, and he pulled off the social commentary without having to drive the point home by printing the names in bold.That said, I got used to it after a while.The exposition took a while, and the real meat occured halfway through when the house keeper found a manuscript written by the movie star's boyfriend which was a biography of the movie star that predicted her death.Dark comedy ensued as the movie star tried to stop her boyfriend from killing her.

I wouldn't recommend this as a starting point for the budding Palahniuk fan, but I would suggest it to any established fan.

Huh?What a let down.
I have ingested every single Chuck novel like an insatiable lit junkie. It's usually cover-to-cover as fast as my brain can consume it. I usually cannot wait to see what Chuck has up his always-shocking, always-hilarious, always-erotic (in a yucky kind of way) sleeve. I was so bummed after trying to read Tell All.I must have stopped and started five times before I gave up. I wonder if he owed a book to the publisher and pulled the spoiled writer move. The story goes no where. I don't get the stars in bold.I didn't fall for any of the characters.Chuck, what up brother?Please don't stop trying. You are a drug to me. I need a fix bad. But, Tell All was a bad dose.

Not alone...
Wow... I thought that I was too uneducated on american pop history to understand the book, thus making it barely readable. But I guess I'm not alone! Maybe if I had the patience and time to research every name and reference written on every single paragraph of this book (the first 2 pages have 10 references I don't get...) it would be more compeling... but really... I do not want to do that. The plot itself, when not buried deep in crazy bolded names and nouns, is a little predictable and a lot stale.

Halfway back to his best
Mazie Coogan is the woman behind the curtain. Her masterpiece is Katherine Kenton, the waning starlet she guided to superstardom. In this novel-length gossip column, Mazie tells the story of Katherine's rise and fall from the spotlight, and the many men she loved along the way. Including her newest beau, a man planning a tell-all biography... culminating in the tragic ending that has yet to occur.

I'm a Palahniuk fan, something that is becoming harder to defend with every new book since the outstanding //Rant//. But whether you enjoy his books or you don't, you can at least admit that they are never boring. They always evoke emotion in the reader, for better or for worse. Sadly, I must admit that for the first time, I was bored by a Palahniuk book. The majority of the first half, in fact. Which is utterly baffling, because the second half is absolutely hysterical. Genuinely, laugh-out-loud funny. It doesn't totally redeem the first half, but it is worth your time.

If you could ignore the first half, or if the expository chapters were interspersed with the more enjoyable second half, //Tell-All// would be a terrific read. As is, it's merely a passable one.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas

Feeling a bit left down not really all that interested.
I'm only about 1/3 of the way into this book... and I've owned it for over a month. My busy work schedule considered, I still would have finished this weeks ago if it hadn't lost my interest almost immediately. I'm a big fan of Chuck Palahniuk's other books and this is the first one that's dissapointed me.

While it contains some interesting tidbits about the era it is set in, there is just WAY too much name dropping. I find myself spending more time online trying to look up all of the people he references than I spend actualy reading the book. I've found that knowing who he's talking about is not usually detrimental to understanding the book, but I still have the compulsion to know. I have to thank Mr. Palahnuik for my newfound bank of useless knowledge, but I didn't really want a class on Hollywood history, I wanted an entertaining read.

If you are new to this author, and under the age of 70 , please begin elsewhere like Pygmy, Snuff, or Fight Club. Unless are a Film or Contemporary History major, it will probably bore you to tears before you even start getting a hint of there being a story there at all.His other works are captivating and charismatic, exciting, funny and sometimes a bit raunchy. This one has a taste of the same passion and wit, but not enough (so far) to even tease my appetite.

I may, of course, eat those words if I'm able to force myself to finish the entire entree, but it just doesn't seem to fit my taste. ... Read more

Product Description
“A wild amphetamine ride through the vagaries of fame and the nature of belief.”—San Francisco ChronicleTender Branson—last surviving member of the Creedish Death Cult—is dictating his life story into Flight 2039’s recorder. He is all alone in the airplane, which will crash shortly into the vast Australian outback. But before it does, he will unfold the tale of his journey from an obedient Creedish child to an ultra-buffed, steroid- and collagen-packed media messiah. Unpredictable and unforgettable, Survivor is Chuck Palahniuk at his deadpan peak: a mesmerizing, unnerving, and hilarious satire on the wages of fame and the bedrock lunacy of the modern world.Amazon.com Review
Some say that the apocalypse swiftly approacheth, but that simply ain't soaccording to Chuck Palahniuk. Oh no. It's already here, living in the headof the guy who just crossed the street in front of you, or maybe evencloser than that. We saw these possibilities get played out in the author'sbloodsporting-anarchist-yuppie shocker of a first novel, Fight Club.Now, inSurvivor, his second and newest, the concern is more for theorigin of the malaise. Starting at chapter 47 and screaming towardground zero, Palahniuk hurls the reader back to the beginning in abreathless search for where it all went wrong. This time out,the author's protagonist is self-made, self-ruined mogul-messiah TenderBranson, the sole passenger of a jet moments away from slamming firstinto the Australian outback and then into oblivion. All that will beleft, Branson assures us with a tone bordering on relief, is hislife story, from its Amish-on-acid cult beginnings to itstelevangelist-huckster end. All of this courtesy of the plane's flightrecorder.

Speaking of little black boxes, Skinnerians would have a field day withthe presenting behavior of the folks who make up Palahniuk's world. Theypretend they're suicide hotline operators for fun. They eat lobsterbefore it's quite... done. They dance in morgues. The Cleavers they arenot. Scary as they might be, these characters are ultimately more scared ofthemselves than you are, and that's what makes them so fascinating. Inthe wee hours and on lonely highways, they exist in a perpetualtwilight, caught between the horror of the present and the dread of theunknown. With only two novels under his belt, Chuck Palahniuk is well onhis way to becoming an expert at shining a light on these shadowycreatures. --Bob Michaels ... Read more

Customer Reviews (426)

Yet another strange and Interesting read
The idea of a man telling a story as a plane is about to crash is definately a good reason to want to read more. Like most of Chuck's works, this book picks up more and more speed with each chapter. The unique way of telling the main character's story is definately surpassed by his unique tale. I enjoyed this book alot. It starts out one way then takes you on a ride leaving you thinking and happy with what you read. I think this book is for Chuck's fans and first time readers. Oh and the cover of this particular one can be made into a paper airplane...I mean thats a deal if I ever saw one!

Seriously, Palahniuk's Best Work
A crazy book about a cult survivor and what happens to him.It is a gripping read, and it is by far my favorite Palahniuk book.And I've read all of them up until Snuff.This was by far my favorite.The story was amazing, the crazy stuff that goes on all throughout the book is captivating.I have to say that I enjoy most of his books, but this one really stuck out at me.Sure, Fight Club was a great book, but this book just blew me away.I hear they're making a movie out of it in 2011.That should be interesting.They're also making movies out of other Palahniuk books, after the first two: Fight Club and Choke.I hope it translates on the big screen the way it did in the book

outstanding
Truly one of Palahniuk's best.It's dark, funny, quirky, and completely absorbing.An in your face plot makes for a read you won't forget.

good read, biting commentary on american values
palahniuk, if his name is familiar to you but you can't remember why, is the novelist who wrote fight club.his books, as i'm finding (now that i've read a couple of them, as well as watched fight club a few times), are dark -- to be sure -- but always have a very strong undercurrent of social commentary.survivor is the story of a "death cult" survivor, the last of his kind.he was raised on a compound, somewhere in nebraska, by a group that seems somewhere in the space between mormonism, amish, and waco.he was trained, as all but the first son and elder-chosen daughters are in this group, to be a 'labor missionary'.and, in his young adult life, he's earning slave wages that are sent back to the tribe.but, after the self-inflicted death of all the followers, he life takes an odd shift.he becomes a agent-shaped media darling, a self-styled swami of religious kitcsh, and a stadium-filling, product-selling machine.then it all crumbles; and he finds himself alone on a jumbo jet he's hijacked, heading toward his own death.yeah.it's a wild story.and it's not all perfectly told, though the majority is very well written.but more than the story, it's a brutal upper-cut to american popularity culture.and, for those willing to read between the lines, there are all kinds of implications for the brand of hero worship we practice in american christianity.

