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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
can be a bit or miss, but that should be expected. He takes a lot more freedom to be silly with his short fiction, and it can be both a liberating and constraining medium, but all in all an enjoyable read and some of the stories will really stick with me.
I usually don't mind Palahniuk's work, but there was something off about this particular collection. The cover copy told me to expect 'transgressive'; I pretty much got 'potty mouth' from the first story ('Knock-Knock'). To be fair, it was a real page-turner, but mainly because I was skim-reading to see if it got any better, which it didn't.
'Zombies' was okay, I guess?
'Zombies' was okay, I guess?
I have really mixed feelings on this book. I wanted to like it, and some of the stories were really entertaining, but more than half of them were bland and left a lot to be desired.
No creo que la semana que viene recuerde nada de ninguno de los relatos. No es que no me los pueda sacar de la cabeza, es que no han llegado a entrar.
The collection is really the first thing to surprise me from Palahniuk in years. I didn't realize he had some of these bits in him, whether its the emotional deftness of several tales or just the thematic shifts. I wonder if he's finally realizing that his fan base can and will follow him anywhere - and I wonder if this collection doesn't signal a little more exploration in his novel-length work. His next book hasn't, to my knowledge, been announced yet... and while I've always said that I'll be there on release day regardless, I find that I'm actually genuinely excited about whatever's going to happen next. And that's the best gift a book can give.
More soon:
More soon:
Right, so this is a short story collection rather than a novel, so that does leave a lot to talk about. I'll try and be quick.
Chuck Palahniuk, let's just get it out there, he's the guy who wrote Fight Club, is a man with a very morbid and darkly comic style, and this very much comes through in this collection. For those who have read Fight Club, this does have the immediate and striking writing style in common, yet for those wanting more of its existential blues, it's quite thinly spread, making way for more horror/cautionary tale type stories.
The characters depicted in this collection are - more often than not - horrible people. They make decisions that most people wouldn't make, have a sense of logic both extreme and twisted, and also a sense of persistence that can sometimes feel infuriating in its stupidity. But despite all of this, Palahniuk still reserves plenty of sympathy for them - they are just as human as the rest of us, even though they may make some disgusting, despicable and
The highlights usually are found where there's social commentary; 'Zombies,' a high school drama which includes teenagers lobotomising themselves via defibrillators, is both funny and a terrifying critique of cultural drinking and drug use, and the novella towards the end of the novel 'Inclinations,' becomes a heartwarming story of a Great Escape-esque plot in a gay conversion centre. Yet Palahniuk doesn't hide his sense of humour, which is explored best in the opener 'Knock Knock' and 'The Facts of Life,' which both play out masterfully, told like all the best jokes, and as if you were hearing it straight from his lips. Another treat is the seemingly thematic trilogy of [holds breath] 'How Monkey got married, bought a house, and found happiness in Orlando', 'Why Coyote never had money for parking' and 'Why Aardvark never landed on the moon,' each of which are gripping yet perplexing, with its trick of naming each character after an animal, yet not actually specifying if they are human or not. It's weird, and simple, but it works.
However, there are duds. Don't be put off near the beginning when reaching 'Eleanor,' which is admittedly excruciating in its writing style, verging on painful. 'Toad Prince' as well, loses all sense of believability, going beyond crude - which is saying something for much of this collection.
For fans of Fight Club however (myself included), I'd recommend 'Smoke' - the shortest in the bunch yet still sprawling in its ideas and enough to fill a novel in itself - and 'Excursion,' a one-off story with a brief return from Tyler Durden. It's the most straight-faced story, and probably the most terrifying, indulging in a Gothic tale in the tunnels beneath Hamburg.
So yeah, sorry for the long review, if you made it to the end then well done. I've still only mentioned half of the stories in this collection, but if you don't think you're up to tackling the whole thing, a few of them are available online on their own - maybe a bit more digestible.
Chuck Palahniuk, let's just get it out there, he's the guy who wrote Fight Club, is a man with a very morbid and darkly comic style, and this very much comes through in this collection. For those who have read Fight Club, this does have the immediate and striking writing style in common, yet for those wanting more of its existential blues, it's quite thinly spread, making way for more horror/cautionary tale type stories.
