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3.05 AVERAGE
3.05 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I often like to look at what other readers thought of the book just before writing a review. Snuff seems to fall into the love-hate category with almost equal 2 and 4 star ratings. It is an interesting book and I settled on 3 stars out of some ambivalence, but I definitely liked rather than disliked.
I enjoyed the sexual euphemisms and the literary/classic film derived titles of made up porn films, but they might have been overdone. My favorite was 'chitty-chitty-gang-bang'. It's juvenile, but it made me laugh. Were the jokes a form of nostalgia for a time when porn had plots? I feel like pornography and plot parted ways in America after a brief (and well before my time) heyday in the late 70s when a few X-rated films made it to mainstream theaters.
Snuff is a book where the idea of the story is much more important than the ending. That seems to annoy many readers. We like stories with memorable endings. The ending here is graphic, but it doesn't really feel important.
This is a very short book, but I felt it was still too long. It is a bit of an overgrown short story. Chuck lavishes a bit too much description on too many unimportant items, makes a few too many porn title jokes and masturbation euphemisms that stretch this from short story to novella without really making it much better.
The goodness was all of the transgressive angst. The book is full of childhood resentment, parricide, oedipal lust/loathing, and sexual insecurity.
I enjoyed the sexual euphemisms and the literary/classic film derived titles of made up porn films, but they might have been overdone. My favorite was 'chitty-chitty-gang-bang'. It's juvenile, but it made me laugh. Were the jokes a form of nostalgia for a time when porn had plots? I feel like pornography and plot parted ways in America after a brief (and well before my time) heyday in the late 70s when a few X-rated films made it to mainstream theaters.
Snuff is a book where the idea of the story is much more important than the ending. That seems to annoy many readers. We like stories with memorable endings. The ending here is graphic, but it doesn't really feel important.
This is a very short book, but I felt it was still too long. It is a bit of an overgrown short story. Chuck lavishes a bit too much description on too many unimportant items, makes a few too many porn title jokes and masturbation euphemisms that stretch this from short story to novella without really making it much better.
The goodness was all of the transgressive angst. The book is full of childhood resentment, parricide, oedipal lust/loathing, and sexual insecurity.
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thinking that Damned was a fluke, I opened up another Chuck Palahniuk book hoping to restore my faith in one of my favorite authors.
I don't know what happened, but shock value just for the sake of shock value is neither shocking nor entertaining. You can make up a bunch of fake porn titles and describe anatomy in detail- we get it. Did he switch editors or something? Was there formerly someone there making him flesh out his characters and story more so that they weren't on par with a two-dimensional fart joke? Or maybe is there someone new there now who is chopping out all of the parts of his books that are interesting and just keeping the sophomoric junk? Or is Palahniuk solely to blame for simply not trying anymore?
I'm not a fan of porn, which everyone likes to think is an unpopular opinion (jokes about how everybody likes porn is not the same as statistics, but whatever, I'm not here to argue that). I went into this knowing it was a Palahniuk book about the porn industry and not afraid that I would disagree with it on many things. But the subject matter isn't even what I found offensive. The book contains several different stories of characters that all sound like the author, so it's hard to tell them apart. It's a sad puppet show.
Like any Chucky P. novel, it's peppered with "facts" that may or may not be true, but instead of them adding a beat to the narrative, it just feels like he's taking a moment to show off what he's googled recently. "Did you know? Did you know? Did you know?" No, I didn't. But now that I know, why should I care? Where are you going with this? Short answer- nowhere.
The expected Chucky P Brand Twist in the Climax is obvious from early on and in trying to get through his cheap little bait-and-switch routine he creates a plot hole that's never addressed, which I would care more about if I could care about any of the characters in this story. I don't. This story is one he should have left in the sock. (See, I can make jizz jokes, too.)
I don't know what happened, but shock value just for the sake of shock value is neither shocking nor entertaining. You can make up a bunch of fake porn titles and describe anatomy in detail- we get it. Did he switch editors or something? Was there formerly someone there making him flesh out his characters and story more so that they weren't on par with a two-dimensional fart joke? Or maybe is there someone new there now who is chopping out all of the parts of his books that are interesting and just keeping the sophomoric junk? Or is Palahniuk solely to blame for simply not trying anymore?
I'm not a fan of porn, which everyone likes to think is an unpopular opinion (jokes about how everybody likes porn is not the same as statistics, but whatever, I'm not here to argue that). I went into this knowing it was a Palahniuk book about the porn industry and not afraid that I would disagree with it on many things. But the subject matter isn't even what I found offensive. The book contains several different stories of characters that all sound like the author, so it's hard to tell them apart. It's a sad puppet show.
Like any Chucky P. novel, it's peppered with "facts" that may or may not be true, but instead of them adding a beat to the narrative, it just feels like he's taking a moment to show off what he's googled recently. "Did you know? Did you know? Did you know?" No, I didn't. But now that I know, why should I care? Where are you going with this? Short answer- nowhere.
The expected Chucky P Brand Twist in the Climax is obvious from early on and in trying to get through his cheap little bait-and-switch routine he creates a plot hole that's never addressed, which I would care more about if I could care about any of the characters in this story. I don't. This story is one he should have left in the sock. (See, I can make jizz jokes, too.)
informative
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Definitely my least favorite Palahniuk book. It was interesting, had some great quotes, but overall, it was just a weak effort.