Palahniuk's Best Work
Simply said, this is among my favorite novels I have ever read and I think it is the best of Chuck Palahniuk's works (at least up to 2010). In what has become fairly commonplace among Chuck novels, we begin the novel by getting a glimpse at the end before really understanding what is actually going on and why. This does a great job of really establishing a tone for the story and sparking an intial flair to get the reader really interested early on.

Set up as Tender Branson giving his account of his life, trying to give some meaning and justification to it to the black box recorder or an airplane he is setting out to crash, the narrator does a great job of walking us through his life and giving us a real good understanding of what has drove him to this point. While Palahniuk is never really subtle about the themes he is setting out to explore in his novels, I think he really does a great job in this novel of discussing free will, especially though interactions with Fertility. The relationship between Tender and Fertility is overall very interesting and does a good job of really showcasing the changes that each of the characters goes through as the novel progresses.

By giving us a glimpse into the future before stepping back to explain the past, it gives the reader a chance to really analyze the events throughout the story relative to what we know is eventually going to happen. I think while this is sometimes overused and used ineffectively, it works remarkably well here. Palahniuk also does a great job in this novel as always of interjecting some really witty and cleaver sections of the novel that really keep it overall entertaining and enjoyable while being so dark at the same time.

Overall, this is a great book, and I would recommend it anyone that is looking for a something just a little bit different or someone that is looking to give Chuck Palahniuk a shot. ... Read more

Product Description
Misty Wilmot has had it. Once a promising young artist, she’s now stuck on an island ruined by tourism, drinking too much and working as a waitress in a hotel. Her husband, a contractor, is in a coma after a suicide attempt, but that doesn’t stop his clients from threatening Misty with lawsuits over a series of vile messages they’ve found on the walls of houses he remodeled.

Suddenly, though, Misty finds her artistic talent returning as she begins a period of compulsive painting. Inspired but confused by this burst of creativity, she soon finds herself a pawn in a larger conspiracy that threatens to cost hundreds of lives. What unfolds is a dark, hilarious story from America’s most inventive nihilist, and Palahniuk’s most impressive work to date. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (212)

Not Chuck's best
For a while over the summer i was reading a book and finishing it within a week. i had been reading a lot of chucks work continuously so i picked up Diary. I got it about 2 and a half months ago and i still havent finished it. im at about page 229 of 260. i just cant get into this one.

Innuendo
I am willing to grant that the concept of this book is clever.Unfortunately, the delivery is awful.Without even discussing the plot, the way the author continually changing voices made my eyes bleed.When the voice is finally revealed, it made it seem that Palahniuk did not know where he was going with this story until he arrived at the end.

The basic plot follows a conspiracy which is both absurd and delicious.A once promising young artist is atoning for the crimes of her husband, who recently began life in a vegetative state.We are given pieces of the mystery throughout the story, but the swerves seem to be there only for the sake of having a swerve.In the grand scheme of the plot, they do not contribute much.Initially, the novel's sense of nihilism reminded me of Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery".The concept of human sacrifice is where the comparison ends.It was like mistaking imitation crab meat for real crab.

With interesting but irrelevant scientific references randomly scattered, the book may even seems plodding at times.Palahnuik can be a humorous writer, but he is not in this book.The diary-style writing fails because it is not written like a diary.It is written like a novel from a variety of voices.As a consequence, the characters lack any sense of depth.

I struggled with how many stars to give this book.There are aspects of the book I enjoyed.But this just seems as though Palahniuk was trying to do something different and made a mess.

Fairly enjoyable, though "far-fetched" would be an understatement
I personally found quite a bit to enjoy in this novel. I though the diary entries as a timeline to the storytelling worked extremely well. Each chapter in the novel is a diary entry with a date associated, and it helps to really establish a sense of time in the novel. It also worked well to really establish the levels of mental decomposition of Misty as the novel develops.

I will be frank and admit that at many levels the conclusion to the plot is extremely far-fetched and kinda comes out of nowhere. But at the same time, I really found it to be exciting and engaging even if being a bit derivative. I thought it had a very good conspiracy theory feeling going and reading the layers and layers of this conspiracy unfold, and seeing earlier events of the book in a different light was interesting. I will admit there were some events, that when they happened did not make all that much sense, leading the reader to come to expect this type of event, but I still believe that it was effective at some level in creating a good story.

The one thing that I will not deny as being a bit annoying is how he resolves the third-person storytelling in referencing other people in the novel. There is a ton of "my this" and "my that" that goes a bit overboard and repetitive, considering a lot of the time it is repeated (for example she will talk about the Diary, which we know is hers, and say something on the lines of "the Diary, My Diary,") and after a while this can get annoying.

I think my take away from this novel was that I really enjoyed the level in which conspiracy theory and plan played out and some of it's level of intricacy. I think if you are looking for a place to start with Palahniuk's work, I don't think this is the novel to start off with. But if you like some of his other work, and this type of plot is something that you think would be interesting, I personally felt that it made up for the book's sometimes annoying narrative voice.

One of Chucks Best!
I have read all but four of Chucks books and this one always seems to remain my favorite.No, it's not like all the others, by any means, and it is jumpy. (Character viewpoints) It has a twist as they all do.This one made me feel what the characters are feeling.I didn't just read and say "Oh, well, that's too bad" and keep reading.I didn't fly through it and it didn't take me forever to read, as some of his other books may have.It's philosophical and intriguing and left me feeling satisfied and hungry for more.

Another sadly average novel by Palahniuk.
I'm getting more and more disenchanted with Palahniuk's books. I loved Lullaby. Choke was good as well, and whereas I didn't care for the story of Invisible Monsters, at least it had a great Palahniuk twist at the end. But the last Palahniuk book that I read--Survivor--and this one, Diary, just haven't lived up to the hype. This one especially had a very slow beginning. At one point, about halfway through, I started getting into it--couldn't put it down--but then came the very anti-climactic ending. Needless to say...I'm struggling to give this an even 3 out of 5 stars. I'll give Palahniuk one more chance, but if things continue down this path I'll have to count him as another author who should have quit while he was ahead. ... Read more

Product Description
Victor Mancini's a medical school dropout with a problem. He needs to pay for elder care for his mother, who's got Alzheimer's. So he comes up with the perfect scam: pretending to choke in upscale restaurants and getting “saved” by fellow diners who, feeling responsible for Victor's life, offer him financial support.

Meanwhile, he cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops and spends his days working at Colonial Dunsboro, where his stoner colleagues are sentenced to the stocks for any deviation from the colonial lifestyle. Oh, yeah, and he's desperate to find the truth of his paternity, which his addled mother suggests may be divine.Amazon.com Review
Victor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a med-schooldropout who's taken a job playing an Irish indentured servant in acolonial-era theme park in order to help care for his Alzheimer's-afflictedmother. Victor Mancini is a sex addict. Victor Mancini is a directdescendant of Jesus Christ. All of these statements about the protagonistof Choke are more or less true. Welcome, once again, to the world ofChuck Palahniuk.