The characters depicted in this collection are - more often than not - horrible people. They make decisions that most people wouldn't make, have a sense of logic both extreme and twisted, and also a sense of persistence that can sometimes feel infuriating in its stupidity. But despite all of this, Palahniuk still reserves plenty of sympathy for them - they are just as human as the rest of us, even though they may make some disgusting, despicable and
The highlights usually are found where there's social commentary; 'Zombies,' a high school drama which includes teenagers lobotomising themselves via defibrillators, is both funny and a terrifying critique of cultural drinking and drug use, and the novella towards the end of the novel 'Inclinations,' becomes a heartwarming story of a Great Escape-esque plot in a gay conversion centre. Yet Palahniuk doesn't hide his sense of humour, which is explored best in the opener 'Knock Knock' and 'The Facts of Life,' which both play out masterfully, told like all the best jokes, and as if you were hearing it straight from his lips. Another treat is the seemingly thematic trilogy of [holds breath] 'How Monkey got married, bought a house, and found happiness in Orlando', 'Why Coyote never had money for parking' and 'Why Aardvark never landed on the moon,' each of which are gripping yet perplexing, with its trick of naming each character after an animal, yet not actually specifying if they are human or not. It's weird, and simple, but it works.
However, there are duds. Don't be put off near the beginning when reaching 'Eleanor,' which is admittedly excruciating in its writing style, verging on painful. 'Toad Prince' as well, loses all sense of believability, going beyond crude - which is saying something for much of this collection.
For fans of Fight Club however (myself included), I'd recommend 'Smoke' - the shortest in the bunch yet still sprawling in its ideas and enough to fill a novel in itself - and 'Excursion,' a one-off story with a brief return from Tyler Durden. It's the most straight-faced story, and probably the most terrifying, indulging in a Gothic tale in the tunnels beneath Hamburg.
So yeah, sorry for the long review, if you made it to the end then well done. I've still only mentioned half of the stories in this collection, but if you don't think you're up to tackling the whole thing, a few of them are available online on their own - maybe a bit more digestible.
I'm not sure at all about this one. I guess I'll have to read it again to figure out properly whether it's six or seven stars, or eight or...
This book just isn't my cup of tea. It's very well written and it's a page turner, but I didn't appreciate the vulgarity and dark humor as much as I thought I might. Totally understand why some people love his stuff, but it made me cringe just a tad too much.
Loved this book of short stories! Classic Palahniuk, master of show-dont-tell writing. He never dissapoints with and every story has twists and deviants. This book contains one of only four or five things I've ever NOT been able to finish reading because I was literally sick to my stomach reading it. As soon as I twigged to what was happening in "Cannibal," I literally gagged, closed the book, and didn't finish the rest of the book until a year later. In the interest of spoilers, I won't spoil it. I will just say that I gagged at his "Guts," but was able to read it, and have read it multiple times. I don't ever see myself finishing "Cannibal." And I don't scare easily...
BTW, as a Palahniuk fan, I guess you can take that as a recommendation - it means he did what he set out to do, scare and disgust.
BTW, as a Palahniuk fan, I guess you can take that as a recommendation - it means he did what he set out to do, scare and disgust.
Knock, Knock: A disturbing jumble of male experience and death... Sincerely awkward and repulsive, even offensive at points, but in a way that begrudgingly works. 3.5 stars
Eleanor: Tedious... I think the word substitutions lose some of their impact due to the vast number--might have worked a bit better for me if written in first person for this reason (as it could make a fun character trait), but ultimately it still would be tedious to have to parse out the intended meaning and significance. Maybe 2 stars, or perhaps more like 1.5 stars (with my amount of patience being challenged so much in reading it, I have less left to bother with the decision... with a more moderate amount of word play, or more patient/less easily annoyed reader, this might work much better).
How Monkey Got Married...Orlando: Maybe I am still too bitter about Eleanor or maybe I have spent too little time enmeshed in office politics to appreciate parts of this, but ugg! Didn't even particularly find any characters likeably dislikable... Just awful, 1 star?
