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kristenm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"There's worse things you can do to your loved ones than kill them."
It really took me to the end of this book to fully make my opinion on it. The end of this book rounds out so nicely and explains everything in a way that made me just go, "Ah that's it. That's IT!" Unlike other Palahniuk books I've read where the book really falls at the end, this one only gets stronger. Which is to say, I found the first few chapters pretty weak.
I'd warn, this book is full of Chuck-isms that lead people to call him repetitive and boring. Yes, this book covers themes such as consumerism, mass media marketing, broken families, women in power, toxic masculinity, etc etc etc. For some these themes are played out in his work, but I really enjoy the different narratives that all point out how broken our society really is. This book was written in 2003 and nothing has changed. We're all still buying sour cream and onion dip because a Superbowl Ad told us too.
I usually adore Chuck's women... however, Helen fell short for me. I had trouble visualizing her appearance and even more so, had trouble connecting with her. I didn't really understand her motivations for the first half of the book, and her realty scheme didn't entirely make sense to me. Mona fell equally short for me, which was disappointing because I think if I had connected with these characters better I'd have adored this book.
Lastly, as with any of his works there's some questionable content so... CW: gore, incest, necrophilia, sexual assault & violence against children. (I didn't find the gore in this book as bad as other works, but the end is very vivid and graphic in detail.) Additionally, there is very explicit content regarding necrophilia that is uncomfortable and really did make me feel a bit ill.
Constructive destruction.
It really took me to the end of this book to fully make my opinion on it. The end of this book rounds out so nicely and explains everything in a way that made me just go, "Ah that's it. That's IT!" Unlike other Palahniuk books I've read where the book really falls at the end, this one only gets stronger. Which is to say, I found the first few chapters pretty weak.
I'd warn, this book is full of Chuck-isms that lead people to call him repetitive and boring. Yes, this book covers themes such as consumerism, mass media marketing, broken families, women in power, toxic masculinity, etc etc etc. For some these themes are played out in his work, but I really enjoy the different narratives that all point out how broken our society really is. This book was written in 2003 and nothing has changed. We're all still buying sour cream and onion dip because a Superbowl Ad told us too.
I usually adore Chuck's women... however, Helen fell short for me. I had trouble visualizing her appearance and even more so, had trouble connecting with her. I didn't really understand her motivations for the first half of the book, and her realty scheme didn't entirely make sense to me. Mona fell equally short for me, which was disappointing because I think if I had connected with these characters better I'd have adored this book.
Lastly, as with any of his works there's some questionable content so... CW: gore, incest, necrophilia, sexual assault & violence against children. (I didn't find the gore in this book as bad as other works, but the end is very vivid and graphic in detail.) Additionally, there is very explicit content regarding necrophilia that is uncomfortable and really did make me feel a bit ill.
Constructive destruction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Self harm, Incest, Gore, and Sexual assault
Very explicit content about necrophilia.
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