"Art never comes from happiness." So says Mancini's mother only a few pagesinto the novel. Given her own dicey and melodramatic style of parenting,you would think that her son's life would be chock-full of nothing but art.Alas, that's not the case. In the fine tradition of Oedipus, StephenDedalus, and Anthony Soprano, Victor hasn't quite reconciled his issueswith his mother. Instead, he's trawling sexual-addiction recovery meetingsfor dates and purposely choking in restaurants for a few moments ofattention. Longing for a hug, in other words, he's settling for theHeimlich.

Thematically, this is pretty familiar Palahniuk territory. It would be apity to disclose the surprises of the plot, but suffice it to say that whatwe have here is a little bit of Tom Robbins's Another RoadsideAttraction, a little bit of Don DeLillo's The Day Room, and, well, alittle bit of FightClub. Just as with Fight Club and the other two novels underPalahniuk's belt, we get a smattering of gloriously unflinching sound bites,including this skeptical bit on prayer chains: "A spiritual pyramid scheme.As if you can gang up on God. Bully him around."

Whether this is the novel that will break Palahniuk into the mainstream ishard to say. For a fourth book, in fact, the ratio of iffy,"dude"-intensive dialogue to interesting and insightful passages is alittle higher than we might wish. In the end, though, the author's nerveand daring pull the whole thing off--just barely. And what's next forVictor Mancini's creator? Leave the last word to him, declaring as he doesin the final pages: "Maybe it's our job to invent something better.... Whatit's going to be, I don't know."--Bob Michaels ... Read more

Customer Reviews (525)

Replacement borrowed book
I'm so glad that i put this on a quick shipment, however before i got the chance to give it book back, i lost it again. anywhoo, im still grateful for the book. And sorry for the extra LATE review.

Bizarre fun
I got the book as a birthday present (thank you guys!) and I loved it. A catchy story in Palahniuk's writing style, and unlike Survivor, the ending is not disappointing. Now I can't help but imagine the scenes of the book when I am flying... if you have read the book, you know what I mean!

Choke
First off, I have to say that this is the first book of Mr. Palahniuk's that I have read. I. Loved. It.

Victor Mancini is a med school drop-out, forced to pay for his mother's nursing home care. He works as a colonial theme park, but this doesn't cover everything. How does he make his money?

He fakes choking.

Then he tells these people that save him how he has to have this surgery done, or wisdom teeth pulled, etc, and can't pay for it. These people then send him money and support him. He does this at several restaurants in the area and makes enough money.

Along the way, you read flashbacks from his childhood and find out what kind of mother he really grew up with. You hear about his sexual addiction. You realize he is falling for a girl... one that isn't who she says she is. And you meet his best friend, fellow sex addict and co-worker, and his own personal addiction. With rocks.

I really enjoyed this book, and can't wait to read more from him!

An organizer of ideas
Chuck is a great organizer of ideas we all hear throughout life. From tidbits of trivia about the secretive way we talk of terrorists and death to the ways in which art may have started in ancient Greece.

The entertaining style of writing keeps even the most mundane scenes interesting and it all ties up to a terribly thrilling ending to tie each idea up with one another. So many ideas written throughout the book express themselves in the actions of each character to form a sort of icon for each idea, emblemized as a disturbed person we'd normally never give a passing glance. With Chuck's books the average workers of each industry represent the true nature of all humans in Greek Myth sort of way.

upCHUCKingly original
chuckie p took the torch from vonnegut and continues to carry it well aloft here. i'm a fight club man, but this one's great. if you're a CP reader, you'll certainly like it. it's right in that pocket of what you'd expect: the unexpected, the absurdity, the chorus-like refrains, the controlled philosophical rants, theerudition, the existentialism, the ennui, the plot that loops back on itself in order the propell it forward, the dark and the light, the nilihism and the romance, the vaudvillean, classic humor along with the too-clever-by-half humor, the agony and the ecstacy. like all CP i've read so far: no matter what you may think about the story, the characters, the absurdity, it doesn't matter: you simply cannot put it down. it's compelling fiction, and--disect it and deconstruct it and criticize it all the live long day--that's all that matters folks. ... Read more

Product Description
A gang of adolescent terrorists, a spelling bee, and a terrible plan masquerading as a science project: This is Operation Havoc.
 
Pygmy is one of a handful of young adults from a totalitarian state sent to the US disguised as exchange students. Living with American families to blend in, they are planning an unspecified act of massive terrorism that will bring this big dumb country and its fat dumb inhabitants to their knees. Palahniuk depicts Midwestern life through the eyes of this indoctrinated little killer in a cunning double-edged satire of American xenophobia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (178)

Great until the end
This is my first Chuck novel, though I have seen Fight Club and Choke.
I'm not a huge reader myself, but I was on a trip, saw this, and thought it'd be great to kill a plane ride.

The book was difficult to get into. It is a very awkward writing style, though that is the point.

Once I got into it, I LOVED it. The humor, where you had to actively think about what was happening, etc... all made for an incredible journey.

Why was this not a 5 star? Well it was almost a 2 star, simply because the ending was awful. It was the equivalent of having sex with a beautiful girl, and right before the big moment, she turns into a fat dude and punches you in the junk.

I have let two other friends read this (one is like me and this was his first Chuck book, the other has read ALL his stuff). They both thought it was absolutely insane the entire time, and then the ending just ruined it.

All 3 of us came to the conclusion that he had written this absolutely beautifully twisted novel, 100% creative and addictive, and had no idea how to end it properly, and after months of beating himself up over it, he just said "screw it" and copped out.

Don't let that keep you from reading it, because it is enjoyable up until the final few pages. Maybe that was what he was going for? It was definitely a twist ending that's for sure.

Should have been a short story
The idea is great, the writing is great and interesting, but it's a style that is hell on the reader to get all the way through.Told in a very choppy, kung fu-movie patois, it takes time and serious investment to even follow the action.Once you can, there's not much to the story and it feels like a unique way in to narrate the story that was probably better in Palahniuk's brain that it is on paper after shuffling through the first hundred pages or so.Even the best joke isn't funny after the thousandth time.

Amazing read
This book is amazing.The language takes a bit of getting used to but the story and characters are amazing.Buy this book!

an uneasy 4 stars
i've been on a little chuck palahniuk kick lately. but, after this one, i need a break. pygmy is the fictitious autobiography (written as journal entries) of a foreign exchange student from an unmentioned totalitarian country, who, along with a dozen or so others, arrive in the u.s. for what appears to be a wonderful cultural exchange. but their presence is actually part of an intricate master terrorist plan to lay waste to this decadent nation. brutal, over-the-top dark, and chock-full of horribly distasteful observations and situations, pygmy comes to live in a world of (intentionally) two-dimmensional idiots, full of every excess and stereotype one can imagine. as with other palahniuk narratives, the book is more about commentary than it is about story. it's a painful dismantling of whatever middle class american life would be if all the extremes of media stereotypes were actually true. everyone is perverse and ugly in some way, including the narrator. however, as easy as it is, most of the time, to sidestep the commentary by distancing oneself from the horrible characters, there are regular kernels of "ooh, there's some veracity to that" that are both sobering and startling.