Zombies: Surreal like a dream, but increasingly tolerable... Found myself hoping for a different ending, but much better than the past couple of duds. 2.5 stars (probably higher if you don't mind the kumbaya ending)
Loser: So "it's like forever" that this one drags on, but the curve ball is the long awaited ending almost manages to feel a touch abrupt... "but it's probably the Hello Kitty." Honestly, the ending redeemed this a bit, even if it was predictable; 2 stars.
Red Sultan's Big Boy: A horse tale not for the faint of heart. But works in spite of itself. Maybe 3.5 or 4 stars.
Romance: Somewhat endearing in a non-cutesy way, glad i didn't skip it I suppose... but not by much, too predictable. 3 stars
Cannibal: Disturbing, and yet boring too... At this point I think I am getting the author's schtick (because really how could you not in this story), but I am really beginning to wish he'd consistently develop the quality of his work rather than skating by on content and effect. 2.5 stars, since it left me pretty strikingly neutral
Why Coyote Never Had Money for Parking: Same style as the 'How Monkey...' story, but with reluctant father mishaps... maybe less annoying maybe I just started into it less annoyed. 1.5 stars, still dull adult angst
Phoenix: Twisted, one-sided. A neurotic mother works herself into intense paranoid worry for her child during phone calls while out of town... segmented by flashbacks to timeframe of said child's early pregnancy. Kind of boring plot progression, but better than many of the others in this collection. 3.75 stars
The Facts of Life: Meh. Birds and the bees talk with a twist. Stream of consciousness response to the 6 yo's mention of a school assignment (on unsafe sex). Sighing and eye rolling, maybe 1.5 stars.
[At this point, I almost feel like Troy's father could be the son in Knock, Knock... This thought leads me to a sequence of thoughts, until I feel like this whole trainwreck could be an exercise in that child trying to live up to the legacy in his mind. I convince myself this really could be all a collection of this character's trying too hard stories... This revelation, while unlikely/delusional, makes me mildly more tolerant of the disaster thus far... and deciding to entertain this game, makes me somewhat more willing to continue/resume reading.]
Cold Calling: Even more drudging than I would have imagined a fictional telemarketer account (I knew some, their true stories were better)... The author's polished his flair on this via copious racist remarks. 1.5 stars
The Toad Prince: Laughably melodramatic "ickifying" tactics, but it somewhat sails (despite the fact that it reads a bit like being back in high school creative writing class), I guess 2.5-3 stars.
Smoke: This scene seems very familiar, like something I have seen or read before... but a rawer, rough draft version of something that was made better that has crept hauntingly back up (like when a child half-cleans a spot on the carpet and it wicks back up from the pad). I found it slightly worked better for me when I reread it at a frenetic pace like the manic inner obsessions of someone uninterested in participating in the conversation that is being baited, but who's also unable to just let the awkward silence sit there. Again with the unrealized potential, 2 stars I guess.
Torcher: Much too slow to unfold, and a bit underwhelming in other ways... but it does manage to garner a bit of success as a hamfisted parody of both Burning Man and bungling detective stories. Despite the condescension and charachure-ish depictions I'd say this isn't bad, maybe a draw at 2.5 stars.
Liturgy: So forgettable I can't in good conscience rate it (but it would have been low). Loosely remember some prissy HOA bleck... but didn't find it as amusing as it seemed to find itself.
Why Aardvark Never Landed on the Moon: Unfortunate tale of preteen devolution... Slightly more impactful because I have children this age, but certainly of similar style and captivation as the 'How Monkey...' and 'Why Coyote...' tales. 1.5-2 stars
Fetch: This ridiculous story about a tennis ball actually amused me. 4.25 stars
Expedition: Like quicksand (or perhaps like the bag of cat food in 'Phoenix'), once finally on the other side I looked back flummoxed how it took so long to get there when it appears so unassuming. Feeling more than bit like I'm being punked. Some odd choices are made, and I was much less patient than earlier in the book... 2-2.5 stars
Mister Elegant: Jarringly bizarre bell curve tale of exotic dancing, could have been extraordinary... 3 stars
Tunnel of Love: A woman chatting with her masseuse, another working piece... 3.5 stars.
