Author: Chuck Palahniuk

I'm reading Pygmy right now. I'm about 16 chapters in, and I'm just FINALLY understanding what's going on through the broken English. It's difficult to read, but, I don't know, it's still pretty good. I sort of miss the classic Palahniuk things, though; they're hard to see. There's still the repeating and breaking up speech, but it just isn't the same.

I just read guts and I feel wrong for not being too disturbed by it.

^ I am planning on reading Haunted after Lullaby, and I am unsure about how I'm going to feel reading it. The worst gory part of his novels so far is when Shot kills his pug. It made me cry. I started a Chuck Palahniuk review column cos' I love his books so much. It's lucky I do like them because I bought them all at once.

On the back of my copy of Choke, it compared him to Ken Kesey. So I finished Choke and Fight Club than read One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
I totally see it.

He's a great writer, but, like Stephen King, there's something about him that rubs me the wrong way. It's not that his work is disturbing or offensive to me, it's just...unpleasant.

^ I don't find that. I thought I would have, as I get that with Stephen King. But with Chuck Palahniuk, I could just read all day until the book is gone. The only one I really didn't find any good was Snuff, I just didn't think he expanded the idea enough. I though all the stuff about Cassie's history was really good, but maybe because it was only spread over one day, I didn't think it really developed much.

I was swimming in my backyard pool the other day, and Haunted immediately came to mind. I laughed for a good 5 minutes.

If you read through this thread you'll notice I used to be a prettyyy big fan of Palahniuk, but now.. not so much. I've actually come to really dislike his writing. I still enjoy Fight Club, and Choke to an extent, but I honestly don't know how I finished any of his others.

I don't know what it is, there's just something about his writing that irritates me beyond belief. I think it might have something to do with the voice he gives his narration. It feels incredibly pretentious to me now. Obviously no offence meant if you like him, I just don't like it anymore.

I bought Choke and Fight Club today. I don't know why I didn't buy them before because I've seen both films and read most of Fight Club in first year English Lit. Planning on reading them both tonight seeing as they look pretty short

^ Choke actually took me a while to read, but that was mainly because I knew that I didn't have a book lined up to read after it.

Finished Lullaby yesterday. I loveloveloved it, not my favourite by him, but definitely want to read it again. Started Haunted later that day, slightly anxious, because I'd read about the infamous Guts. I did not know that it was like 15 pages in! All I can say is, I'm never ever ever going to the bottom of a swimming pool. I had to stop reading it, and then had to stop again to be sick. But then I threw up at a miscarriage scene in a book once. Today I picked it up again, and have just read Mother Nature's story, which I really liked. Looking forward to reading some more later.

I just finished Survivor, and OH MY GOD was it good. What I probably liked the most is how the narrator sounded like an actual guy, instead of like a cynical, jaded robot like his other characters. It was there to an extent, but there was actually a thought process behind it.

That's one of the things I don't like about his books, how all the narrators sound the same, and they all hate society, and blah blah blah. The only two with a reason for that voice are Pygmy and Survivor, at least as far as I can see.

bateman:

I don't know what it is, there's just something about his writing that irritates me beyond belief. I think it might have something to do with the voice he gives his narration. It feels incredibly pretentious to me now. Obviously no offence meant if you like him, I just don't like it anymore.

I get where you're coming from. It just gets old after awhile… The plots are amazing but with the same voice over and over and over again, it's just like… too much.
I still like his writing though.

^ I do see that, but it just doesn't bother me that much. By the end of Lullaby I was a bit like 'Everyone's controlling you! I get it! I DON'T CARE!' But then it got all good again.

I find the fact that he wrote a story called Guts and failed to do basic research on how intestines function less than impressive. I know it wasn't the point of the plot, the point was to make people feel sick and horrified but the inaccuracies really bugged me, moreso than the grossness of the story.

I can't remember if I've been in this thread or not before...

I have a love-hate relationship with Palahniuk. He's definitely got talent, and Diary is one of my favorite books and I adore it and it's all sorts of brilliance. I love the repetition thing he does, the sheer bluntness of it (it's influenced me in some of my own work), but I read Fight Club and then read Choke right after (I was bored to death by it), and I decided he didn't know how to come up with new characters because the two protagonists seemed really similar to me. Then I read Snuff and I was really unimpressed with that one. I read Diary after all those, I think, and it's stuck with me. I read some of Pygmy and it was interesting (if not really vulgar and somewhat gross in parts), but I was too lazy to renew it when it was due back at the library. And my library doesn't have Invisible Monsters or Lullaby.

There's something so similar about all of his books, I think. It's both good and bad imo. His style's great, and all his plots are really unique and interesting. I always think I have the ending all figured out and I'm bored and irritated with the novel (save Diary) and then I'm just like, "Wait, what?" because he turns it around on me. I'd love to be able to do that. It's like, I hate his characters and all and sometimes I don't like the book at all, really, but then I also envy his abilities and style and he really has an addictive quality.

idioglossia:

I decided he didn't know how to come up with new characters because the two protagonists seemed really similar to me.

I KNOW.
That's the thing that bugs me about him. He needs to branch out. I'd like to see him try to write a character that knows what the word compassion means.
And the plots are really different, but at the same time they're all built on the same mold, you know? It's all about shock factor.

I didn't like Choke much. Rant I loved, and same with Survivor. I thought Invisible Monsters was really good, too, so I'd recommend those… even if your library doesn't have them, Survivor is definitely worth the search imo.

I actually liked Choke. That and Fight Club are my favourite books of his, they got a bit same-y after a while. Invisible Monsters was alright, I suppose, but he just seems outlandish most of the time. Don't get me started on Diary. I don't even know how I finished that book. I hated the narrator in it.

NewsAGoGo:

I just read guts and I feel wrong for not being too disturbed by it.

Exactly. I wasn't disturbed at all, just a little uncomfortable.

So far, I've read 'Invisible Monsters', 'Diary', 'Survivor', 'Snuff' and 'Fight Club', plus I am currently reading 'Rant'.

I just finished Survivor.
So I've read Survivor, Invisible Monsters, Choke, and Fight Club.

And I was going to read Haunted, but I still haven't gotten it back from my friend.

Finished Choke.

And it was weird. I didn't really know how to react the minute I was done. Idk I'd prolly read it again after a few days. I've read Fight Club, Invincible Monsters, Snuff and Choke. I was disappointed with Snuff, but Invincible Monsters was .

I've ordered three Palahniuk books for Christmas. Invisible Monsters, Choke, and Rant. I've never read any of his books before, so it should be interesting.

Also, I just recently learned how to pronounce his name correctly; i had been saying pah-lay-nee-ook when it's just polloh-nik. Oops

I think Rant is under-appreciated. I loved it. You chose well.

I always said it pal-uh-new-ick…