Do be afraid of this book
That's right, don't be scared to give this book a shot.Yes, it's voice is a strange and slightly broken form of English, and yes, the ending was not the greatest.However, the grammar and ending should not (and do not in my opinion) detract from the story and what Palahniuk has accomplished with this book.
This is a scathing view of the American lifestyle.We Americans (viewed through the eyes of a young brainwashed Socialist/Fascist) are fat, lazy, corrupt, and blind to our own self destruction.Even religion is lambasted.
In my opinion, this is a home run in social satire and commentary.Probably Palahniuk's most powerfully observant work so far. ... Read more

Product Description
Haunted is a novel made up of twenty-three horrifying, hilarious, and stomach-churning stories. They’re told by people who have answered an ad for a writer’s retreat and unwittingly joined a “Survivor”-like scenario where the host withholds heat, power, and food. As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make themselves the hero of the reality show that will surely be made from their plight. This is one of the most disturbing and outrageous books you’ll ever read, one that could only come from the mind of Chuck Palahniuk. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (327)

his worst book ever
This is the worst Chuck book I have ever read. My friend and I both could not finish it. It was terribly boring. Not much else to say about it.

Well...the cover was cool
I had high hopes for this book.Really high hopes.I was excited because it had short stories and I'm a parent of a toddler and it had short short stories I could read while chasing my daughter around the house.So I read the first few stories, obvously written for shock value.The stories reminded me of something a high-schooler would write to see if he/she could get a rise out of their teacher by writing vulgar possibly offensive crap.I wasn't phased, but more thinking a long the lines of "how pathetic," you are supposedly a decent author?But then, these stories, and stupid poems in beween of the stories, which just get more lame.The characters were awful.He made it impossible to like any of them, which made it hard to care about what happened to any of them in the book.I couldn't wait to finish it.The good thing was it was short stories so it was easy to pick up and put down.Iliked the writing format and I think the book could have been very well written which is why this book was such a dissapointment, and so frustrating to read.On a positive note, it was a short book!

What a great book!!
Chuck Palahniuk has done it yet again in this amazing collection of bone chilling stories. I couldn't put the book down once i opened it, it's incredible! Anyone with a weak stomach should avoid this though.

Just OK.
Quite honestly, I expected more from the author of Fight Club.This book was weird and just kind of gross.It had some sort of a story going on which was interesting enough for me to finish it, but really it seemed designed for people who just like reading really gory descriptions with a plot that doesn't go anywhere.The characters aren't really likeable and the ending is unsatisfying, partly because you don't really even care what happens.It's readable if you don't have a weak stomach, but it's definately nothing to write home about.If you're bored and have nothing else to do you'll probably get through it.But if there's something good on TV....maybe not.

Unique, Hilarious, Poetic, Incredible
I kept forgetting that i was Brett, so i wasn't answering, so they went back to Karl. Things never live up to what you want. Dreams, what are they? ... Read more

Product Description
Chuck Palahniuk’s world has always been, well, different from yours and mine. In his first collection of nonfiction, Chuck Palahniuk brings us into this world, and gives us a glimpse of what inspires his fiction.

At the Rock Creek Lodge Testicle Festival in Missoula, Montana, average people perform public sex acts on an outdoor stage. In a mansion once occupied by The Rolling Stones, Marilyn Manson reads his own Tarot cards and talks sweetly to his beautiful actress girlfriend. Across the country, men build their own full-size castles and rocketships that will send them into space. Palahniuk himself experiments with steroids, works on an assembly line by day and as a hospice volunteer by night, and experiences the brutal murder of his father by a white supremacist. With this new direction, Chuck Palahniuk has proven he can do anything. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (61)

beginning was good, end not so much
The beginning stories of this book was more interesting to me than the end stories.Definitely a strange author/strange stories.Some i thought didn't deserve to even be written about, but I suppose some people would find them strangeworthy.My husband likes this author, i read the book before giving it to him! Wish it would have been more interesting instead of less as it went on, but it might just be me?

The only Palahniuk Book I Started and Didn't Finish
I'm a big Palahniuk fan, but this one didn't capture my interest too well. It is a series of short, nonfiction stories. It's not a novel, but it'd be ok to read a chapter or 2 from time to time. The subjects are quirky, but it's no where near as entertaining as his fictional work.

A little boring but very entertaining
It sucks you in on the first short story, then it turns tediuous and boring for about one third of the book then it gets entertaining.

chuck goes at non fiction
and he nailed it.these stories blew my mind. i almost want to question that they're real. chuck reminds me of a new young writer, j. matthew nespoli

Eh..
If you're a super hardcore Chuck fan, go for it.Otherwise, I would stick to his novels, which are all great. ... Read more

Product Description
She's a fashion model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden freeway "accident" leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she is transformed from the beautiful center of attention to an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists. Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation away from becoming a real woman, who will teach her that reinventing yourself means erasing your past and making up something better. And that salvation hides in the last places you'll ever want to look.Amazon.com Review
When the plot of your first novel partiallyhinges on anarchist overthrows funded by soap sales, and the narrativehook of your secondwork is the black box recorder of a jet moments away from slamminginto the Australian outback, it stands to reason that your audience isgoing to be ready for anything. Which, to an author like ChuckPalahniuk, must sound like a challenge. Palahniuk's third identitycrisis (that's "novel" to you), Invisible Monsters, more thanably responds to this call to arms. Set once again in anall-too-familiar modern wasteland where social disease and self-hatredcan do more damage than any potboiler-fiction bad guy, the talefocuses particularly on a group of drag queens and fashion modelstrekking cross-country to find themselves, looking everywhere from thebottom of a vial of Demerol to the end of a shotgun barrel. It's asort of Drugstore Cowboy-meets-Yentl affair, or aHope-Crosby road movie with a skin graft and hormone-pill obsession,if you know what I mean.

Um, yeah. Anyway, the Hollywood vibe doesn't stop thesecomparisons. As with Fight Club and Survivor, the bookis invested with a cinematic sweep, from the opening set piece, whichtakes off like a house afire (literally), to a host of filmic ticssprayed throughout the text: "Flash," "Jump back," "Jump way ahead,""Flash," "Flash," "Flash." You get the idea. It's as if Palahniukdidn't write the thing but yanked it directly out of the Cineplex ofhis mind's eye. Does it succeed? Mostly. Still working on measuringout the proper dosages of his many writerly talents (equal partspotent imagery, nihilistic coolspeak, and doped-out craziness),Palahniuk every now and then loosens his grip on the story line, whichat points becomes as hard to decipher as your local pill addict'smedicine cabinet. However Invisible Monsters works best on aroller-coaster level. You don't stop and count each slot on the trackas you're going down the big hill. You throw up your hands and yell,"Whee!" --Bob Michaels ... Read more

Customer Reviews (318)

Invisible Monsters Book
The book I got was in great condition other than a little bit of writing and highlighting the seller didn't mention. I also REALLY enjoyed the book! I read it in like 3 days. I have also gone on to read Diary, which was good, and am now reading Survivor. If you like unpredictable circumstances then you will love Chuck!

Invisible Monsters
I'm so in love with this book right now! Chuck Palahniuk is a genius, the way he weaves all the characters lives together; in Invisible Monsters, NOTHING is what it seems. The cover really represents this book so well, with the upside down two-in-one picture. This is my second Chuck Palahniuk book (the first was Choke) and so far I haven't been disappointed. I really thought I might not like this one at first. I tried reading it once before but set it down after the first chapter; the beginning is so unbelievably bizarre. I'm so glad I picked it up again though, and gave it another chance.