Inclinations: Horrible topic, some rotten characters, and of course the expected ick... but fairly nice development. Begrudgingly enough it is pretty good, good enough it could (should?) have stood on it's own. It also proved I was right about this author's potential (made me forgive the recommender, a little) maybe I'll read something else by him... in time. Let's be generous and say 4 stars.
How a Jew Saved Christmas: Well, not much to see here (beyond a 'nice' ending)... but mostly because it is just dull. 1.5 stars
This book as a whole feels just meh... and the biggest shock wasn't one of the offenses he nested in the stories, but that this would be printed as a finished work. It is as if the author had a publishing deadline looming but was in a funk so he rummaged through his old papers and dug up a few fistfuls of abandoned projects/scenes edited out of larger works or other writing exercises and called them a collection of shorts. Most rely a bit too heavily on shock value, prejudice, gory descriptions (which in and of themselves can at times be so beautiful that they point to great ability/potential not elsewhere put to use), sex and swearing as if it is some type of written slight of hand to distract you from the lack of effort and boringness as an attempt to salvage these 'almosts.' Perhaps it just is gratuitous to appeal to a young demographic, but his schtick doesn't outweigh all flaws for me (and hopefully his other works don't have the same unfinished student work air; I can't help but equate him with the smirking student cranking out junk overnight for class just watch classmates/teacher attempt review it as if it were a serious workwork--only laughing his way to the bank since this was actually printed).
While I "can't unread," I do greatly look forward to forgetting many of these as soon as I can and am very grateful I did not buy this. {Average rating ending up about 2.5 stars, seems somehow fitting because many left me neutral and or felt like a bunted effort get ideas on paper...}
Eleanor: Tedious... I think the word substitutions lose some of their impact due to the vast number--might have worked a bit better for me if written in first person for this reason (as it could make a fun character trait), but ultimately it still would be tedious to have to parse out the intended meaning and significance. Maybe 2 stars, or perhaps more like 1.5 stars (with my amount of patience being challenged so much in reading it, I have less left to bother with the decision... with a more moderate amount of word play, or more patient/less easily annoyed reader, this might work much better).
How Monkey Got Married...Orlando: Maybe I am still too bitter about Eleanor or maybe I have spent too little time enmeshed in office politics to appreciate parts of this, but ugg! Didn't even particularly find any characters likeably dislikable... Just awful, 1 star?
Zombies: Surreal like a dream, but increasingly tolerable... Found myself hoping for a different ending, but much better than the past couple of duds. 2.5 stars (probably higher if you don't mind the kumbaya ending)
Loser: So "it's like forever" that this one drags on, but the curve ball is the long awaited ending almost manages to feel a touch abrupt... "but it's probably the Hello Kitty." Honestly, the ending redeemed this a bit, even if it was predictable; 2 stars.
Red Sultan's Big Boy: A horse tale not for the faint of heart. But works in spite of itself. Maybe 3.5 or 4 stars.
Romance: Somewhat endearing in a non-cutesy way, glad i didn't skip it I suppose... but not by much, too predictable. 3 stars
Cannibal: Disturbing, and yet boring too... At this point I think I am getting the author's schtick (because really how could you not in this story), but I am really beginning to wish he'd consistently develop the quality of his work rather than skating by on content and effect. 2.5 stars, since it left me pretty strikingly neutral
Why Coyote Never Had Money for Parking: Same style as the 'How Monkey...' story, but with reluctant father mishaps... maybe less annoying maybe I just started into it less annoyed. 1.5 stars, still dull adult angst
Phoenix: Twisted, one-sided. A neurotic mother works herself into intense paranoid worry for her child during phone calls while out of town... segmented by flashbacks to timeframe of said child's early pregnancy. Kind of boring plot progression, but better than many of the others in this collection. 3.75 stars
The Facts of Life: Meh. Birds and the bees talk with a twist. Stream of consciousness response to the 6 yo's mention of a school assignment (on unsafe sex). Sighing and eye rolling, maybe 1.5 stars.