The characters are absolutely amazing. Some of my favorites ever. The protagonist, Shannon McFarland, has this cynical irony in her voice (which I find present in Palahniuk's other protagonists too) and I really love it. It's this profound, negative outlook on life and all the materialistic things other people find so important, when really they mean less than nothing to our existence. Other characters in the story include Shannon's endearingly neurotic parents, who now focus all their attention on her brother who died of AIDS; Shannon's big-boned best friend, an aspiring model, who loves to be inthe spotlight; Shannon's ex-fiancé, an unsuccessful vice cop who may or may not be gay; and finally the queen supreme herself, and Shannon's new reason for living, Brandy Alexander.

The plot jumps all over the place, out of order, which some may find confusing. I think it works well though, and personally I didn't have much trouble at all keeping up with the story and putting the pieces together. The ending was so surprising. It was another one of those shocking ones that changes everything you've read in the book so far. Something you never would've seen coming. So far out of two books, this is my favorite Palahniuk book. I can't wait to read more of his work.

Reviewed at: [...]

Almost Perfect
After reading Invisible Monsters and Pygmy in rapid succession, it seems to me that Chuck Palahniukis a writer belonging to his own stratosphere.Not necessarily that his material is more thoughtful or his plotlines more ingenious, but rather that he has a method of presenting material in such a way that you, the reader, are forced to perceive already understood information in a way you haven't before.Invisible Monsters is just one of those articles of genius.

In general, the book is about the snippy, hateful world of fashion modeling and the indulgent, gruesome world of plastic surgery.But in no way are you ever confronted with a preachy author shouting, "These things are bad!"What the book turns out to be is a cautionary tale about getting what you wish for.Each of the primary characters (most notably our narrator - a young woman whose lower jaw was shot off prior to the outset) engages in a lifestyle focused on "making the biggest mistake you possibly could" to get out of their comfort zones and make their lives as regrettable and unforgettable as humanly possible.No one is immune and everyone is culpable.

The true genius of the book comes not in its subject matter, but rather in its form.Throughout the first half of the book, I kept thinking how it could be turned into a movie, and who could possibly play these ridiculous characters (particularly how convincing the visual effects would have to be to believe someone's lower jaw was missing).But as I read, I got further and further away from any such consideration.

By the end of the book, certain revelations occur that make you realize Palahniuk was writing a story that simply cannot be converted into a visual form of any kind.It only works if you can't see what's happening, but have to imagine it.The writer then takes the images you've built up in your mind and smashes them with great force.By making it into a movie, that illusion would be ruined before it was even set up.So, you can imagine how upset I was when I was researching links for this review and came across an in-progress IMDb page for an upcoming production of the film version.

What would make me happy is if the film were nothing but two hours of Chuck reading chapters of the book and telling folks, "It can't be made into a film so open a book and READ, you imbeciles!"Sadly, I'm sure Hollywood will try to find some clever way to tell the story and retain the illusions constructed in the novel, but it's likely all for naught.They'll annihilate anything they think can make a buck, and I can honestly tell you I'll be very sad the day this movie is released.

NOTE:It's not a 5-star read as the VERY end of the book (after the genius has worn off - maybe the last 10 pages) is schticky and unnecessary - even contrived at moments.However, don't let that scare you off.It's an unforgettable read regardless of the tainted ending.Please.PLEASE!I beg of you to read this book before the movie is even finished with production as there's no way some spoiler won't come out and ruin it for you.

Inspiring
This is one of my favorite Chuck Palahniuk books.Really, I don't think that guys would really enjoy this book because the story is a bit glamored, but you never know.It's definitely not Choke, but I think if you liked Diary, you will probably really enjoy this book.

There are loads of good quotes that I ripped of this book.It's just flat out a great Chuck Palahniuk book.

Give Me Existential Ennui As A Coping Mechanism
There are no words that allow me to describe how wonderful this book is. If you want Dark Humor and Originality, this is where you should start...and possibly end. Some of the quotes in this book are simply legendary. The story of a model and her encounters will enthrall and captivate you. You will roll with laughter, as well.

I'm a HUGE Chuck fan and this is by far and away my favorite book of his. ... Read more

Product Description
Buster “Rant” Casey just may be the most efficient serial killer of our time. A high school rebel, Rant Casey escapes from his small town home for the big city where he becomes the leader of an urban demolition derby called Party Crashing. Rant Casey will die a spectacular highway death, after which his friends gather the testimony needed to build an oral history of his short, violent life. With hilarity, horror, and blazing insight, Rant is a mind-bending vision of the future, as only Chuck Palahniuk could ever imagine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (175)

Exemplary style, story average at best.
I blew through Rant about as fast as I blew through the rest of Palahniuk's novels (the ones I've read, I mean). As usual, Palahniuk keeps your attention (although better with this book than with, say, Diary). Unlike others, I actually enjoyed the oral biography style and did not really find it distracting at all. The fact that Palahniuk can give so many different characters different voices, but still keep the reader interested, is the sign of a true artist.

That said, as stories go--especially Palahniuk stories--Rant simply falls a bit short. I get the feeling that Palahniuk started writing, not sure where this tale or his characters would end up, and when he threw his usual twist in, it simply wasn't as shocking or satisfying as those in Lullaby and Choke.

Not a story, a biography.
This book isn't a real story, it's just that, a biography. It's multiple witnesses recalling Rant Casey's life, while the things he'd done while he was alive were twisted and interesting, I would have been much more interested in reading if it were more like a regular book. It's confusing at times too, while Rant's mom talks about him one way, his friend says it's not true and recalls him a different way. I scanned through the pages, and this is what it is until the end, a sheriff, his friend, his mom and other people recalling his life in their own characteristic ways.

So so but I haven't finished it.
I bought this book because I like Fight Club so much.It definitely had the makings of a good book, but I got a bit bored part way through and didn't finish it.This is not a traditional novel.It's Buster's story told from many people's point of view.

I still have hopes of someday finishing this book.

One Of The Greatest Stories Ever
The style this book is written in is very original.
The story is side crackingly hilarious, with the usual striking Palahniuk imagery. The way he constructs sentences is unbelievable. The poetic power of some of the writing in Rant takes your breath away. There is typically mind bending Palahniuk story structure, true to his ever-excellent form.
Also, there's a fair bit of sex. You obviously can't go wrong.
There is also a cameo from Clive Warren and Rebecca De Mornay, where they actually take a select hemisphere from each of their own brains, and combine it to make a beast brain that is completely irrational, based totally on emotion and intuition, because alas, they each selected the right hemisphere of their brain when forming the combination monster brain.

One of My Favorite Palahniuk Works
I really enjoyed Rant a lot. I thought it was weird and different, but it really came together so well at the end. It is a bit difficult to really explain what I loved about the book without spoiling the plot a bit so I will do my best in that aspect.

The book itself had some really interesting themes that were present. The main idea, kind of brought up pretty much from the opening scene, is that everybody views people in different ways. That these views can actually cause a single person to almost have an entirely different view of the same person that it is surprising that it is actually in fact the same person. And that we can make sure to act a particular way to influence the way we interact and are viewed by others. This is really taken to many levels in the novel from looking at it from perspectives of family members, friends, and community members.

The story of the novel here is in my opinion well written. It keeps the reader interested without giving up too much and really pays off towards the end when a lot of the elements in the story really start to connect and it turns into a really satisfying experience. It is especially interesting if you take a step back at the end and just try to draw a mental timeline of the characters and the relationships in the novel. It becomes fascinating at this point to think about who is actaully influencing who and the cause of many of the major events in the novel. I also like the use of some random titles that you learn mean very different things then they first seem to mean, like the distinction of "historian" in the context of the story.

There was actually not very much that I disliked about this novel. I though the pacing was right throughout the book, and the characters really felt like they had purpose and direction and developed in the story. ... Read more

Product Description
In the crowded greenroom of a porn-movie production, hundreds of men mill around in their boxers, awaiting their turn with the legendary Cassie Wright. An aging adult film star, Cassie Wright intends to cap her career by breaking the world record for serial fornication by having sex with 600 men on camera—one of whom may want to kill her.

Told from the perspectives of Mr. 72, Mr. 137, Mr. 600, and Sheila, the talent wrangler who must keep it all under control, Snuff is a dark, wild, and lethally funny novel that brings the presence of pornography in contemporary life into the realm of literary fiction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (158)

So "Chuck" it's Boring
I am (was?) a big fan of Chuck Palahniuk, but his works seem to be getting exponentially worse over time.

This book (I wouldn't call it a novel) is Chuck Palahniuk trying to be himself too hard.He tried to make a book that is entirely shock value, and it just got old and boring real quick.If I were to guess, I'd say he was under contract to crank out a book, and this is all he came up with.He even flushed out his word count by digging up every phrase for male masturbation that he could find, and using every one in the book, usually more than one at once, any time there was need to reference a man or men in general.

If you're a fan of Chuck's, you'll probably be disappointed, as this book won't make you think, and there are no real surprises or unexpected plot twists.The plot didn't feel close enough to real life to make the entire situation seem plausible, which is how he usually pulls you into his stories.

This felt like a short story dreamed up during a story telling exercise, stretched out into the length of a novel for no good reason.If you have a analytical mind like I do, you'll be shredding this story apart for its improbabilities and inconsistencies, which is usually something I don't do with Chuck's stories.

Overall, this is the first work of Chuck's that I was disappointed by, and thus the first time I've taken the time to write a review.If you're a fan of his, you're better off avoiding this one, lest you lose interest in him.If you just can't help yourself, see if you can't borrow it or get it from the library (unlikely), because its simply not worth paying for.

Boring
This is the fourth book I have read by Palahniuk ("Rant", "Survivor", and "Choke") and this is by far the worst one. Part of that is myself to blame because of expecting a huge twist like so many of his other books.But the random tidbits of information did nothing to the plot (unlike Rant), it was like "o that's nice").The antiheros that you fall in love with (like in Survivor) fell flat and flaccid (to go with the theme of the novel).I used to be able to sit for a good hour trying to figure out the plot twist and how it works so eloquently in the novel, not here.

However, I did like the style of the book, told from the point of view from four individuals. And that it was a quick read.

Decent Book
I felt this was not the best I have read from Palahniuk, but it was still pretty good. It took me 2 days to read this book, so it is definitely a fest read. There is alot of Hollywood mumbo jumbo throughout the book that I did not find interesting at all such as how older generation actresses took ice baths to perk up their nipples, swallowed crushed up egg shells to lower their voices, and cut the right heal off of their shoes so their bottoms would sway. Otherwise it was interesting, good plot. As with all Palahniuk it is not for the sheltered, contemporary, easy-to-offend folks out there.

Terrible
I've enjoyed many of Palahniuk's books, but this one was completely terrible.It was full of cliches and just ridiculously stupid.

First Chuck book read
This is my first book ever read by this author, and after reading "Snuff," I will read more!This book, 200 some pages over a few hour period, gave in-depth description of the few characters, and kept me reading.It also threw in many curveballs, (no pun intended), as I had expected from the author of "Fight Club."If you are one to get offended easily, do not read this book, as it does have some pretty descriptive parts about pornography. ... Read more

Product Description
The first rule about fight club is you don'ttalk about fight club.Chuck Palahniuk's outrageous and startling debut novel that exploded American literature and spawned a movement. Every weekend, in the basements and parking lots of bars across the country, young men with white-collar jobs and failed lives take off their shoes and shirts and fight each other barehanded just as long as they have to. Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes and loosened teeth and the sense that they can handle anything. Fight club is the invention of Tyler Durden, projectionist, waiter, and dark, anarchic genius, and it's only the beginning of his plans for violent revenge on an empty consumer-culture world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (689)

Reading with Tequila
Fight Club is nothing smaller than a worldwide cult phenomenon. Even if you've never read the book or seen the movie and have no clue who Tyler Durden is, you know that the first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club.

The movie was actually a little less raw than the novel, even though it followed the story line closely. By reading the book after having seen the movie, you lose a a lot of the shocks knowing what you know. The book is better, in my opinion, but it losses its impact without the surprises.

Fight Club is disgusting. I would never use soap or eat in a restaurant again if I could help it. The fact that I have to do those things now makes my skin crawl. The book is almost horror based in reality. The horror of human nature.

Fight Club is shocking without feeling as though anything is written for pure shock-value. It messes with your mind, which seems to be Palahniuk's very effective signature. It's guaranteed to make you feel at least a little crazy. Fight Club is a very impressive book greatly deserving its cult following.

Good fun
A lot of fun, worth reading even if you have seen the movie many times.There are some parallels which would have been too complicated to transfer to the movie, but they make wonderful sense in the book.

great
great book.watch the movie over ten years ago, and finally got around to reading the book,lol.

Great!
It was super fast delivery and clean great condition book
Thank You so much!

One of the best books that I have ever read!
This book is by far one of my favorite books that I have ever read. This book turned me onto Chuck Palahniuk as an author and to this day, he is my favorite author. His writing style is unique, exciting and full of twists that build upon the story. His stories are short enough and he seems to know just when to wrap up. ... Read more

Product Description
Want to know where Chuck Palahniuk’s tonsils currently reside?

Been looking for a naked mannequin to hide in your kitchen cabinets?

Curious about Chuck’s debut in an MTV musicvideo?

What goes on at the Scum Center?

How do you get to the Apocalypse Café?

In the closest thing he may ever write to an autobiography, Chuck Palahniuk provides answers to all these questions and more as he takes you through the streets, sewers, and local haunts of Portland, Oregon. According to Katherine Dunn, author of the cult classic Geek Love, Portland is the home of America’s “fugitives and refugees.” Get to know these folks, the “most cracked of the crackpots,” as Palahniuk calls them, and come along with him on an adventure through the parts of Portland you might not otherwise believe actually exist. No other travel guide will give you this kind of access to “a little history, a little legend, and a lot of friendly, sincere, fascinating people who maybe should’ve kept their mouths shut.”

Here are strange personal museums, weird annual events, and ghost stories. Tour the tunnels under downtown Portland. Visit swingers’ sex clubs, gay and straight. See Frances Gabe’s famous 1940s Self-Cleaning House. Look into strange local customs like the I-Tit-a-Rod Race and the Santa Rampage. Learn how to talk like a local in a quick vocabulary lesson. Get to know, I mean really get to know, the animals at the Portland zoo.