[At this point, I almost feel like Troy's father could be the son in Knock, Knock... This thought leads me to a sequence of thoughts, until I feel like this whole trainwreck could be an exercise in that child trying to live up to the legacy in his mind. I convince myself this really could be all a collection of this character's trying too hard stories... This revelation, while unlikely/delusional, makes me mildly more tolerant of the disaster thus far... and deciding to entertain this game, makes me somewhat more willing to continue/resume reading.]
Cold Calling: Even more drudging than I would have imagined a fictional telemarketer account (I knew some, their true stories were better)... The author's polished his flair on this via copious racist remarks. 1.5 stars
The Toad Prince: Laughably melodramatic "ickifying" tactics, but it somewhat sails (despite the fact that it reads a bit like being back in high school creative writing class), I guess 2.5-3 stars.
Smoke: This scene seems very familiar, like something I have seen or read before... but a rawer, rough draft version of something that was made better that has crept hauntingly back up (like when a child half-cleans a spot on the carpet and it wicks back up from the pad). I found it slightly worked better for me when I reread it at a frenetic pace like the manic inner obsessions of someone uninterested in participating in the conversation that is being baited, but who's also unable to just let the awkward silence sit there. Again with the unrealized potential, 2 stars I guess.
Torcher: Much too slow to unfold, and a bit underwhelming in other ways... but it does manage to garner a bit of success as a hamfisted parody of both Burning Man and bungling detective stories. Despite the condescension and charachure-ish depictions I'd say this isn't bad, maybe a draw at 2.5 stars.
Liturgy: So forgettable I can't in good conscience rate it (but it would have been low). Loosely remember some prissy HOA bleck... but didn't find it as amusing as it seemed to find itself.
Why Aardvark Never Landed on the Moon: Unfortunate tale of preteen devolution... Slightly more impactful because I have children this age, but certainly of similar style and captivation as the 'How Monkey...' and 'Why Coyote...' tales. 1.5-2 stars
Fetch: This ridiculous story about a tennis ball actually amused me. 4.25 stars
Expedition: Like quicksand (or perhaps like the bag of cat food in 'Phoenix'), once finally on the other side I looked back flummoxed how it took so long to get there when it appears so unassuming. Feeling more than bit like I'm being punked. Some odd choices are made, and I was much less patient than earlier in the book... 2-2.5 stars
Mister Elegant: Jarringly bizarre bell curve tale of exotic dancing, could have been extraordinary... 3 stars
Tunnel of Love: A woman chatting with her masseuse, another working piece... 3.5 stars.
Inclinations: Horrible topic, some rotten characters, and of course the expected ick... but fairly nice development. Begrudgingly enough it is pretty good, good enough it could (should?) have stood on it's own. It also proved I was right about this author's potential (made me forgive the recommender, a little) maybe I'll read something else by him... in time. Let's be generous and say 4 stars.
How a Jew Saved Christmas: Well, not much to see here (beyond a 'nice' ending)... but mostly because it is just dull. 1.5 stars
This book as a whole feels just meh... and the biggest shock wasn't one of the offenses he nested in the stories, but that this would be printed as a finished work. It is as if the author had a publishing deadline looming but was in a funk so he rummaged through his old papers and dug up a few fistfuls of abandoned projects/scenes edited out of larger works or other writing exercises and called them a collection of shorts. Most rely a bit too heavily on shock value, prejudice, gory descriptions (which in and of themselves can at times be so beautiful that they point to great ability/potential not elsewhere put to use), sex and swearing as if it is some type of written slight of hand to distract you from the lack of effort and boringness as an attempt to salvage these 'almosts.' Perhaps it just is gratuitous to appeal to a young demographic, but his schtick doesn't outweigh all flaws for me (and hopefully his other works don't have the same unfinished student work air; I can't help but equate him with the smirking student cranking out junk overnight for class just watch classmates/teacher attempt review it as if it were a serious workwork--only laughing his way to the bank since this was actually printed).
While I "can't unread," I do greatly look forward to forgetting many of these as soon as I can and am very grateful I did not buy this. {Average rating ending up about 2.5 stars, seems somehow fitting because many left me neutral and or felt like a bunted effort get ideas on paper...}