Oh, the list goes on and on.Amazon.com Review
It's rare to find a travel guide and a memoir joined neatly together in a single, highly readable 176-page volume. But Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Choke, Lullaby) is a writer of rare talent and his home of Portland, Oregon, is a city of rare wonders. In Strangers and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon, Palahniuk goes beyond the AAA handbooks to reveal the places, people, and legends of Portland that have long been known only to locals. The reader learns the location of the legendary Self Cleaning House, where to find the restless ghost of the founder of Powell's Books, and why feral cats are such an important part of Portland baseball. Portland, it seems, is also a highly sexual city and Palahniuk dutifully dissects the specialties of each strip joint as well as discussing Mochika, a zoo penguin with a real fetish for black boots. Along the way, he includes "postcards" from his life in the Rose City dating back to 1981 when, as a 19-year-old, he dropped acid and accidentally ate part of a woman's fur coat during a laser show of Pink Floyd's The Wall. As Palahniuk matures, the postcards reveal the author becoming increasingly a part of the city's scene, culminating with a wild and wooly Millennium Eve celebration at the Bagdad Theater that featured a screening of the film version of Fight Club. Fugitives and Refugees is a must for anyone who may, in their lives, go to Portland. But its appeal should reach beyond Oregonians. Palahniuk's love of the city is so great, and his stories so weirdly wonderful, it makes one want to get out of the house, get in the car, and drive to Portland right away. Just remember to pack the book. --John Moe ... Read more

Customer Reviews (39)

A Review by Dr. Joseph Suglia
A (brief) review of chuckpalahniuk's FUGITIVES AND REFUGEES: A WALK IN PORTLAND, OREGON
by Dr. Joseph Suglia


A transgressive travelogue is a seductive, though hardly original, idea. A "guide" that would document the underworld of a city, all of its forbidden zones, its sleaziest grottoes --- how fascinating! FUGITIVES AND REFUGEES, unfortunately, is nothing of the sort. It is, rather, a lifeless catalogue of a few tacky tourist attractions, none of which is particularly "transgressive" or subterranean.

In the most blaise manner imaginable, the book mentions some of Portland, Oregon's oddities: the world's largest hairball, a strip-club run, a "strip-bingo" tournament (it's not as interesting as it sounds). All of this is written in a prose that is both dead and deadening.

Our Virgil nominates himself a "novelist." Any genuine novelist, however, knows that his/her task is to bring an imaginary world to life, to make chimeras breathe and talk. FUGITIVES AND REFUGEES is not vividly composed. It is not even detailed.

We (readers) get the impression that our lazy and ill-informed guide has never even visited most of the places that he mentions. Otherwise, he merely lacks descriptive power. If that's the case, then he's not a genuine author.

The entire book has a "grocery-shopping-list" feel and look.

chuckpalahniuk seems to feel that his life is, a priori, interesting to his readers. But his anecdotes ("postcards") are hardly captivating. He seems to feel that a writer is a writer even before s/he has written. But the work gives birth to the writer, not the other way around.

Dr. Joseph Suglia

A fun tour
This is much, much more than a travel guide; it's practically a personal conducted walking tour of the less-conventional side of Portland, Oregon by the cult author, who's also a native.

There's a minefield of information: from a quick guide to local slang, to the best food recommendations (including recipes), right down to the names and contact numbers of the operators of strange museums, a self-cleaning house, haunted hotels, sex clubs and even the individual animals at the Oregon zoo.

What is unexpected (or perhaps totally in keeping with Palahniuk's quirkiness), is how he wraps each attraction with a story of the place or person he talks to and personal nuggets in the form of a postcard entry at the end of every chapter.

As he says at the end of the book, "This book is not Portland, Oregon. At best, it's a series of moments with interesting people."

Palahniuk not only participates in local customs like the outrageous Santa Rampage (the cover pic of the author in full garb as proof), he also gatecrashes a Rose Festival parade with a mannequin to upstage the parade princesses on floats, chews up a lady's fur coat sleeve in a drugged out state at the Pink Floyd laser light show.

The reader gets to ride along on these whacked-out adventures and go under the skin of the man (just a little bit) behind his iconic works.

not bad
it was ok, but who the hell am I to judge? I'm not god. at least I don't think I am. who am I to say that?I'm not god. etc.

A different type of travel guide
This book is something different from Palahniuk, a view from his point of view about his town of Portland, Oregon.It's very different in the fact that he includes phone numbers and addresses for many of the places of interest that he speaks about, and between each "chapter" (rather categories of what to do) he includes a short peice he calls a postcard from the past, written at some point in his history in the city.All in all it's a good read, and something different but just as good from Palahniuk.

Great Glimpse into a Great City
If you like Chuck Palahniuk and have been to Portland, you will love this book. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (48)

Like a Palahniuk book without the plot
I realize this book was pushed by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Choke, Survivor) because Drake is in his writers group.That being said, she does an admirable job trying to steal his style.However, the plot doesn't really go anywhere.Where Chucks characters often change the world, her clown is looking for a missing rubber ducky.I'd say this book is more for kids if it wasn't for all the clown sex included.It's short enough that you can read it without getting too angry so read this if you are on a plane I guess.

Finally found it... Maybe I anticipated too much
After having seen this recommended to me multiple times because of my interest in Chuck Palahniuk's books, I finally found it in the library; shame it's not on Kindle, but I got around to it eventually.After reading the description of the book and noting that Palahniuk wrote the introduction, I was excited to start another mind-altering trip, this time in clown shoes.Perhaps I was expecting a little too much, but the book was definitely worth the read and I sped through the first half of it.I laughed out loud several times during that first half, though the humor started to get repetitive and the soap opera of the main character's unrequited love grated on me a bit.

That said, I enjoyed the somewhat normal circumstances and good intentions progressing to ridiculous situations.When Monica Drake comes out with another book I will definitely read it and would recommend this book.

Fun book.
This was a fun book, but not the greatest.It was told from a female point of view and that was a bit different for me.I did still enjoy it and had absolutely no trouble finishing it.I doubt I'll ever read it again, and not sure I'd recommend it to too many friends.However, if you're interested in dark comedy type books you'll probably enjoy this one.

Fails to Deliver...
I bought Clown Girl about two years ago, purely off an Amazon `similar purchases' recommendation. I read a few of the reviews from other readers and found this book has a few connections to Chuck Palahniuk, my (almost) favorite author. For example, manyfans of his also enjoyed this novel, and Chuckeven wrote the introduction.So I gave it a shot. (brief summary below but no spoilers)

It opens with a girl named Nita (in costume she is `Sniffles the Clown') performing on a hot city street for a bunch of pestering, sticky-fingered children. The story is told from her perspective. She faints from heat exhaustion and is taken to the emergency room, and ends up being okay, but this incident kinda spring-boards the rest of the book.

You come to find that Nita is never out of costume, that she constantly wears big clown shoes, face paint, and an ever-shifting array of over-sized colorful clothes. Hence the title, right? A few ridiculous situations ensue; multiple run-ins with an attractive, golden-haired cop, pot-growing roommates who constantly threaten to kick her out for bringing trouble (and cops) around the house, her two associate clowns, Crack & Matey, who speak nothing but of money and wanting to move away from entertaining children and on to "one-on-one" shows for men (yes, it is what you think).

Unlike Palahniuk, most of the darker or racier moments in the book are only implied or mentioned and then moved away from, whereas Chuck likes to get into the gritty, disgusting moment with a magnifying glass and smear your face in it. However, in many ways, this book seriously seems just like an inferior knock-off Palahniuk novel. The humor is very similar. The attempt to be edgy and satirical is similar. The dialogue and ridiculousness of the characters is similar. But it's not as good, not by far. Drake probably resents being so closely related or compared to Palahniuk, as I would if I were her, but the similarities are impossible to deny.

There were many, many things that were overwhelmingly frustrating to me about this book. First and foremost, the lead character is annoying as all get out, she's not likable! From start to finish, she makes stupid, stupid decisions that only worsen her situation, and when she gets in a tough spot, her nervous reaction is to tell jokes! She also obsesses over things she loses because her whole life and worth is tied up in them (namely; her boyfriend Rex, her dog, her rubber chicken, and the pee funnel she is supposed to collect with from the hospital... I know, stupid right?). Surely this was intentional by the author, and does have some small part in the character's transformation by the end, but it was so much to wade through that I found myself not wanting to continue the story, but rather hoping the whole time that it would get better, and just get over.

Drake is a good writer as far as one-liners and the occasional beautiful sentence goes. The book is not without it's moments of cleverness and charm, and the idea of the book itself is actually pretty original and humorous, but there is just something about the story that consistently feels amateur. It tries too hard to be edgy, funny, ridiculous. I think I see what the author is shooting for, but the execution of it leaves a lot to be desired. In Drake's defense, this is only her first novel. We'll see what she does from here.

A Great Read!
I believe the author was done a disservice when Clown Girl was compared to Chuck Palahniuk and Katherine Dunn's Geek Love. Drake's work stands on its own two feet.

I give this book 5 stars for being different. I can not think of another character in literature that I can compare to Nita our pregnant and determined professional clown. This book is a character study as a Nita uses professional clowning as a way to shield herself from interaction with other people. This is not a weird book as much as it is a serious look into why people try and hide themselves away from the world.

If you have read the best literature out there and sometimes just get bored with cliche characters then I say grab Clown Girl.

Personally request: Monica Drake writes nothing like Chuck Palahniuk and this book it rightly or wrongly nothing like Geek Love. You'll have to make this purchase without famous names to lean on :) ... Read more

Product Description
Chuck Palahniuk's world has been, well, different from yours and mine. The pieces that comprise Nonfiction prove just how different, in ways both highly entertaining and deeply unsettling. Encounters with alternative culture heroes Marilyn Manson and Juliette Lewis; the peculiar wages of fame attendant on the big budget film production of the movie Fight Club; life as an assembly-line drive train installer by day, hospice volunteer driver by night; the really peculiar lives of submariners; the really violent world of college wrestlers; the underground world of anabolic steroid gobblers; the harrowing circumstances of his father's murder and the trial of his killer - each essay or vignette offers a unique facet of existence as lived in and/or observed by one of America's most flagrantly daring and original literary talents. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Get to know the author
If you liked Palaniuk's fiction, you will appreciate these stories too. Some journalistic, some very personal, they get you to know Palaniuk on more personal level. As if listening to him in a room.

Some stories - about combine fighting, for instance - are weird. Some - Boddhisatwas - touched some very sensitive nerves. Interviews are interesting, if nothing else. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The last, "Personal" part is, well, personal. The author talks a lot about "Fight Club" in it. It is very interesting, funny and somewhat sad at times.

Pure PALAHNIUK
Any fan will appreciate this title.

Amusing, but not much else.
This book is collection of short stories vividly describing the 'seedy underbellies' of many slices of Americana ~ wrestling, using steroids, counterculture festivals, etc etc.While the stories themselves ranged from poignant (wrestling) to boring (interview with Juliette Lewis and Marilyn Manson), they were all strung together by the author's very deliberate attempt to enlighten the reader. The authors almost constant name-dropping of Fight Club, Brad Pitt, and (strangely) himself got old, and most of the time were irrelevant to the story on the page.I'm probably on the jaded side of readers, but the descriptions and interviews that comprise the stories weren't as shocking, or enlightening, as the author likely intended them to be.If you are looking for a light, amusing read, this will satisfy your pleasures.However, I wouldn't expect to walk away with much more. ... Read more

Product Description
In the closest thing he may ever write to an autobiography, Chuck Palahniuk provides answers to all these questions and more as he takes you through the streets, sewers and local haunts of Portland, Oregon. According to Katherine Dunn, author of the cult classic "Geek Love", Portland is the home of America's 'fugitives and refugees.' Get to know these folks, the "most cracked of the crackpots,' as Palahniuk calls them, and come along with him on an adventure through the parts of Portland you might not otherwise actually believe actually exist. No other travel guide will give you this kind of access to "a little history, a little legend, and a lot of friendly sincere, fascinating people who maybe should've kept their mouths shut." Here are strange personal museums, wierd annual events and ghost stories. Tour the tunnels under downtown Portland. Visit swingers' sex clubs, gay and straight. See Frances Gabe's famous 1940's Self-cleaning house. Look into strange local customs like the I-Tit-a-Rod Race and the Santa rampage. Learn how to talk like a local in a quick vocabulary lesson. Get to know, I mean really get to know, the animals at the Portland Zoo. Oh, the list goes on and on. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Amazing!
Palahniuk gets it every time!This book is amazing.Only he could make what is essentially a travel guide so interesting and full of wit and interesting stories.I wish he would write more of these!

A very interesting look at an interesting city
Nobody does it like chuck palahniuk.I really wish there was a book like this for san diego.But there isn't.Not even close.He looks at portland like he looks at life in general, through a different perspective. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

It's just the German title for Survivor
This is SURVIVOR by Chuck Palahniuk. This, in my opinion, is his best work. He masterfully handles multiple characters and weaves together a tale fraught with suspense, comedy (Dark as it gets) and a touch of messed up relationships.

I could go on and on, but just go read the reviews of Survivor to hear more... ... Read more

Product Description
"Haunted" is a novel made up of stories: twenty-three of them to be precise. Twenty-three of the most horrifying, hilarious, mind-blowing, stomach-churning tales you'll ever encounter - sometimes all at once. They are told by the people who have all answered the ad headlined 'Artists Retreat: Abandon your life for three months'. They are led to believe that here they will leave behind all the distractions of 'real life' that are keeping them from creating the masterpiece that is in them. But 'here' turns out to be a cavernous and ornate old theatre where they are utterly isolated from the outside world - and where heat and power and, most importantly, food are in increasingly short supply. And the more desperate the circumstances become, the more desperate the stories they tell - and the more devious their machinations become to make themselves the hero of the inevitable play/movie/non-fiction blockbuster that will certainly be made from their plight. "Haunted" is at one level a satire of reality television.It draws from a great literary tradition - "The Canterbury Tales", "The Decameron", the English storytellers in the Villa Diodati who produced, among other works, "Frankenstein" - to tell an utterly contemporary tale of people desperate that their story be told at any cost. Appallingly entertaining, "Haunted" is Chuck Palahniuk at his finest - which means his most extreme and his most provocative. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fight Club on Steroids
Chuck Palahniuk is most known as the author of Fight Club, the book that became the movie with Brad Pitt and Ed Norton; and overnight Palahniuk had a cult following. Erie, scary, and terrifying; if I had to use three words to describe this book, that would be it. Robert A. Heinlien the classic Science Fiction author once quipped "One man's theology is another man's belly laugh." Of this book I would state, "One man's perversion is another man's pleasure." This book will hit both, depending on who you are and your sensibilities.

This book is a collection of short stories, written by characters who are on a writer's retreat. They all responded to an ad to "give up three months of your life and create the masterpiece you have always said you would". Each of the 18 respondents had an idea of where they would be going - to a large country estate, a camp in the woods; yet the reality is they get locked into an old ornate theatre house. They have food, shelter, and facilities, yet all doors are locked, all windows bricked over and no way out.

From there the book becomes a cross between Fear Factor, Survivor and your most feared horror story. We see the depths to which people will descend to achieve fame and riches. Palahniuk, during the current book tour, was reading the first story called `Guts' and to date there have been 63 people who have passed out with many people being injured falling into book cases in book stores. This book will at times, turn your stomach, but will give you an understanding of the darkest side of human nature.
Readers beware! This book is like the fight club movie on super steroids.

(First Printed in Imprint 2005-06-03 as 'Fight Club author gets Haunted') ... Read more